First published Taqasim Winter 2001

Last year I was asked by Almeh Amira (Christine Hall) if I could take a workshop that she was unable to teach due to previous commitments. It was for the Trefoil Guild at their Annual meeting in March 2001. For those of you that don’t know, the Trefoil Guild is a non-uniformed section of the Guide association, whose members make/renew the Guide/Scout Promise and help out within the community.

I would be teaching absolute beginners level to more mature ladies and so planned my workshops accordingly – I would not expect them to be able to shimmy for too long! I got in touch with Shirley the co-ordinater, who told me that all the ladies were quite excited at the prospect of being taught how to belly dance! I would be teaching two one-hour workshops with tea and biscuits at half time and also with an invitation to join them for lunch if I were early enough.

I arrived at the church hall in Croydon on a damp, chilly March afternoon, and when I entered the main hall in search of Shirley and was confronted by the sight of over 200 ladies sipping wine with their lunch. One of my first thoughts was – suppose they are all tipsy for the workshops? I could cope with a few giggles but a whole hour? I was relieved when I found out it was a wine tasting lunchtime lecture that had overrun. I was shown to my allocated room and waited for the arrival of the first workshop participants.

Almeh had asked if I could wear a nice costume, but as the day had dawned in my home town of Reading I realized that standing around in a bedlah in what could be a chilly hall all afternoon was becoming less of an option. So I decided that if I wore two different costumes I could perhaps tell them a little more history. I decided on a green sequin paillete dress for the first and a gold bead crotchet dress for the second workshop, with my trusty long black nightdress underneath. I could talk about the Ghawazee for the first class and about baladi for the second class.

As the ladies entered the room I found out that most of them knew each other and so there wasn’t any “ice-breaking” needed for them – just them getting to know me. I try and do this by handing out my coin belts and saying that they really needed to wear their scarves on their hips - because all the action was going to be coming from that area (generally after all the comments “I’ve got a big belly – will this help get rid of it?”). This always starts the ladies off by looking around to see who has the most and generally who can make the most noise!

I then explained about my costumes. When I asked the ladies they had expected the 2-piece outfit but were interested to know about the dresses – it gave me an opportunity to explain the history behind the different styles of Middle Eastern Dance and the influences that led to the development of the recognizable bedlah.

And so onto the workshop itself. I was really surprised how quickly they picked up side to sides, figure eights and hip rotations. So I decided to get them in a folky mood and introduced them to linear Kash La Maar – which they took to very quickly and enjoyed travelling up and down the room, arms linked and trying to keep themselves in time with either neighbour! Of course at the end of the class we tried out some hip shimmies and once again it was a case of who could make the most noise with their coin belts!!

I thoroughly enjoyed teaching these two groups of ladies and I think that two main preconceptions were laid to rest. For them it was the fact that not all Middle Eastern Dance is about bedlahs and skimpy costumes; for me, it was the fact that no matter how mature your students are you should never underestimate how much they can learn and actually do!

© Emma Pyke