Has the Egyptian Government made things difficult for their country's bellydancers?

People are always asking me this question- so I thought I would give you my viewpoint!

As far as I know, no legislation has been brought out against bellydance or anything of that ilk since the Muslim brotherhood came into power last summer in Egypt.  Thankfully!

However, work for dancers is down over all.

Partly due to the still very low numbers of tourists, both Western and Arab. This affects all the hotels and boats and cabarets that have dancers. The competition is high and it’s harder now for even Egyptian girls to get work, never mind for us foreigners! For new dancers starting out or coming to Cairo hoping to live their dream of being a dancer here it is near impossible.

The other thing which has lowered the amount of work available, and has affected me personally in recent months is the attitudes within some of the audiences.

I am really lucky to say that the vast majority of audiences I perform for have been fabulous. Mostly Egyptians, but a handful of tourists too. However, I have had two shows cancelled within the last two weeks because there were members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the audience and they didn’t want the bellydance to go ahead. The rest of the music program, fine, but no bellydance, because it is Haram (forbidden!).

In the seven years since I have been dancing at the Nile Pharaoh this has always happened from time to time. Usually because the entire deck on the boat has been booked for a corporate event and they want to do a speech or something instead of having the dancer. Fine. That’s work and I understand that.  Other times, it would just be one table perhaps, or a couple would leave when I started to dance and go outside while the dancing was on if they didn’t want to watch. That’s fine too. I do understand. It is not for everyone. 

However, I get annoyed when the entire deck has been booked for a wedding and because one man creates a big fuss, I don’t dance. We get paid per show, so that means no money for me or my band. It also means all the other guests, who do want to see the dance, miss out.

This week I had a lovely old lady, a professor at Cairo University seemingly, who was with a group that had declared me ‘Haram’ so, ‘no bellydancers today please’. She was really upset not to see me dance and she was embarrassed by her colleagues’ decision to cancel that part of the entertainment. It was quite sweet really. I felt for her. As I always do when some people decide what is right and wrong for others. You don’t like dance, for whatever reason, you leave the room or just don’t watch, but don’t take away the opportunity for others to enjoy.

This is what I see as the real danger to bellydance in Egypt these days. Not that the government will stop us working (although of course, it is a possibility I won’t deny that) but that the general public will start changing their behaviours and attitudes just to fit in with what they are told is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. If it becomes ‘wrong’ in general public opinion, then there wouldn’t be a big fight if one day it was banned, would there?

Thankfully, I have also seen the opposite too. The attitudes of the Egyptian people are being polarised. There are those who are happy for it to become a more Islamist country and those who feel very strongly that it shouldn’t. Many of those that are against this are making sure that they partake of their freedoms as much as they possibly can. Those who drink, are drinking, those who like dance, are dancing and going to watch dance. I’ve even seen a few new venues that never used to have bellydance as part of their entertainment introducing it to their venues. This is the good news, but it always feels like there is an element of desperation in the air too.

It is almost though they fear that if they don’t use it, they will lose it.

I hope they don’t.

I hope I don’t. Bellydancing in Cairo is my life, and I love it. I would hate to lose it.

I hope that because of these people, and for these people, who really do love their cultural heritage, Cairo will continue to be the heart of bellydance in the world. 

Self Control within Islam

Last night I was dancing on the Pharaoh boat and was told by the staff that there was a VIP table in so to be careful.

This happens fairly often. I always reply in the same way, ‘all my audience are VIP to me’.

Then they explained, ‘no Lorna, I mean don’t  go  up close to them’ etc. It turns out they were the heads of Al Azhar. Not the sheiks themselves, but the men who sign the forms to allow people to be sheiks there. The ‘ministers’ of the ancient Islamic university that guides the majority of the middle east in it thinking of how to match what is said in the koran to modern day situations.

I can’t deny it, I was nervous going on stage knowing the tables directly in front of me were very likely to disapprove. Then i told myself that they still chose to come here knowing there would be a dancer, so if it didn’t put them off then i wasn’t going to allow myself to be put off either. Not an easy task when other audience members were walking over to their table and shaking hands with them and asking for their photo to be taken with them. I haven’t even seen that type of  reaction from the guests on the boat when we have had famous actors and singers come to the Pharaoh before.

At first they turned their backs as much as they could. Then, gradually, they relaxed. By the end of my show they were clapping along and filming my dance and asking me to have their photo taken with me! I was so impressed by them! They understood and acted on the true message within Islam which it comes to a man’s reaction to a woman.

That control needs to happen within a man’s mind. To be able to look at a woman, and not have ‘bad’ thoughts about her takes more strength and self control than ordering her to cover herself. The Koran actually says that a man should draw a veil across his eyes. These men showed self restraint and self control.  I don’t see this attitude enough. It is so sad. Even a well trained dog can be shown a bone and sit still until told it’s ok to ‘fetch’. Most men in Egypt haven’t even managed to train themselves this well when they see a bit of flesh (even just if it is a bit of arm!)

Well done those gentlemen.... I thank you.

You took responsibility for your own actions and didn’t care who saw that. 

You have given me a ray of hope that even if the government becomes more ‘islamic’ then perhaps things don’t have to change for the worse in this colourful country I have adopted as my own. I hope more people can be educated to such a level and only then will there be hope for the women in Egypt!

Blog on Blogging.

I started out writing this blog nearly 6 years ago. That was when I moved to Cairo for my 6 months stint (so much for that plan!).  The idea of the blog initially was to keep all my friends, family and students informed of all that was going on but also became a record so that I wouldn’t forget all the things I was experiencing here in my new life. I have a dreadful memory. I was frightened it would all vanish if I didn’t write it down. I guess what has happened though that as life here becomes more ‘normal’ to me that I seem to write less of it down. Cairo really is my home now.

That and of course the advent of Facebook in my life, and more recently, Twitter. The one line status updates and tweets which I now record there, once would have been my starting lines for a long blog entry. I love facebook and twitter, since they allow me to be involved in other people’s lives and help make the distance between friends disappear, however I also miss the twists and turns my brain used to take when writing my blog entries! I am resolved to try to write more blog entries. You have been warned!

I have been back from UK for about 10 days now, after a months’ holiday and workshop tour there. The weather has improved in Cairo and the tourist situation seems to have improved too. Once again I am seeing people from all over the world in my audiences on the Nile Pharaoh boat. This morning, a group from Germany. Last night a big school trip from Sudan. Last week a boat full of Brits. I never realised how relieved I would feel to see so many ‘foreign’ faces in town!

It has been a very difficult year in many ways. Living in a country as it goes through a revolution.

 Even now, although the streets are peaceful, there is still unease about the city. Everyone is scared about the upcoming presidential elections. There is a fear that the army may succeed in getting in ‘one of their boys’ to replace Mubarak and then things would be just as they were, or worse than before. The other big fear is that the Muslim Brotherhood will get their man in and that things would become more and more fundamentalist. That may potentially mean more restrictions on people and their day to day lives. This is the big fear for us dancers and all who work in the entertainment and tourism industry. I cannot predict what will happen.

People joke about it on a daily basis. “What’s your plan B when dancing is banned in Egypt?” my answer is “I can’t hear you....lalalalalalalala “(obviously just in my head!)

Truth is I really don’t know what I would do. I can’t imagine Cairo without Belly dance. I can’t imagine my life anywhere else than here. I hate to think about it and I am, like all the other thousands of people in this industry, just hoping and praying it won’t go that way.

If you are thinking to come to Cairo for dance purposes, Come now. Just in case.

Let’s hope we all look back at these scary uncertain days and laugh about how stupid we were to think that Egypt could ever be without the music and dance that we love so much!

See you here soon!