On Sexuality and Human Race (not to mention Oriental Dance)

The idea of talking about Sensuality, Sexuality and the ancient connection of these to Oriental Dance has been in my head for quite some time. It´s not a new subject - that´s for sure. But it seems to - insistently - remain on the eternal questions drawer.

On the last Saturday Conference I organized in Lisbon (Portugal) - with the collaboration of some portuguese professionals of the Oriental Dance scene in Portugal  - THE theme came to life once more. 

Why Oriental Dance - egyptian dance, raks sharki, belly dance, etc - is still so deeply and negatively associated with SEXUALITY - more than mere sensuality?!


*First you have to GET THIS:

Oriental Dance will NEVER be understood and respected as the ancient Art and Healing form it REALLY is while WOMEN and SEXUALITY are not TOTALLY FREE and DIGNIFIED.
The nature and purpose of this dance is deeply linked with women and sex - two of the most feared, hated-loved, worshiped-destroyed VALUES of Human History.

So here I lay the - less than - candid suggestion: have a healthy, natural, happy SEX LIFE and then your mind and eyes will be clean enough to let u see through a dancer´s body, movements and freedom of expression.
May I also wish for a brighter mentality towards women; a mentality that stop dividing them into the two old, rotten shelves (wife-mother-martyr-virgin OR the whore-free-wild Lilith). I mean: really?! We´ve passed beyond the 20th century. We´ve learnt how to build machines who do everything imagination/reality could ever create and we STILL divide WOMEN into these two limiting and ridiculous cathegories. 

Time to wake up!



* Secondly:
Last minute BIG NEWS: we are sexual beings, quite like the animals we also are. Have you ever forgotten it? Maybe a National Geographic matinee would help. 
Sure we have a - supposedly - more developed mind (on some aspects) in relation to other animals; we have proclaimed ourselves superior (attesting much to our own ignorance, as far as I´m concerned) to other animals, done and said a million idiotic assumptions but the FACT is WE ARE ANIMALS. SEXUAL ANIMALS (take that in your pipe and - sensually - smoke it, please). 
Accepting that FACT will not turn us into perverts, ninfomaniacs and sexual offenders; denying this FACT does it. 
The more we repress, deny, distort our human nature the more freaky behaviors we will create (you just have to take a look at Saudi Arabia and many countries with the false morality of the current Middle East to see examples of this everywhere).


* Thirdly:
Dance - any kind of dance - is a sensual and sexual experience because it MOVES everything a Human Being is: body, mind, heart, senses, soul: EVERYTHING, I repeat.
Oriental Dance is - probably - the most sensuous of all dance types because it´s the one who allows a TOTAL FREEDOM of EXPRESSION where the limits are beyond the sky and the earth. FREEDOM is VERY SEXY - so is Oriental Dance.
There´s no forbidden movement; no shameful body part, feeling, sensation. Oriental Dance ACCEPTS HUMAN BEINGS as the TOTAL, COMPLEX, COLORFUL stars they are and not understanding THAT is underestimating this dance form.

Also notice that this Art form is so fantastic that gathers sky and earth in the blink of an eye. It´s not all about the feeling and not the mind; or about spirituality to the exclusion of emotions or physical pleasure. It´s ALL wrapped inside a single person.

 The "TARAB" so many speak about (the touchstone of oriental dance terminology - as desired and allusive as a physical orgasm) exemplifies what I am saying: Oriental Dance is a HUMAN- HOLISTIC experience and THAT is scary for many of us. This alchemy-dance proves that we can be sensuous and spiritual at the same time; physical and intellectual; earthy and heavenly. It does not exclude a bit of the TREASURE POT we are.


*Fourthly:

A Dancer is a mirror of her audience´s fantasies, frustrations, dreams, unconscious unresolved issues. I´m not trying to be Freud over here but I´ve seen it thousands of times: people (audiences, students, reporters who interview me, etc) project a lot of their mental, emotional and spiritual luggage on me, as a dancer. Nobody means to do so - consciously. And yet a DANCER who is truly and totally OPEN - vulnerable is the word -  it´s an irresistible mirror for "watchers". 

I´m also not saying there aren´t "amateur dancers" who use this craft dishonestly - disrespecting themselves, the art form and the ancient culture that gave birth to it. Of course there are many "dancers" who misuse the craft to their own financial profit and present it as a cheap, exotic streap-tease like number. But those are not REAL DANCERS - much less REAL ARTISTS. And those do NOT represent ORIENTAL DANCE in all its richness and high purpose.

Spicy tip for the road: get your act-life together; enjoy all the pleasures Life has to offer as a GIFT they are for all of us; get a grip; get over yourself (your ego); get an orgasm ( or multiple orgasms, for God´s sake); get a nice woman-man and make love like the human beings (animal side included) we are; understand WOMEN are not puppets you can locate on this or that shelf and then we can return to the good old "SEXUAL BELLY DANCE TALK".

NOTE: here´s a BONUS TRACK (fantastic article written by Joumana Haddad on "sexuality" in the Middle East). Check how West and East are not SO different - after all - on many disturbing points. 

Follow the LINK: https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/lets_talk_about_sex_habibi