By Donna Mejia, MFA and Drake von Trapp, MA
As a global community, belly dance does not have a universal code of conduct that
governs the preservation of beloved raqs sharqi traditions, nor monitored practice of
innovating and remixing belly dance. This has resulted in a number of fractures
throughout the community. Yet, this dance community is not the first to face complex
questions, confusion, and tension around the trajectory of popularization, globalization,
and glocalization of a dance form. Hip Hop, Ballet, Salsa, Dabke, Samba, and many
cultural movement practices have experienced similar trajectories. Here, we propose
and invite the reader to ethical practices with the acknowledgement that as many dance
forms move through the trajectory of popularization and globalization, there are waves
of questioning, cultural collisions, new influences, and disruptive distortions through
questionable commodification of the dance. Among all of these investigative questions,
what remains painfully clear are the harms perpetuated by colonialist legacies
throughout MENAHT and Arabian Diaspora cultures. To minimize further harm, but
avoid fueling new kinds of discrimination, we wish to offer a starter kit of questions and
best practices for furthering your journey with integrity.
We crave conversation about reconciling the challenges of exploring and participating in
fusion, innovation, and preservation of traditions, which all well-studied students and
scholars of dance know has been a part of the trajectory of all dance forms. The “new”
part of this discussion is how we collectively negotiate integrity, practice cultural
humility, create a framework for continuing education and discussion, outline
responsibilities and considerations for a dancer in a style with a history of colonialism in
an era with unprecedented and lightning fast global, human connection. Rather than
perceive ourselves as arbiters of integrity in fusion, we offer this article as a mode of
furthering of the conversations we crave to have about Fair Trade Cultural Exchange:
cultural and intellectual humility through equity.
What do we mean when we say ethics? It is undoubtedly slippery due to a contentious
splitting of hairs between different fields of study and schools of thought. As the authors
of this article, to us, ethics and ethical practices should be redefined in light of our
emerging global citizenship. Previous definitions are tinged with Eurocentrism, Western
exceptionalism, colonialism with heaps of benefits reflecting the agendas of
dominator/colonizer cultures. Global citizenship implies acknowledgement of
interconnectivity, intersectionality, interdependence, our stewardship of the ecospheres
we co-inhabit, and affirmation that tradition/preservation, and innovation/remixing can
coexist meaningfully and peacefully.
For some, ethics cannot be separated from the subjective experience; the mere act of
belly dancing as someone without cultural membership to MENAHT is inherently
unethical (Jarrar 2014, “Why I can’t stand white belly dancers”). Others believe that
practicing raqs sharqi or Middle Eastern folkloric dances are permissible, but
intentionally hybridizing it with something else is like putting “ketchup on ice cream”
(2018, “Raqs Sharqi/MENAHT Dance Discussions”). History demonstrates that
restriction of someone’s activity and learning based on identity breeds an insidious kind
of discrimination that takes generations to undo. Take, for example, the discrimination
faced by the first African American Prima ballerina, the first female conductor of an
orchestra, the first indigenous race car driver, etc.
On the other side, there are those who argue that all belly dance is hybridized to a
certain extent, so the vilification of certain stylizations of fusion is hypocritical and
fallacious. While it is true that there is no “uncolonized” version of concert belly dance,
there remains two unacknowledged components of this perspective that have to do with
sovereignty and power dynamics. For example, this perspective may pose the argument
that raqs sharqi is a hybrid of belly dance mixed with elements from ballet, such as arm
positions and turns, and therefore, raqs sharqi is just as much “fusion belly dance” as
Fat Chance style. However, this neglects to take into account Egyptian agency, which
Heather D. Ward explains in this passage from her 2018 book Egyptian Belly Dance in
Transition: “The phenomena of mimicry and hybridity, when seen as important aspects
of cultural identity production, resolve the seeming contradiction posed by raqs sharqi: a
dance form that incorporates both ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ elements, yet that has been
embraced by Egyptians as an authentically Egyptian cultural expression. Within this
framework, the hybrid nature of raqs sharqi can be viewed as the product of Egyptian
agency, rather than a distortion of ‘pure’ indigenous dance imposed by Westerners”
(Ward 2018, 14). In other words, Ward argues that the hybridization of raqs sharqi was
a consensual choice made by these dancers as an authentic artistic expression as
opposed to forced assimilation.
By contrast, in many iterations of fusion belly dance, elements from other dance styles
and cultures are incorporated without “permission.” Moreover, there exists a different
power dynamic in these two situations: One involves a native practitioner of raqs sharqi,
a dance that is generally regarded as dubious or disreputable by its cultures of origin,
taking elements from a commercially dominant and privileged Western concert dance.
In the case of fusion belly dance, this is often a result of a dancer who doesn’t hold
cultural membership with the dances and elements they are fusing, and instead takes
them out of context for the purpose of their own artistic satisfaction, and the result does
not benefit those dances, citizens, and cultures it borrows from. All of that to say, there
are ways of hybridizing that have a net positive or a net negative impact on the dances
and cultures that are utilized, and we believe that there are ways of creating fusion belly
dance with integrity.
Yet we also share deep love, respect, and admiration for traditional practices and have
loved our own deep dives of intercultural learning. In 1967 Octoavio Paz wisely
reminded us:
“What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and
repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and
peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens
life and favors death. The idea of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the
culture of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of
the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a
possibility of life...”
For this reason we equally extoll the importance of preserving heritage, narratives, and
sovereignty of human culture. To admit that our worlds are complex, polycultural,
intermingled, and in perpetual exchange does not devalue or negate preservation
efforts. What is important, is to interrogate the hegemonic structures that forcefully
impose, disrupt, and erode treasured traditions. The interdialog of cultural exchange
cannot be vilified as problematic in that process. Truthfully, increasing the number of
peace-minded citizens who value inclusivity would make our globe a sweeter place.
Tradition and innovation matter dearly and crucially. As co-authors we refuse to argue
the value of one over the other. Instead, we intend meaningful dialog between these
things, knowing how much they equally permeate and infuse the world of dance and the
long histories of all dance genres.
Dance, like music and cuisine, frequently serves as a first ambassador for the
encountering of new cultures and identities. Dance, unlike music, visual arts, and
cuisine, suffers more accusations of cultural appropriation than fusion experiments in
music and cuisine, and visual arts—where it is vigorously celebrated and financially
rewarded. We believe this is the case for two reasons.
● The sustained subjugation of world populations, and their very bodies, through
caste systems, gender discrimination, and hegemonic colonialism.
● The human body being the “last frontier” of sovereignty, since land, property,
nature, and resources have dominantly fallen under commercial or government
control.
The experience of having one’s own embodied, intimate, personal narrative overwritten,
without consent, for exploitive purposes is a violating wound so deep that it can mangle
lives. We identify our bodies as the most sacred landscape or vessel (depending on
one’s ontology and worldview) for our consciousness. We have a birthright to our
narrative without interference. It makes complete sense that dance is an embodiment of
memories, values, and experiences we hope to celebrate or preserve.
Importantly, we must consider how the pressure to restrict each other’s cross-cultural
learning has led to a kind of discrimination that extends the pain of colonialist harm into
new generations. Breakthrough practitioners of just about any craft have become
celebrated after defying barriers placed on their identity: first African American Prima
ballerina, the first female conductor, the first indigenous golfer, the first openly queer
rapper… fill-in-the-blank. Ethical practices should be a living organism of rectifying
colonialist practices, creating fairness between all parties in the process of cultural
exchange, and continuing to dialog with restorative practices that adapt to new cultural
participants and lived experiences.
We propose expanding the definition of ethics away from a fixed point; to be, instead,
emergent ethical practices we evaluate and update on a perpetual basis. Global
citizenship implies acknowledgement of interconnectivity, intersectionality,
interdependence, stewardship of the ecospheres we co-inhabit, and very importantly,
affirmation that cultural tradition/preservation and cultural innovation/remixing can
coexist meaningfully and peacefully. We must then seek ethical practices for equality
between the parties of any cultural interchange; we must acknowledge exploitative and
violent histories, and aim to not seed further harm. Cultural collisions may be inevitable,
because culture is a dynamic, living organism always in flux, and open to broad
interpretation through each body it is introduced to. When we are willing to embrace a
longtermism perspective of how our choices and practices will reverberate beyond our
circumstances, lives, and individual timeline, we conduct ourselves in ways that
welcome accountability. We wish to offer some specific starting points for ethical
considerations and practices as our global citizenship proceeds and progresses.
FOUNDATIONAL TOOLS IN FAIR TRADE CULTURAL EXCHANGE
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations in 1948
(https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/) and emphasizes the ideal
of what all humans should be able to experience in their life towards flourishing and
well-being. If ethical approaches to cultural practices and interchange are to reflect
these mutually created global values, there is some initial restorative or corrective work
to begin with regarding MENAHT citizens and cultures. Have MENAHT cultural
practices experienced an evolution and communal expression free of external
impositions such as tourism, commodification, colonization, warfare, environmental
catastrophe, religious reformation, geographic displacement, or political upheaval? No.
It is therefore imperative students and learners of all ethnicities study MENAHT cultural
practices while also learning the historic or contemporary variables that introduced
distortions, impositions, or transformations within citizens’ cultural practices (war,
religious reformation, celebrated performers, tourism, racism, economic compromise,
etc.). The context for shifts in dance traditions matters, because dance is an
archive—an experiential, embodied narrative of people’s lives and selves that should
not be dismissed or overwritten carelessly. To take great care to not supplant
someone’s lived narrative, we voluntarily examine our assumptions and power
differentials when awarding ourselves creative agency in a dance.
There is an additional perspective to consider: We must also remember that many
traditional cultural practices may validly warrant challenge. Culture is a living laboratory
for workshopping norms, and that includes cultural practices as a form of subversion
and defiance when facing hegemonically oppressive practices. If we are not clear about
how a movement experiment may impact members of a source culture, then more
research and engagement in relational learning is key.
In the world, the complexities of diplomacy and polycultural exchange require that we
begin from a place of intellectual and cultural humility; learning histories, context, and
personal narratives of the dance through active listening without trying to be extractive
of things that will personally benefit us. What might this look like in practice?
1. Welcome examinations of our positionality: the ways in which our identities
situate us, uniquely, to the dance. Both co-authors are North American, and hail
from marginalized identities in the U.S.A., yet we also have enjoyed uplifting
advantages such as scholarships for our educational explorations, and have
financially benefited as touring instructors and performers in the fusion dances of
the raqs sharqi tradition and genre. For a full disclosure of our positionalities, we
invite you to our respective websites listed at the end of this article.
2. Embrace new approaches to understanding cultural appropriation. No singular
person speaks for an entire ethnicity or culture. Acknowledging that
intergenerational complexity, if we study traditions from which we are not
endogenous, then “permission” to practice or embrace ambassadorial duties in
performance is a gradual process of accumulated consultations through sincere
relationships, friendship, alliances, and upliftment of source citizens—yielding as
many reflections and perspectives as possible. This may mean pausing on
commercial aspirations to allow our learning to season and ripen through
alliance, relationship, and mentorship. Remaining open to ongoing feedback is
vital to our lifelong intellectual and cultural humility.
3. Enjoy learning new perspectives and practices, for it brings a beautiful expansion
and dimensionalization of the self. Equally, enjoy the liberation of un-learning
colonialist practices and values that advantage dominator cultures and
perpetuate pain and dehumanization.
4. Accept that mistakes may happen, and they are an opportunity to practice
curating cultures of repair, and can impart significant learning. We want to live in
a world in which learning is not vilified or weaponized. We would rather foster
exchange and understanding over pensive withdrawal and avoidance. We may
not always find receptivity for our questions and confusions, but sometimes we
will—and learning rushes in with a vitality that rings deep and true for us. The
best part is we have the opportunity to expand our family of artistic collaborators
and meaningful friendships.
5. Embrace the “Fumble forward” framework (Mejia, 2019); avoiding new
knowledge creates a myopic perspective/worldview, and leaning away from
curiosity is a missed opportunity. Fumble Forward is a preemptive
communication offering before a question is put forth. It is a request to suspend
judgment for the next 5 minutes to allow for confusion, curiosity, and learning.
We preface our question by saying something like “I invite you to decline this
question if you prefer, but there is something I’m learning for the first time here
and I wonder if you might allow me to ask you a question. I may fumble with my
words a little, and I invite you to correct me on any misstatements or
assumptions in my question.” We must humble ourselves to the lived
experiences of those who are indigenous and endogenous to the source cultures
that inspire us. Rather than performing expertise, we can better invest energy in
locating more questions in the spirit of investigative learning. We can embrace
research versus react mode to expand any moment of inquiry and curiosity. We
can listen and observe more than talk and evaluate. We can seek to be
trustworthy so our questions will be received generously.
6. Approach polyculturalism through the “Tourist v traveler” paradigm (“Semiotics of
Tourism” Jonathan Culler, 1990). A tourist demands convenience, ease, and
immediacy without any feeling of discomfort, and craves to project fantasies
centralizing their importance onto the experience. Travelers understand they may
not have mastered the language, may experience confusion and disorientation,
may get lost, and need to ask for help; but they will be transformed by a journey
that makes it worth every weirdness.
7. And lastly, holistically invigorate one’s movement practice by actively seeking out
history, music, and socio-political education. We live in a time with
unprecedented access to information through a variety of means, and we are not
blank slates extracted from sociocultural, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical
landscapes. It is the opinion of the authors that studying these facets of dance
concurrently with a movement practice is imperative to the ethical
conceptualization of fusion.
CONCLUSION
Fusion belly dance holds the capacity for both great harm and great learning. The
practice of hybridity cannot be removed from its history of cultural collision,
appropriation, and colonialism, and the choice to endeavor in fusion necessitates an
ongoing reconciliation with one’s relationship with this history. As previously stated, this
article is not intended to be a prescriptive code of conduct for fusion dancers. Instead, it
is an invitation to join the ongoing conversation about how to navigate the complex
questions, confusions, and tensions in fusion belly dance in light of our emerging global
citizenship. Moreover, our aim is that these proposed practices will help to foster a
culture of recursive education, curiosity, and self-examination so that dancers feel
empowered to create fusion with integrity. Engaging in further research and fostering
connections across cultures isn't an exercise in confronting our shortcomings or getting
an edge on the competition in the commercial aspects of the fusion dances of the raqs
sharqi tradition. Instead, it offers us an opportunity to find deeper inspiration through
solidarity, embracing the richness of our diverse perspectives and beautiful differences.
AUTHORS
Donna Mejia: www.DonnaInTheDance.com
Drake von Trapp: www.DrakevonTrapp.dance
Initiative Website: https://gatheratthedelta.com/
WORKS CITED
Culler, Jonathan. 1981. “The Semiotics of Tourism.” American Journal of
Semiotics 1 (1/2): 127–40.
Jarrar, Randa. 2014. “Why I Can’t Stand White Belly Dancers.” Salon, March 4,
2014.
Paz, Octavio. “The Between Mexico And Its Diverse Culture” (1967 essay
reprint). A history of Mexican literature / edited by Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado
(Washington University in Saint Louis), Anna M. Nogar (University of New
Mexico), José Ramón Ruisánchez Serra (University of Houston). New York, NY,
USA : Cambridge University Press. 2016.
8
Raqs Sharqi/MENAHT Dance Discussions, “So sick of that; just put the square peg in
the square hole and call it belly dance. Belly dance is dance to music from the
countries of origin, and plugging it into, or more accurately, laying it on top of
other music, is, to me, like putting ketchup on ice cream. There's a reason that
the dance and music developed together. Yes, it's hard to get the feeling of the
ethnic dances - but if one really wants to do it one can with study and immersion
- why just give up?” Facebook, September 1, 2018,
?comment_id=1040723626097574&reply_comment_id=1040729739430296.
Ward, Heather D. 2018. Egyptian Belly Dance in Transition: The Raqs Sharqi
Revolution, 1890-1930. Illustrated edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland
& Company.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, 1948
(https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/). Accessed January
2020.