During one of the Egyptian cultural booths I usually conduct in different events and places, I had someone approach me asking,
“Why don’t Egyptians have a cultural performance in this show?”
Given the cultural context of where I was, I knew for sure that the person meant the type of cultural representation that caters to music and shows that rely on movements and rotations, which is something my business doesn’t actually serve. So, I referred the person to another Artsy organisation that facilitates this type of activity, and I told him that this dance thing is out of my scope.🎯
While I am not so happy with how the organisation that I previously referred to was representing/ misrepresenting my own culture, I still reference it because, unfortunately, it is the one and only organisation that does cultural dance activities/shows.💁🏻♀️
Well, to be honest, there is a stigma around the issue of Egyptian cultural performances, because many Western folks, if not all of them, who are familiar with the Arab/ Egyptian festivals and cultural performances, will only characterise Egyptians with belly dance😕🙇🏻♀️
It’s not only INAPPROPRIATE, but it’s also not a truthful cultural representation because belly dance is only attributed to nightclubs and nightlife, which is one aspect of many business aspects happening in Egypt, and only one type of dance among other dances that are performed and practiced in different cities and areas depending on where exactly you’re coming from…
It’s like if you’re saying that Seattle is the City of Marijuana because you can tell, people are on drugs at any time of the day; kinda swimming in Marijuana👀, no doubt, you can tell that the Marijuana business is performing very well in Seattle. But, diffidently, you can’t attribute the whole city to one type of activity that has been going on within its boundaries all day long. Right?💁🏻♀️
I was expecting people to be familiar with other types of cultural performances as well, like Semsemeya dance in Port Said and Ismailia (North of Egypt), or Nubian dance in Aswan and south of Egypt, or Saeedy/ Hattaba dance with hand sticks (mid to south Egypt).
I wish people would know more about Egyptian scientists, and Egyptian universities like Al-Azhar University, which is one of the biggest and oldest universities teaching Islamic theology.😔
Anyhow, I am happy to inform and help you refine your search when it comes to Egyptian culture.
If you have any questions or are looking to collaborate, I would be happy to answer your questions at this email
Kindly look up the website at OUR SERVICES to find more.
In gratitude,
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