A'isha has seen me do both Ra's Khaleeji and Iraqi Kawaliya, both involving tons of hair stuff. My hair is shorter now but I still can do the movements although it looks a little different. The movement of the head is more important anyway, the hair just follows along!
I have a good friend, Kamilia (DC dancer who seems to be on the forum now!) who does great Khaleeji. Her hair isn't too long, a little shorter than her shoulders and she does GREAT Khaleeji.
The problem with Khaleeji done by foreigners is they lack "the feeling" needed to perform it properly. There are certainly steps and movements you must follow but there's more to Khaleeji than just following a choreography. Most people I see making an attempt don't seem to get this "feeling" and the performance suffers. It's hard to explain but hopefully A'isha and Kamilia can chime in!!!
In fact, I believe from what I've seen already in the US at least, there are only an handful of people capable of teaching real, authentic Khaleeji. Everyone else unfortunately butchers it completely...
