Raqs Nerd: Ah ya leily, ya ainy 🎶

And so we begin this new adventure... With the magical words that transform the ordinary world, into a temporary gateway to the sublime. Ya leily, ya ainy يا ليلي يا عيني - "Oh my night! Oh, my eye!"

If you (like me) didn't grow up around spoken Arabic at all, this formula - the default words for singers to improvise on, from time immemorial - might seem a little puzzling at first.

Why those specific words? Why eyes?

But listen to enough Arabic music, pay heed to the lyrics, and you start to get it.

The night; the time for music, for good friends and good company, for shared joy with no idea how much time might have passed... The time of the moon, the stars, and of star-crossed lovers

Eyes; capturing hearts with a burning glance, or being overwhelmed by unbearable beauty... Flowing with tears, or staying wide open into the small hours dreaming of what might have been, or what might yet be

Ah, ya leily, ya ainy! - this is the magic spell that encompasses it all, in a tantalising suggestion of the bittersweet delight still to come. The words that mark our passage from our daily lives of going to work, doing the washing up, and paying taxes, into the realm of art.

And so, today, we enter the realm of art together

And in this enchanted place, I had originally planned to write a little more about music for you today - but events have got ahead of me.

And with the many heated and important conversations which have been happening in the online bellydance community this week regarding the privilege of non-Egyptian dancers in Egypt and the colonial double standards which harm native Egyptian performers, I feel I need to instead make it clear where I stand on some important matters:

First of all - in this space, and in my work, the source cultures come first, and artists from the source cultures come first.

If my own work has value, I hope that it is in helping to reshape the bellydance community in a way that recentres native artists, and in helping to create a genuinely welcoming and supportive space in this community for native dancers at all levels of participation - all the way from beginner students and social dancers, to working professionals, to international superstars.

Now, I have already been through plenty of dark nights of the soul regarding whether it's ethical for me, a British dancer of european heritage, to be practicing this dance in a professional capacity at all. Because this is not the first time these types of issues have been discussed, if you've been around for a while and paying attention.

But the question I always came back in those moments to was, does anyone actually benefit if I give up dance? Or would that just be a dramatic emotional response to my discomfort, that actually serves nobody? And can I create more positive change in the world if I keep going, and strive to build a strong ethical compass, whilst uplifting dancers and musicians from the source cultures wherever I have the power to do so?

By the fact that I'm here writing this, you can see that I chose the second path.

That of staying here to do the work, listening quietly to a range of perspectives from the source cultures, and absorbing and processing what they have to say, then acting upon it with thought and intention rather than jumping into kneejerk responses.

Of gently settling into the role of a guest, who is profoundly grateful to be able to engage with an (in my, admittedly biased, view) exceptionally rich and beautiful artistic tradition that isn't my own, and to be able to meet and work with wonderful people from those cultures - rather than being driven by ego or desire to always be the star, the best, the most important, the centre of attention.

If you're also a non-native dancer, then I look forward to continuing this work together, in a spirit of appreciation and gratitude for the cultures and people whose traditional arts we are privileged to be vistors in.

And if you are a native dancer, then I am honoured that you are here, I hope you will find much to enjoy in my future writing, and I am always open to conversations and suggestions as to how we can have more impact in shifting the balance in this community towards source artists and teachers.

With Love,

PS - I must mention that the next source dancer I am hosting here in Manchester UK is the brilliant Tevec on the 25th & 26th of April, teaching a whole weekend of workshops on Turkish bellydance - from Turkish Oryantal, to live drum solos, to modern Roman Havasi! A rare chance to learn Turkish style dance from a Turkish instructor, here in the north of England 😊

(there will also be an online option available for Tevec's lecture on the history & current status of bellydance in Istanbul - single workshop bookings open 1st of March)

PPS - every part of this newsletter is written by me, a flesh and blood human being, using my own thoughts, feelings, opinions, and writing style - now and always. This is a generative AI free zone 🚫🤖

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