khanjar

Hi, I see all of you that go on trips to various ME dance countries where you perhaps take part in national events. I was wondering, how do the nationals of those countries take you? Westerners taking interest and participating in near and middle eastern national dance and culture ?

I also hear in Egypt, and I suspect other near and ME countries, reports of religious extremists who would wish for an end to dancing, are there any problems in this area with Westerners visiting and participating ?

Kashmir

Not sure what you mean by "National Events" - things like the Festivals in Egypt are aimed primarily at Westerners. As a rule of thumb I would never mention to any Middle Easterner - especially over there - unless I knew them very well, that I danced or was interested in dance. That is lining yourself up for potential unpleasantness. It may not happen - but why take the risk.

khanjar

Yes, by national events, I was meaning festivals.

Aisha Azar

Dear Khanjar,
I think that in the U.S., we are less likely to attend events in Europe and more likely to go to Turkey or Egypt or Lebanon to study dance or attend festivals. I think our own country is so big that many Americans travel to events here and it can be a considerable distance. When we travel across country we have traveled further than, say an English dancer might go to attend a festival in Italy or Sweden. While many do not travel outside their region to take classes or go to festivals, many of us do. I live in the Northwest and my last trip to attend a festival was the Fifi Abdou event in Texas, which is a flight of about 5 hours all told, I think.The farthest I have traveled to teach a workshop was Virginia. It is in the Southeast and I live in the Northwest. The U.S. is a pretty big country and sometimes it feels like going to a foreign country just to go from one region to the next! I am going to Maine in September. I was born there but have not been back since I was 14. My husband is from California and he barely understands what some of my relatives are saying because of their accents, and that is when they are speaking English, not French!! As I said, just traveling in the U.S. to attend festivals is a lot of travel!

When you are traveling in the Middle East, there are very few situations in which the fact that you dance needs to be mentioned.
Regards,
A'isha

khanjar

Thankyou,

Yes, I do forget the size of the second country, it is somewhat bewildering to think of one country so large as to take five hour or more to fly from one part to another. The last time I flew more than five hours, it was actually six hours, that I flew, from London to Sharjah in the Emirates.

Aisha Azar

Dear Khanjar,
In London/Heathrow, just getting from one gate to another can be like traveling to a foreign country as far as how long it takes!! I love that airport and got plenty of exersize there, and a great cup of coffee!
Regards,
A'isha

khanjar

That, I can sympathise. As one immigration official said to me there once;
' Welcome to the zoo '

A great airport, but taxing at times!

Caroline_afifi

What amazes me about the US is the various time zones.
What is the time differnce between North and South?

Aisha Azar

Dear Caroline,
Usually there is no difference between North and South, if they are in a straight line. For example, California, Oregon and Washington are in the same time zone and they are all on the Pacific Coast.
The time zones run in a sort of more horizontal pattern. Parts of Alaska will be four hours behind Virginia in time, but also the same behind Maine, which is North way above Virginia, but they are both on the Atlantic coast.
My mother now lives in Idaho and that place is really different. I live about 20 miles at the most from northern Idaho, which is in the same time zone as me. My Mom lives in Southern Idaho in a location that is in the eastern part and she is one hour ahead of me.
I hope this was helpful.

BTW, I admit not really understanding the whole thing from an educated point of view, but if I remember correctly, are not time zones international and have something to do with the sun rising as opposed to being just a U.S. thing???
Regards,
A'isha

Caroline_afifi

Thanks for the clarification.
Oh my goodness. I had to read it three times and twitch my head about in different directions.

I live close to Ireland which is West of me, and they are in the same time zone. The south coast of England is about 30 miles from the coast of France (at closet point) but France is one hour ahead.
Time differences always confuse me.