traditional dances

Frankly, Gulf arabs are a bit conflicted over the issue of dancing. They love it, but it's haram (forbidden religiously); they watch it enthusiastically, but they look down upon it.

Everyone has heard about Belly Dancing and The Dance of the Seven Veils. Well, I've seen Emiratis do Egyptian belly dancing here, but not in the little outfit--not on Gulf Arabs. Traditional Gulf dances are quite conservative, nonerotic (except that the vision of a lot of loose long black hair is pretty exciting), and usually performed in a line of 5 or more dancers. The movements are slow and consist more of bobbing up and down armlessly than of undulation. Yet they have a dignified grace about them.

There are many traditional dances, performed by the various tribes of this region. The most well known ones are the Hair Dance (performed by women), the Sword Dance, the Stick Dance, and the Shell Dance (performed by men). The dances originally had the function of unifying the tribe, such as at the advent of impending armed conflict with another tribe, or at the start of the pearling season for the coastal tribes. The Hair Dance was performed at weddings and other celebrations. Now, all of these dances are performed at the huge National Day Celebrations which are held over three days in December (December 2nd is the UAE's National Day, since 1971). The pictures here were taken at performances given on Abu Dhabi's corniche, in 1993.

july 2, 1999

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