Welcome to February's Zameena!
💖 It's the month of LOVE! 💖
This is the shortest month but it's jam-packed with Bellydance Love events and other celebrations:
Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, Pancake Day,
to name just a few.
Zameena is also jam-packed with bellydance love and celebrations!
We are over the moon to introduce you to our Resident Writer for 2021.
It's Mark Balahadia!
Yaaaaaay!
Based in New York, Mark is well respected as a researcher into the language, music and dance of the Arab World. In addition to dancing Raqs Sharqi, he specialises in the dance styles of Iraq and the Arabian Gulf where his YouTube channel has a large following. Mark's other interests include food/cooking, skin/hair care and cats!
Back in November we had a competition to guess who would be the Resident Writer in 2021. Only two people guessed correctly.
CONGRATULATIONS to the winner, Hannah in Kidlington, who received the red veil and a pair of earrings was sent to Anna in Wachtendonk, Well Done!
In Info Spot this month Sabia Nayeli (Asmara Bellydance Initiative) tells us about an exciting, upcoming show, Attack of the Bellydancers with the theme of Nightmares & Dreamscapes, which will support The Egyptian Orphan Fund
In Music Corner we have the latest tunes from Cairo.
There's lots more! So, grab a cup of your favourite brew, sit back and enjoy as we hand over to
MARK: 2021s RESIDENT WRITER
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Learn
the
Language
Dammit!
Why
learning a language
from the
Middle East
can improve
your
dancing
By Mark Balahadia
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It is ludicrously self-explanatory but learning a language from the Middle East, whether it is Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, or the myriad other languages of the region, is helpful for professional dancers - whether they perform raqs sharqi or another dance from the region.
But I am surprised by the number of dancers (the vast majority) who have little knowledge of one of these languages and how they use flimsy excuses as to why they have not even tried.
As a result, I feel the need to discuss how learning Arabic helped me become a better dancer and improve my understanding of the cultures of the Arab World in general.
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Let's Enjoy Classic Egyptian Dance With Mark
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When I embarked on my journey of learning and performing various folk and performance dances of the Middle East, I had a vague idea that I wanted to learn Arabic or Turkish. However, I only started getting serious after I broke up with my (crazy) Arabic poet ex-boyfriend who tried to teach me some Arabic but ended up only teaching me words involving sex or insults.
After that bizarre episode in my life, I took a semester of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) with my friend Theron in Washington, DC. We learned the Arabic abjad and basic grammar. I had a distinct advantage in that class since I already could pronounce all the difficult sounds most people have trouble with (thanks crazy ex-boyfriend). Also, I was raised in a bilingual household and I took Japanese for three years (American education can be notoriously mono-lingual).
During that time, I also traveled to Lebanon a few times, which was confusing since Lebanese Arabic is often divergent in pronunciation and vocabulary compared to MSA. After that, I tried speaking (bad) Lebanese Arabic and failed miserably.
After a few years of not really learning Arabic, I signed up with Italki.com, a website that connects students with online teachers in countries around the world to have one on one lessons on Skype (this was before Zoom). I hired a teacher from Egypt with extensive teaching in MSA and Tajweed (the set of rules governing the proper pronunciation of letters during recitation of the Quran). It was then that my Arabic got a lot better. The personalized lessons in MSA grammar really improved my Arabic and was a “stepping stone” to learning a dialect of Arabic that would suit my professional needs.
As I was teaching and dancing in NYC, I honed my skills and did a lot of research on the dances of Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. I also gathered a following on social media for my Iraqi rada7 performances and I became viral several times in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
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Rada7 with Mark (We love the hair swaying in this dance!)
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It was during this time that I befriended several friends from Saudi Arabia. My Saudi friends told me that since my followers are mostly from Saudi and Iraq, that I should speak a dialect closer to Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. They recommended the Riyadhi dialect, which is well known and understood in Saudi and the Arabian Gulf countries, and is superficially closer to MSA. They started speaking to me in that dialect only and helped me switch.
So how has studying Arabic improved my dancing?
Although I still have just a working conversational ability in Arabic, my incomplete understanding of the language gives my dancing context.
When I listen to a song from Dalia Mubarak (a popular Saudi pop singer), I understand enough to get a general idea of what the song is about and use gestures that are culturally appropriate to the music.
I am also able to connect to Arabs through my dancing and through my speaking ability. For example, at Khaliji dance parties, my ability to speak Riyadhi Arabic has opened doors into the lives of people in that region and I have gained access to information that would otherwise be inaccessible.
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For those who are interested in learning Arabic, I recommend that you take at least two classes in Modern Standard Arabic.
Going straight into Egyptian Arabic is odd because you will be able to understand Egyptians but you will not be able to understand other dialects of Arabic.
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Even though Egyptian is well understood, due to cinema and music, it does not mean that other Arab nationalities are going to switch dialects just to help you understand.
For example, since I speak Riyadhi Arabic, I still have trouble understanding Egyptian dialect (although my comprehension has increased). After getting a decent foundation in MSA, I would then recommend for people to switch over to a dialect like Egyptian, Levantine, Iraqi, or Peninsular dialects. Although MSA can have difficult grammar, understanding of that grammar makes it easier to switch to dialects, where the grammar tends to be a streamlined version of MSA.
And nowadays, even if you live in an area that does not have face-to-face classes, one-on-one online classes via zoom are an amazing alternative and you can have your classes customized to your needs and skill level. I have used Italki for my MSA classes and I use the HiNative app to ask questions about the Arabic language that are colloquial in nature (like a new slang word or a new expression that is hot in the Khaleej).
For those who are not good with languages, I recommend translating all the songs you plan on dancing to, even if it just means getting a gist of the song. You should also choreograph a few parts of the chorus in order to make it more sense with the lyrics. Adding these elements can add further depth and meaning to your dancing.
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A Great Big
THANK YOU
to Mark
for being our Resident Writer this year and for such a thought provoking article!
Mark Balahadia مارك الأمريكي
Will be back in May
Till then you can connect with
him on:
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Info Spot
