In addition to her ongoing teaching and performing activites, Morocco has been doing week-long seminars, commuting to Europe twice a year to do seminars and concerts, leading tours to Egypt and Morocco, and making research trips. Long-time contributor Morocco revives the debate on the historical authenticity and appropriateness of the use of floorwork in the dance.
A while ago in Habibi there was a letter from a man who said he was of Mideastern origin, and that he was disgusted by something he saw here, that he never saw where he came from, and that he considered disgusting: floorwork.
I’d like to know where he has been hiding for the past thousand years or so. I assume he is not Moroccan, or he most certainly would have known about the Guedra, a good part of which is done on the knees, Schikhatt has parts on the knees and sometimes almost flat on the back, the Ahouaches of both Imin Tanout and Pasha Glaoui have steps on the knees; part of Oriental dance (Raks Sharki), as done there, is on the knees and called "Danse du Scheherezade" -- don’t ask me why, I don’t know.
I am willing to believe he has never seen a Gnaoui trance dance, done almost entirely on the knees and back, since it is sacred, and never done in public. What about the tray dance, done by both sexes, wherein performers descend to the floor with a tray (and glasses) on their heads and do several steps there, to demonstrate their skill in balancing, even lying on their backs and stomachs and rolling over -- slowly of course! What about the Egyptian "Raks al Shemodan" - the fascinating Candelabrum dance, done mostly at weddings, which definitely includes "showoff" floorwork?!
He could not have been Lebanese, Syrian, or Jordanian because the reknowned Nadia Gamal worked there for 35 years before her very untimely death, and always included floorwork, as did just about every other dancer in those countries, before it became "in" to imitate or out - gimmick current Egyptian dancers and their videos.
He is not Turkish or from any of the Turkic or Central Asian countries, where Oriental dance is a part of the tradition -- they do floorwork and have many other dances, where parts are done on the knees. I am not referring just to those at the lower end of the Turkish 'Oryantal' scene, working in some Istanbul nightclubs, who do some unbelievably vulgar floorwork, wearing costumes that make it possible to do a gynecological exam from the back of the audience.
Historical accounts by conquering Roman officers describe Iberian dancing girls, who sank, with quivering thighs, to the ground. It is a fact that during Mohamed Ali’s reign in Egypt, in order to toady up to the British imperialists’ filthy-minded Mid-Victorian sensibilities, he first banned floorwork and the quiver (because of its use in the notorious "dance" known as the "Bee"), then banished all dancers from Cairo for several years.
However, several accurate (as versus fantasy) Orientalist paintings and lithographs exist with dancers on their knees, some with a tray or sword balanced on their heads, some without. There are descriptions of movements, done in a kneeling position, in the course of an Oriental dance, in several eye-witness accounts from Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Central Asia, Azerbaijan, etc.
King Farouk, the last of the Ottoman rulers of Egypt, was notorious for many things, among them his love of Oriental dance and dancers. After the 1952 revolution, Oriental dance was prohibited on religious grounds by a Dr. Rageb, but allowed again in 1954: they needed all those tourist dollars and the people demanded it, especially for weddings. However, certain restrictions were imposed:
If a dancer disobeyed and was caught by somebody from the Artist Licensing Ministry (Tafteesh el Feini), she would be fined, jailed, or lose her license, thereby losing her right to perform for pay in public.
The above leads me to deduce that the letter writer was possibly Egyptian, but that does not let him off my hook: part of Raks al Shemadan (Candelabrum dance) is done on the knees, on the floor, and sometimes flat out, but the dancer gets away with it because it is considered "folklore".
In 1979, Negwa Fouad did one of the best of her ever - changing shows, where she came out in a sedan chair, carried by two Nubian hunks, to the music of "Sitt el Hosni". During that dance, Negwa did floorwork, lying on her side. I captured it on my #4 videotape: "Stars of Egyptian Dance -- Negwa Fouad, Soheir Zaki, Aza Sherif".
How did she get away with it? Easy: she was the biggest dance star of her time, married to the manager of all the Sheraton Hotels, and the dance was described as being that of an Odalisque of the Ottoman Turkish (Farouk) era. OK, then explain how she got away with more floorwork, in another dance later in that show . . . I loved that show . . . she also did her 40’s dance-hall hooker number: "Dandasha" - a real hoot!
Forty-five years ago(!), when I started in this business, all the dancers did floorwork: Turks, Lebanese, Algerians, Assyrians, Armenians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, Moroccans, Greeks and Americans, in clubs and at family celebrations all over the U.S. and Europe, and in most clubs -- except those in Egypt -- that I visited or worked in throughout the Near and Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Caucasus. It was considered an integral and expected part of the dance, so we did floorwork. There were standards of good taste and technique; some met them, some not, but the fact was, and remains, that floorwork is a valid, "authentic" part of an Oriental dance.
So what happened? Almost nobody does floorwork anymore. For many reasons it seems to have gone out of style:
As with any other part of the dance, it is up to the dancer as to whether or not to do it. However, like the boy scouts, you should be prepared, should the desire, proper floor and audience present themselves. Learn floorwork and practice, practice, practice. At the very least, it is great for the front thigh muscles.