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YouTube - Sabar dancing in Senegal I just watched this clip which seems to be a short documentary by a Dutch researcher in Dakar, Senegal on Sabar, which is a name for a drum, a kind of dance, and an event--like a party where the drumming and dancing is featured. Senegal is a primarily Muslim...

He does hip articulations and shoulder shimmies! It's not Middle Eastern but I enjoyed it! I had never heard of him before but I am guessing 1920s or 30s based on the music? YouTube - Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker

I was in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and went to a really huge place on Fisherman's Wharf full of really old mechanical toys, precursors to video games. They were all still working. There were three I found three related to dance. I am attaching pics of two of them: What the Belly...

Anyone else suffer from this? It's a pain in the heel and arch of the foot. Especially bad first thing in the morning. I know the basic tips: - wear supportive shoes - don't wear shoes with worn out soles - stretch foot with points and flexes before getting out of bed in the morning - roll...

I have been wondering this for a long time. I hear that we (as in the West) invented classes in MED. Before, ME'ers learned in the home. I don't know when troupes like Reda and Kawamiyaa started. Not that long ago, I suspect. They must be post-1950? Anyway, does the way you learn influence...

I just got an old book (second hand) called The Embroideries of North Africa by Caroline Stone, published by Longman UK in 1985. It's a really beautiful book. Looks like a few copies are available used on Amazon. It covers embroideries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and "in the Turkish manner."...

BBC NEWS | Africa | Egypt loses taste for belly dancing Including short interview with Raqia Hassan. The one thing I think the reporter got quite wrong was "it is NO LONGER acceptable to be a dancer here....." (emphasis mine)

This is just for fun. Imagine you get a message on your answering machine. It's from your agent. Some top Egyptian music star needs you to dance at his/her next show, front and center, two weeks from now. Your agent didn't get the name. How would you reply? a) no time to return the call--you...

I hear a lot about the importance of using the correct name for dance forms and styles, and I agree with this. I also hear that all art forms evolve, both in the place of origin and in the larger world. What I am wondering about is how you can take one pure form--let's say Egyptian Raks...

OK this is the spinoff from "the image of a dancer." The way I see it, all art started as folk art. Because there were people drawing, singing, dancing, weaving, etc. from the beginning of time. Undoubtedly, some people had much better skills than others at certain folk arts. But only gradually...

I did this same thread over a year ago and found it fun (maybe not fuzzy bunnies though). I think that people (almost regardless of amount of training and ability!) show some of their personalities when they dance. And we certainly do when we write as well. Based on posts, I get ideas in my head...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sad goodbye to 'cosmopolitan' Cairo Has anyone been to the places mentioned--the Barrel Bar in the Windsor Hotel, the Sharezad Club, or the Hawaii? Has anyone read the book mentioned--Cairo, the City Victorious, by Max Rodenbeck? In a way I get the feeling that the...

Fitna is another term I think worth discussing. I think I have read that "fitna" means both "beautiful woman" and "chaos." See part 4 of this essay: Islam and gender Van Nieuwkerk writes: "Mernissi argues that implicitly in the religious discourse women are feared for their disruptive...

I think I know what this phrase means--something like daughter of the countryside or true-blooded Egyptian/Arab female? Does it have nationalistic overtones? Peasant overtones? Is it always associated with modesty with a flip side of charm and flirtation? Is it my imagination or is the Bint...

Attempt to upload diagram

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/world/middleeast/22abudhabi.html?_r=1&hp Article in the New York Times today about the trend for some young unmarried Arab women becoming fight attendants in the UAE and the issues it is bringing up for them and their families. Going dancing in clubs, staying...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sexy secrets of the Syrian souk One of the makers says he sees it as a public service and a religious duty, to keep the husband interested in his wife rather than looking elsewhere. I wonder whether it works? Cathy

Music and Islam: From Prohibition to the Science of Ecstasy I just discovered this podcast from afropop.org called Music and Islam: from Prohibition to the Science of Ecstasy. This one is only about 8 minutes long but I thought very interesting. I didn't know that the maqamat were either...

BovOkCO8a4A Did that work? I think this is Taheya Carioca dancing to Tatihl Shibak, with Aziz Outhman singing. I wish the director had kept the camera on Taheya! To me she is divine. P.S. It didn't work to embed. Here's the youtube link: YouTube - ???? ????? ????? ??????? - ??? ??????

BBC - Newsbeat - The P Word - Muslim vote split in US elections BBC story about Muslims in America and how they feel about the presidential election. I hope no one interprets my posting this link as an insult to their culture (American, Arab or otherwise). I strongly agree with Azim Khan, who...