|
Fertility Rituals or
Fertile Imaginations? By Tarik Sultan
The following was my response to a question from a
fellow dancer on the med-dance list (an American-based mailing list for those
interested in Middle Eastern dance –no longer functioning). The dancer had read
an article on the Satin Rouge film website about the history of the dance, in
which it was stated the dance originated from the rites of temple prostitutes
and fertility rituals. The dancer wondered whether or not
there was any documented proof to support this often-touted claim, as the
in-culture reality of the dance seemed to be far removed from it.
In my article "Oriental Dance: It Isn't Just For
Women", I deal with the history of the dance, what we know for certain,
and an educated guess about the various cultural elements that make up the
dance. I also do this in my article on the same topic in "The Belly Dance
Book" (no, I don't receive any royalties). So I'll save us all a page or
two of explanations and cut right to the chase.
To answer your question, your instincts are right; there
is no documentation, or archaeological evidence to support the theory that this
dance has its origin in fertility rituals or temple prostitution, none whatsoever!
I have said and always will maintain that to get a true
understanding of this dance and the culture it comes from we must first pay
attention to the ordinary everyday people from whom this dance comes and not
the professional dancers on the nightclub stages or in movies!! Why such a
strong stance? The answer is simple. The version of the dance we are most
familiar with was created specifically for the mass media. It does not reflect
the reality of life there anymore than the mass media reflects the reality of
our lives here. It was developed in the 1930s for the entertainment of an elite
class of foreign rulers and the aristocracy they created and supported, not to
reflect national pride or cultural identity. It was show BUSINESS with a
capital B. They took the movement vocabulary of the folk dance that is still
done by the common people throughout the region, but presented it in a slick
new context.
The whole seductive harem girl mystique, the two piece
costume designed to show as much bare skin as possible, etc., was designed to
cater to the racist sexist fantasies of the European colonialists. It was an
image of the East not as it was, but as they wanted it to be. In a way we can
say that it is a metaphor of the way they viewed the region, its land, people
and their resources: seductive, tempting, willing and waiting to be taken by
the man (insert your colonial power of choice here), powerful and rich enough
to claim them.
This is no different from the way African American dance
and culture was represented on the theatre stages of America during the late
1800s right up to the 1950s.
African American dancers were only allowed to perform
their songs and dances on mainstream stages if they wore black face, acted
stupid and pretended to be satisfied with the servile position in society that
"mainstream America" wanted them to occupy.
America didn't want to know about people who were just
like them and therefore deserving of the same rights and privileges guaranteed
to all citizens in the Constitution. That notion was too threatening. They
needed them to be, or at least seem to be docile, unambitious, happy go lucky,
childish imbeciles who needed to be "taken care of by the more advanced
race". This was a much less threatening image, which reinforced and justified
their feelings of entitlement and superiority.
We also need to examine the context in which this dance
made its debut in the West. The dance was first seen in this country in 1876 at
the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, but it wasn't till the Chicago
World’s Fair in 1893, where it was promoted as something naughty in order to
titillate the curiosity of a sexually obsessed Victorian society, that it
gained notoriety. For the record, there was no Little Egypt at the World's Fair
either. That's just more of the same media hype invented by a cheap imitator.
So why would dancers in this age, who should know
better, perpetuate such cultural and historical distortions? The answer is that
not everyone comes to this dance because of a love of the music or an
appreciation of the culture.
It is significant that in our recent history, this dance
first gained popularity during the late ‘60s, early '70s, which coincided with
our sexual revolution and the Women's Movement. Women were just emerging from
the sexual and social repression that had lasted through the 1950s and the
shame of their bodies that went with it. They saw the hip and torso movements
of this dance as being sexually bold and assertive. Remember, many of them had
lived through the days when Elvis could only be shown from the waist up on
television.
Dancers and savvy business people looking to cash in on
this sexual climate exploited the personal insecurities of these women, while
at the same time playing to the sexual appetites of men. They promoted it as an
ancient female dance designed for the art of seduction. For a small fee they
could teach any woman how to master this mysterious art in order to turn on
their mate or boyfriend. They put out instructional books and records
guaranteed to teach women how to awaken their sexual powers. Record companies
soon recognized that this was a potential gold mine and the market was flooded
with "belly dance" records with titillating covers showing scantily
clad women, many of them topless.
What these people and their 19th century predecessors
had in common was that:
1. They were all in business to make money, not to
promote cultural understanding;
2. They all realized that the sure fire way to
do it was to sell sex because it's a known fact that SEX SELLS.
This being the fact, it is obvious that we cannot expect
to obtain accurate scholarly research information about the history and culture
of the dance from such sources.
If we want accurate information about the dance, we
needn't look any further than a wedding or a group of friends enjoying each
other's company in the here and now. It is something done by men, women and
children amongst family and friends. In its cultural context it's about sharing
joy, happiness, celebration, love of life, the beauty that exists within and
around us, and just having plain old fun! There is no reason or evidence to
suppose that it has ever been anything but this.
Well hell; that would mean that they're just ordinary
folks doing an ordinary dance! Unfortunately there are factions within our
community who don't want to view this as an ordinary dance like any other. They
don't want to know about an ordinary world full of ordinary people doing
ordinary things like going to work, worrying about paying the bills, going to
school and raising their kids. That's the reality they're trying to escape.
They want to embrace an exciting, mysterious, exotic, and seductive land in
which a sacred sisterhood of women practice the ancient erotic secrets of
womanhood (which we have forgotten in the West), that have passed down from
mother to daughter.
For these
people the dance isn't about the music or culture, it's the vehicle they use to
get in touch with their femininity, or express their sexuality. However, they
feel that in order to validate their beliefs, they have to show historical
precedent. Therefore, by claiming origins in ancient fertility rituals, or the
sacred rights of temple prostitutes, they can give their vision of the dance
historical and spiritual validity. So what if there is no proof to support the
existence of this mysterious world? So what if the current existing cultures
don't support their version of truth? All they have to do is place it in the
murky recesses of the ancient past where no proof other than conjecture based
on fantasy or half-truths is needed.
|