Endangered Species

The Dying Art of Egyptian Belly Dance

Egyptian belly dancers are an endangered species.  On the road to extinction.  That is, if there isn’t a belly dance renaissance in Egypt sometime soon.  Even Dina fears as much.  For the truth is, aside from Dina, Randa, Camelia, and more recently, Aziza, there has been a decline of good Egyptian belly dancers on the market.  This is ironic, considering that most of us imagine Egypt to be “Planet Belly Dance,” and that Egypt is the home of belly dance legends Samia Gamal, Fifi Abdo, and Soheir Zaki.  There’s also at least 40 million Egyptian women living here.  You’d think that with those numbers, this music and dance oriented country could produce a few more belly dancers.  Yet the reality is that an ugly combination of economic and socio-religious factors is robbing this country of one of its greatest artistic achievements.

I remember first moving to Cairo and being excited about all the belly dancers I thought I’d see.  Expecting to discover hundreds of naturally talented women, I visited nearly every venue that featured belly dancing.  But what I expected and what I discovered were two different things.  To my dismay, the level of dancing here amongst most Egyptian belly dancers is not as high as it used to be just 30 years ago.  

An Entirely Possible Possibility

Until now, I’ve refrained from dabbling in political discussions about Egypt.  Mainly because watching this so-called revolution unfold before my eyes elicits intense emotions.  A year later and with elections currently underway, however, I don’t know how much longer I can keep silent without exploding.  I mean, I didn’t get a degree in Middle Eastern politics for nothing. :) 

When Egyptians first took to the streets to overthrow Dictator Hosni Mubarak on Jan. 25^th, 2011, I couldn’t help being swept away by all the revolutionary fervor.  Indeed, since moving here 3 years ago, I’ve been saying that Egypt is ripe for revolution. Life for the average Egyptian has become intolerable. Poverty is rampant, food prices are unreasonably high, government corruption and inefficiency know no limits, and unemployment rates are well over 50 percent.  I predicted that violence would erupt before the upcoming presidential elections in November, for which Mubarak intended to nominate his son.  Due to the jolt of inspiration Egypt received from Tunisia, however, it happened earlier than I expected. 

Flying High...

…well, more like drunk.  But hey, it’s been a while since I’ve consumed alcohol. Alcohol just isn’t a priority when you live in Egypt—a relatively dry country (pun intended).  At least for me it’s not.  And what better way to celebrate my coming back to Brooklyn than by drinking cranberry and vodka on the flight home? :)

I’ll admit, I’m a lightweight.  That’s because I rarely drink.  It only took one cup of the stuff to blur my already blurry vision and make me giggle out loud while watching “Aasal Eswed.”   “Aasal Eswed,” is an Egyptian comedy which translates as “Sour Honey.”  It satirizes the oftentimes repugnant ways in which Egyptians treat each other by juxtaposing it with the royal treatment they bestow on foreigners.  The protagonist is Egyptian actor Ahmed Hilmy, who returns to Cairo to work as a photographer after living in the United States for 20 years.  Intent on “going native,” Ahmed deliberately leaves his American passport in the States and proudly identifies himself as Egyptian.  The film progresses by showing all the unnecessary hassles he endures because of this.  From taxi drivers to authorities to horses(!), no one treats Ahmed the way he expects to be treated as an Egyptian.

Teaching in NYC Nov. 14th-16th

11/13: Performing @ Columbia University Raqs    2-4pm

11/14: Egyptian Shaabi Choreography                       5-7pm

11/15: “Feeling” & Sas - Taqsim Baladi                       6-8pm

11/16: Classical Egyptian Choreography                   6-8pm

All classes are $45 and require prior notification of attendance.  Please e-mail lunaofcairo@gmail.com to reserve a spot. Classes will be held

@ Anamita Navatman Studios

344 W 38th Street, 5th floor, New York, NY, 10018 

I will also be available for private lessons.

My Interview with BellyDanceFinder!

Bellydancefinder: Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your background? What do you do when you aren’t dancing?

Luna: Three years ago, I won a Fulbright Scholarship to write a book about the history, development and decline of belly dance in Egypt. I had just graduated from Harvard University with a Masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies, and would soon be moving to Cairo. I originally planned to return home after 9 months upon terminating the scholarship. However the dance distracted me and I never finished my book! I kept taking classes and meeting new people, and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, I was performing regularly at all of the 5-star resorts along the Red Sea. Exactly one year later, I auditioned at the Semiramis Hotel and the Nile Memphis and was awarded contracts to dance at both. The Semiramis gig didn’t work out (for very ugly reasons), but I am happily dancing at the Nile Memphis every night. I also perform regularly at weddings and upscale corporate events with my band.

Celebrate Halloween
Nile-Style
with
Luna

@ The Nile Memphis!

October 31, 2011
7:00p.m.

.
$25 USD gets you a buffet dinner, a 2.5 hour cruise on the Nile, and a fun belly dance show to live music by Luna of Cairo.


Halloween costumes strongly encouraged.
Winner of Best Costume Contest receives a (sur)prize!


E-mail me at lunaofcairo@gmail.com for location & details & to RSVP :)

The Frustrated Feminist

I’m a frustrated feminist.  I’ve always been a feminist of one kind or another, but the frustrated part is rather recent.  It has a lot to do with where I live and what I do.  Luckily, I haven’t reached the point of no return.  I still shave my legs and armpits and wear makeup :0).  And I’m still straight (whatever that means). Yet I hate men.  Well, most of them anyway.  It’s not that I hate the individuals who happen to be men.  I just hate their “manliness” – their “machismo”—whatever it is that drives them to subjugate women.   

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, I live in an ultra-patriarchal society.  That means men have the upper hand in almost all aspects of life here.  They are the leaders, the law makers, the law keepers and law breakers.  Actually, this is true of most of the world, but it’s a little more exaggerated in places like Egypt than in the United States or Western Europe.  That’s not to say that Egypt is on par with Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan. Nevertheless, misogyny does have its place here.  And it takes various forms:  Female genital mutilation (extremely widespread); domestic violence (very common); sexual harassment (no comment); honor killings (much rarer but do occur from time to time); divorce, adultery and other personal status laws (overtly favor men); and the oh-so-prevalent “a women’s place is in the home” school of thought to which men AND women subscribe.  Again, all of these things exist in other countries.  It’s just that they occur with more much more frequency and much less stigma in this slice of the world.

  

The Case for Cairo

Why you should come to Cairo… Now.

Anyone who knows me knows that I complain about Cairo a lot.  That’s because I’m way past the infatuation phase in my relationship with this city.  I’ve said and continue to say that it’s dirty, crowded, chaotic, draining, dysfunctional and frustrating. But one thing I’ve never said about Cairo is that it’s dangerous. If it were dangerous, I wouldn’t live here. Plain and simple. Neither would thousands of other foreigners who live and work here alongside me.  Ok, ok, the first week of the uprising was pretty scary.  I’ll give you that.  But things calmed down dramatically soon after.  Sure, there’s no government, and there still aren’t as many police on the streets as there used to be, but I could think of much more dangerous places with governments and plenty of police.

Despite what you hear on the media, Cairo is safe.  The problem with the media is that it has a tendency to broadcast events from Tahrir Square and forget about the rest of the country.  This results in a very skewed version of reality. Uh, Newsflash! Tahrir is NOT Egypt.  It is a tiny sliver of Cairo that serves as a rallying point for political agitators.  Generally, what happens in Tahrir stays in Tahrir and doesn’t affect the country at large.  In fact, half of the time, Egyptians don’t even know what’s going on there!

Baladi Beauty

Modeling a wedding dress in an
Egyptian magazine

There must be some superstition about wearing a wedding dress before you get married, but I’ve worn quite a few of them since moving to Cairo. In fact, at one point, I was up to 20 wedding gowns a week. No, I’ve never been married (despite the endless marriage proposals from Egyptian men), and never want to be. I simply model wedding dresses in my rare spare time, when I’m not performing or teaching belly dance.

Let me clarify. I’m NOT a bridal model. It’s just that I’m a bit more “well rounded” than all the Russian girls who saturate the modeling market in Egypt, so I get called for a lot of shoots which require a fuller-figured woman. That means lingerie and wedding shoots. Being that I downright refuse to model lingerie in Egypt, I stick to the bridal modeling. Kind of ironic considering my phobia/disgust with all things marriage. Especially poofy white dresses. And boy are they poofy here. The minute I step into one of those monstrous things, I look like I’m drowning in a sea of white tulle and chiffon. Not to mention it’s impossible to maneuver in them. Now I know why all the Egyptian brides whose weddings I dance at look permanently pissed and scared!

Ramadan in Cairo

Ramadan suhoor at local restaurant Il-Gahsh



It’s that time of year again when Cairo finally takes a break from itself.  The city is quieter, and traffic is more predictable.  Taxi drivers make an extra effort not to rip you off, and people go out of their way to be kind.  From the multicolored Christmas lights that adorn mosques and buildings, to the ubiquitous fawanees (Ramadan lamps) that hang from every home and storefront, there is an undeniable mood of festivity in the air. 

It’s Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, during which Muslims fast and abstain from all things vulgar. Well, theoretically at least.  In Egypt, cabarets, casinos, bars and nightclubs close down.  Muslims make an effort to refrain from using profanity, fighting, lying, smoking, and engaging in other un-Islamic activities, one of which is belly dancing. 

Legally speaking, belly dancing is prohibited during the month of Ramadan.  This is because it contradicts Islamic values of female modesty.  In reality, however, some venues continue to hire belly dancers.  These are mainly the Nile cruises, which cater to foreign tourists and can’t afford not to have belly dancing.  Thus, they dodge the “no belly dancing during Ramadan” policy by making the dancer wear a 1-piece Saidi galabiyya and dance with a couple of folklore boys, thereby making her a folklore dancer.

Song Translation Service!

Take your dancing to the next level with my new Arabic song translation service! 

Upon popular suggestion, I’ve finally decided to offer a song translation service. :)  Now you can have ANY Arabic song translated & transliterated into fluent, native English for just $20.00.  I provide accurate, precise translations, phonetic transliterations, and explain all idioms, terms, and cultural references that aren’t immediately intelligible to non-Arabic speakers. No more limited, awkward, online translations by translators who are limited in either English or Arabic.

Understanding the meaning of the words to which you’re dancing will significantly improve the way you feel the music. Your audiences will be impressed.  Song translation is also a great way to gain further insight into Middle Eastern cultures.

Just for the record: I have 5 years of formal Arabic study under my belt: 2 years at Harvard University, 2 years at Columbia University and the City University of New York, 1 year in Syria and Yemen, and a decade of surviving in Egypt. 

Click here and here to read testimonials from satisfied customers. :)

Payment via Pay Pal.  To begin translating, contact me at lunaofcairo@gmail.com.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Here's a sample translation for you:

Si Abdo***

Mr. Abdo

*** “Si” is the local ‘baladi’ equivalent of mister.

Si Abdo!

Mr. Abdo!

Wa Oyoon Si Abdo

And Mr. Abdo’s eyes

Hosh an ayoonak Si Abdo, ah ya Si Abdo

Stop looking at me Mr. Abdo, oh Mr. Abdo

Da al hob garee wa ana mish adoo ah ya Si Abdo

Love is too strong for me, and I’m not up to it

(They both like each other, but the girl is afraid to start a relationship because of the complications that may arise.)

Si Abdo

Mr. Abdo

Si Abdo

Mr. Abdo

Si Abdo

Mr. Abdo

Si Abdo

Mr. Abdo

Aaloo il hawa luhu dawa

They said that love has a cure

Raga aloolee…

They came back to me and said…

GIRL: Ma Azunish!

I don’t think so!

Aloolee tamin, gaylee il-nawa fo il-nakhel, oolt

They told me, ‘wait, there’s a cure,’ that I can have an entire palm tree with dates cure me of love, but I said

(This doesn’t really make sense in English.  What it means is that finding a cure for love is like trying to tear down an entire palm tree with dates, or, a better example, trying to capture a star and bring it down to earth. Very difficult).

GIRL: Ma Azunish

I don’t think so!

Il-inkawa min il-hawa, yenam il leil

Whoever is in love, sleeps very well at night

GIRL: Ma Azunish!

I don’t think so!

Ana hadrab, wa hafashfish, wa hakasr, wa hadashdish

I’ll hit and crush and break things [to get rid of his love]

GIRL : Le le le, ma azunish!

No no no!  I don’t think so!

Il-wad zagh minee wa fak,

My lover ran away from me

Wa ana zanoo fi khant il-yak

But I was able to break her check mate (reference to a move in Backgammon similar to the check mate in chess.) 

Now the song starts using the metaphor of a Backgammon game to describe what’s happening in the game of love. This was really difficult to translate, as it’s extremely local, and normal Egyptians don’t speak like this.  It also makes very little sense if you have no clue about Backgammon. :D  I did my best not to translate literally.

Il-wad zagh minee wa fak,

My lover ran away from me

Wa ana maskoo fi khant il-yak

But I was able to break her check mate

Aal eh il haz idaloo

He said he got lucky

The song starts out with the singer speaking in the first person.  Then he shifts to singing in the third person.  It’s really typical of Arabic poetry, from the Quran to modern day shaabi music, for the author to shift between persons.  This is done for two reasons.  One, the rhyme scheme may call for it, and two, it’s more respectful for a man to address or speak about his lover in the masculine. 

Fakar yamil doyak

And he wants to try his luck (literally throw the dice and hope for the outcome he wants)

Il-wad zagh minee wa fak,

My lover ran away from me

Wa ana zanoo fi khant il-yak

But I was able to break her check mate

Harifa

Professional

Harifa

Professional

Ihna il-nas il-harifa

We’re the professionals (at backgammon, but really the game of love)

Il-do, Il-see

One, two (on the dice)

Il-do wa il-see w ail-gohar

One, two, and four (on the dice)

Asla ihna il-nas il-shutar

We’re professionals too

Fil-do wa il-see w ail-gohar

One, two, and four

Ihna il-nas il-shutar

We’re professionals too

Harifa

Professional

Harifa

Professional

Ihna il-ayal il-harifa

We’re the professionals

Awazilna ya-ayni fi heera

All those who are jealous of our love are confused  

Sabaha il-ashra bi-tareefa

And they’re a dime a dozen

Fatafeet il-sukar fatafeet

Sugar crystals, sugar crystals

Al-halu ya-halu itrabayt

I grew up on sweet things (he means good values)

Fatafeet il-sukar fatafeet

Sugar crystals, sugar crystals

Al-halu ya-halu itrabayt

I grew up on sweet things

Fatafeet il-sukar tagibni

I like sugar crystals

Wa inta ya-halu mudawibni

And you, my sweet, make me melt

Dawibni fi-hobik dawibni

Your love makes me melt

Wa fi albi rah abnilik bayt

And with the love in my heart I will build you a house

Hagir, Asee, Yehib wa yamil nasi

He leaves, he doesn’t ask about me, he loves and then forgets

Hagir, Asee, Yehib wa yamil nasi

He leaves, he doesn’t ask about me, he loves and then forgets

Ah minak ya muftari tabia fi albi tashtari

You’re treating me badly and playing with my emotions

Ah minak ya muftari tabia fi albi tashtari

You’re treating me badly and playing with my emotions

Ashtikeek li ahl il-hawa

I’ll complain to all the lovers

Aool da wayeh il dawa

I’ll say that you have the cure (for love)

Ashtikeek li ahl il-hawa

I’ll complain to all the lovers

Aool da wayeh il dawa

I’ll say that you have the cure (for love)

Yabia fi albi tashtari

You’re playing with my heart and emotions.

Yallah ya amar

Let’s go, beautiful

Rawah ya amar

Go home beautiful

Yallah ya amar

Let’s go, beautiful

Rawah ya amar

Go home beautiful

Ya Amar!.....