Belly dance performances, classes, and workshops online and in Delft and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Voorstellingen, lessen en workshops buikdans online en in Delft en Rotterdam, Nederland.
I know a lot of you live really far away from MENAHT countries, so I thought it might be nice to share a little about my recent trip to Türkiye.
I spent 10 days in Konakli, which is part of Alanya, in Türkiye. I did a lot of running in the beautiful hills and around the coast, and I did see some dance! Scroll on from some pictures and videos.
Below: Siobhan Camille at the Alaynya Castle, and Siobhan Camille at Cleopatra Beach
Below: Siobhan Camille during a run along the coast in Konakli, and a view from below the Alanya Castle during a run Siobhan made around Alanya and back to Konakli
Below: Turkish Oryantal Dancer (Belly dancer) in Alanya
This was my second time visiting Türkiye, but I’ve never actually been to Istanbul! I’ve only been to Konakli, Alanya, and Yeniköy, Mumcular.
Both times I’ve visited, I asked around about seeing dancers, but it seems that outside of Istanbul, you don’t really see “belly dancers” unless you’re at a super touristy location, and often only in the high tourist season.
I saw the show above at a hotel in Konakli, kind of by chance! And I actually didn’t even expect to see a Turkish Oryantal dancer – I thought it was going to be an entirely “folklore” show. So this was a nice surprise! If you’re interested, I’ve added another few clips of dancers I saw on my YouTube channel.
Afonso et al. go through some simple questions: “Can I?” versus “Do I have to?” stretch in multiple scenarios.
Let’s dive in! 🏊♀️
The effects of stretching on injury risk
From Afonso et. al’s 2021 Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis:
“The answer to “Can I stretch?” is yes—it probably will not increase injury risk.
But the answer to “do I have to stretch?” is “possibly no”—as the likelihood of decreasing the injury risk is contentious.”
So if you want to stretch after dancing, and it feels good, go for it! It’s a good time to work on your range of motion and flexibility. But decades of research suggests that it will likely not make much difference to your injury risk.
The effects of stretching on recovery
Both a Cochrane review (a type of rigorous and routinely updated Systematic Review) and a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis did not support stretching to aid recovery or lessen delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in any clinically important way.
That means that it wasn’t meaningful enough to be impactful. So even if we do stretch, it won’t make a difference that we would actually benefit from. We’ll still be sore if we’ve trained in a way that’s new, or more difficult than usual!
The best way to not get sore? Train consistently, and progress gradually!
Did you learn something new about stretching?
My name is Siobhan Camille.
I’m an exercise scientist and a professional dancer.
I love helping dancers get better, stronger, and more resilient.
I offer the Dance Strong Challenge year-round to support dancers in getting stronger. Find out more here.
I’m back to bust some more movement myths! So – is it dangerous to let your knees move over your toes?
TL;DR: NO! Knees passing forward over the toes is a normal everyday movement
If you walk down stairs, crouch down to get something out of a cupboard, or kneel on the ground – your knees pass over your toes.
It’s a normal, functional movement pattern. And the knees – like all other joints – are capable of adapting to all kinds of movements, so long as we progress them gradually!
A hinge is a hinge, and a squat is a squat
Sometimes this fear of knees-over-toes (a very natural movement) causes us to change our movement patterns.
I sometimes see dancers teaching strength exercises like a squat with a huge hip hinge. But in the world of strength training: a hinge is a hinge, and a squat is a squat.
Deep level changes with an upright torso:
More similar to a squat pattern
Big hip exterior hip circles where the hips travel back and the knees stay relatively still:
More similar to a hinge pattern
So… What is a hinge and a what is a squat?
In a hinge movement, the hips go backward. By shifting the weight backward, we load the hamstrings and glutes more.
In a squat movement, we sit straight down, allowing the knees to travel forward, and maintaining a relatively upright torso. This allows us to load the quads a bit more, AND to get deeper in a squat (further loading the quads!).
Restricting the knees from tracking forward just redistributes force elsewhere
A study examining the back squat movement found that not letting the knees come forward “may minimize stress on the knees,” but forces are then “inappropriately transferred to the hips and low-back region. Thus, appropriate joint loading during this exercise [the squat] may require the knees to move slightly past the toes.” (Fry et al., 2003).
Knees coming forward over toes may even be a good thing!
This 2023 paper (Illmeier & Rechberger) stated: “…it may be favorable or even necessary to allow a certain degree of anterior knee displacement in order to achieve optimal training outcomes and minimize the biomechanical stress imparted on the lumbar spine and hip. Overall, restricting this natural movement is likely not an effective strategy for healthy trained individuals.”
If you have an injury, of course you should adjust!
When people have knee pain, I often suggest making their bodyweight squats more hingey!
But this doesn’t mean that knees travelling forward over toes is dangerous.
It’s a bit like when you get a sunburn. You don’t want to go out in the sun again right away. You want to cover up and use aloe vera until it’s healed.
Injuries are the same – we avoid certain movements in acute phases, then work our way back towards them as part of the rehabilitation process.
What does any of this have to do with Raqs Sharqi?!
I still see well-meaning dance teachers telling their students to avoid level changes and “save them for the stage” because of a fear of the knees going over toes too often.
You will not tolerate more by doing less.
We would be much be prepared for the demands of our dance if we… prepared for the demands of our dance!
That means slowly building up towards movements we want to carry out on stage, through practising them, and through strengthening the movement patterns (like squats!) similar to the dance movements we want to achieve.
Did you learn something new about movement?
My name is Siobhan Camille.
I’m an exercise scientist and a professional dancer.
I love helping dancers get better, stronger, and more resilient.
This post was originally written for Siobhan Camille’s newsletter subscribers in 2022, and updated after another trip to Egypt in 2023. To receive cultural tidbits like this in your inbox, sign up for the Greenstone Dance Arts newsletter!
Different venues and contexts for raqs sharqi (“belly dance”) in Cairo
I’m going to dive into some of the different venues in which you can see raqs sharqi (“belly dance”) in Cairo, and how these spaces (and the clientele) affects the kind of dance you see in Egypt. Let’s dive in!
Above: Being showered with money in a Cairo Cabaret
Nile Boat Restaurants (Moored)
These don’t move, and are boats that are moored and often have a club, different kinds of restaurants, and sometimes a cabaret all on the same boat.
I went to the Blue Nile to see Egyptian dance superstar Sahar Samara.The place was packed so it was hard to get a great view, but thankfully Sahar is super tall!
She danced with her band on a non-raised stage, but did travel around the room for tips and taheyya (the shout outs the singer gives to generous tippers) and danced right in front of us then!
This particular restaurant had a largely Egyptian clientele, who were obviously there for Sahar (most of the crowd left after Sahar’s act, even though there was a DJ afterwards) and very super excited and vocal.
There was a mix of families, women, and men. We saw Vlada first around 11:30pm, and Sahar came on around 1:30am (I think!). We were home by around 3am.
Above: Sahar Samara at the Blue Nile
Above: Sahara Samara at the Blue Nile
Cruising Nile Boats
These are the boats that do the cruises you often hear of as a tourist. Like restaurants, there are different kinds of cruising boats at different pay scales and catering to different audiences.
I went on one specifically to see UK/Egyptian dancer Zara. She dances on that boat specifically because it has more of an Egyptian clientele, so I didn’t see any of the boats that were super touristy.
There were a lot of families on this particular boat, and they also had a shaabi singer and well-known tanoura dance Osman, who was fantastic! This Nile cruise reminded me a lot of the restaurant show set ups outside of Egypt; there was a lot of audience interaction and animation involved, and dancing around and to different customers throughout the sets.
The cruise started at 8pm and finished around 10:30pm, which was really early for a show in Cairo (and meant I could go to the cabaret after!).
Pictured: Siobhan Camille and Zara on the cruising Nile Boat. No videos unfortunately because Siobhan’s phone was out of battery!
Five star Hotels
These are usually for the wealthier tourists – there are lots of Saudi guests here. It’s really expensive to get in, but the dancer is on a raised stage with a full live band. This is a really high quality show, where the really big names appear.
I saw Oxana at the Fairmontand she was incredible. No filming is allowed in these venues, for a variety of reasons; primarily that the clientele don’t want to appear on film.
The shows typically start with a dancer and progress to live singers. Oxana was the first act and started around 11:30pm. We left early (!) at around 2:30am, partway through the second singer’s act.
Unfortunately no video of Oxana from the Fairmont because no filming is allowed, so here’s a video of the fab Oxana for you to enjoy!
Gala Shows at Dance Festivals
I didn’t even realise that my trip coincided with a couple of big festivals! Like elsewhere, these sorts of shows are mainly frequented by dancers.
I didn’t go to any festivals apart from the opening show of the Ahlan Wa Sahlan festival, because DINA was the star dancer! Dina does the fastest costume changes I’ve ever seen (I timed them – about 90 seconds), and her band is INCREDIBLE.
Sneaky shots of SUPERSTAR Dina performing at the Ahlan Wa Sahlan opening gala in 2022 – she did her costume changes in just 90 seconds!
A lot of people say you have to see Dina to understand why she is so loved, and I agree. She is incredibly charismatic, and you really feel the tarab / saltanah experience whilst in the audience (a huge sense of presence and emotional connection, because of her connection with the music, the audience, and the moment).
Dina on stage in Cairo, 2022
Dina sprinting on stage after one of her legendary costume changes! She had a man side of stage whose sole job was to signal to the band when she was ready to run back on
We were super lucky, because Dina has largely stopped performing since COVID, so this was my one chance to see her whilst in Egypt in 2022. At the same show I also got to see rising Egyptian starHendaya, who was awesome and killed an improvised drum solo when the power went out and her band couldn’t play! Hendaya usually dances in cabarets around Cairo.
Rising Cairo star Hendaya, who dances primarily in cabarets
Hendaya, a Cairo cabaret dancer and rising Egyptian star, dancing with a live band on stage at the 2022 Ahlan Wa Sahlan opening gala
Above: Siobhan CHEESING with Egyptian dance superstar Dina!
Below: With friends at the Ahlan Wa Sahlan gala show!
NightClubs
This venue type is honestly incredibly similar to clubs outside of Egypt. It is a young clientele wanting to hear the latest hits, dance, drink, and have a good time. But the dance floor really gets FLOODED when the Raqs Sharqi dancer appears.
The dancer often has a tiny stage on the floor (you can see it in this video, it’s black), and a bodyguard / bouncer (he’s to the left just out of frame of this video) to make sure no one touches her. Because of the small space the dancer has to perform on, she’s limited in her movements, but she’s ultimately just there to get the party started!
I unfortunately didn’t find out this dancer’s name, but she was performing in a nightclub on the outskirts of Cairo and we are pretty certain she was Russian
In this video below you can actually see the bodyguard to the left. Notice that the dancer shimmies in *his* direction so she’s essentially protected (you can hear my friend Magda, who lives in Cairo, explaining this to me in the video actually!), and you can see him telling an excited night club goer to stop waving his crutch around!
Footage in the Cairo nightclub where you can clearly see the dancer shimmying in the direction of the bodyguard
Interestingly, I know that as recently as 2022, it is illegal for dancers to perform without a live band. So even in the cabarets, there is a drummer and a sagat player accompanying the dancer. However, this nightclub was on the outskirts of town, and there wasn’t even a live tabla player. I wonder if the rules have changed, or if they just get away with it because they’re not in the centre of Cairo, so less likely to be checked on.
I was lucky to make the acquaintance of dance ethnologist Meg Morley whilst in Cairo, and she got us booked for the particular cabaret we went to.
These venues can be a little bit harder to get into as foreigners unless you speak Arabic or have a contact. In general, photography and filming is not allowed here, for the same reasons as in the five star night clubs. The cabaret was a really surreal experience, and in many ways hard to describe. It’s seen as a lower class venue, and yet they try to make it a high-class experience in that you’re waited on by tuxedo-ed waiters, an abundance of food is served.
The big difference between other venues and cabarets is that cabarets are primarily frequented by men, and the main activity here is encouraging these men to spend money. There is a really wild cash rental system. In the clip at the beginning of this blog post, you’ll see us being showered in thousands of Egyptian pounds.
Men rent cash in the cabarets (I don’t think they have to, but a big part of attending the cabarets is to show off how wealthy you are to those around you). They pay around 1,000 Egyptian pounds (around 50 euro / USD) to rent 10,000 Egyptian pounds (around 500 euro / USD). For reference, when I was in Cairo in 2023, it cost 50 Egyptian pounds to FILL a tank of gas in a car. A full meal out with drinks for two people at a fancy place cost around 20 euro total (two mains, drinks, sometimes entrees as well).
They then throw this money on the dancers, musicians, or even as you see with us, other patrons!
The really wild thing is no one gets to keep this money except for the cabarets themselves. Theres are tens of young men in the cabaret whose job it is to pick up the money as soon as possible, and take it away to restack it for further renting.
So how did we end up showered in money? Aside from two other foreign dancers, we were the only foreigners in this venue. But of course, we knew all the words to the songs, because we love Egyptian music! One man at a table next to us was tickled by the sight of 4 foreign women singing and dancing (we were just boogieing in our seats), and came over and showered us with money until we agreed to get up and dance on stage with the legendary Aziza of Cairo!
Aziza of Cairo is a total sweetheart. We unfortunately didnt’ get to see her dance all that much – because the cabarets are more about getting people to throw money, the dancers tend to just walk around and shimmy a little. But she knew right away when she came out on stage that we were fans (us screaming “AZIZA” was probably a give away!!), so she paid us a little extra attention. When we were on stage with her (and even more money was flying!), she really danced with us, and was super fun and lovely.
No cameras allowed in cabarets, so here’s the amazing Aziza of Cairo on stage at a festival in Turkey!
Aziza was accompanied by her AWESOME sagat (finger cymbal) player, who was an artist and serious performer himself! As well as tabla players and a singer who spent a lot of time singing to encourage the tips! Its interesting, because whenever he sang in the direction of a man who had cash, the man seemed sometimes annoyed that he was being asked to throw money again – but the man being sung at would ALWAYS do it, because of this pressure to appear wealthy and generous.
I found a new favourite Egyptian dancer at this cabaret – Nany. She was one of the few dancers that night that really danced, and I was SUPER impressed by her skills! Overall, the cabaret is a FASCINATING place. I can’t wait to go back!
Did you learn something new about Cairo dance venues?
I find dancers who are not Egyptian (or have never been to Egypt) can sometimes make dispraging remarks about the dance styles they see coming out of Cairo. But that’s often because they don’t understand the context within these dancers are performing, and the clientele they’re performing for.
I hope this blog post helps you understand a bit more!
This post was originally written for Siobhan Camille’s newsletter subscribers in 2022, and updated after another trip to Egypt in 2023. To receive cultural tidbits like this in your inbox, sign up for the Greenstone Dance Arts newsletter!
There is a common idea that is pervasive in raqs sharqi and fusion “bellydance.” So:
Are “muscular” movements safer than “skeletal” movements?
There is no such thing as a “skeletal” movement!
This fear of what is sometimes called “skeletal” movement demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of human functional anatomy.
Muscles cannot push, they can only pull. All movement is created by muscles pulling on bones at the joint they cross. ALL movement involves muscular action.
Muscles also can’t “fall asleep.”
Unless there is a major neurological injury.
A lot of the confusion in the world of raqs sharqi and fusion dance is probably an issue of terminology.
We are a particular kind of movement form in that we sometimes choose to actively contract or flex some muscle groups more than others.
But just because we’re not actively trying to contract a muscle, doesn’t mean it’s not working!
So your “knee” shimmy?
…is also using your glutes, quads, and hamstrings, just like your “glute” shimmy.
We’re just choosing to actively add a little extra contraction on top to change the movement quality. Which is totally valid – but it’s incorrect to say that the other shimmy is unsafe because “the muscles aren’t activated” – they are activated!
If they weren’t, you’d simply fall down!
You don’t need to squeeze everything tight all the time.
You can choose to, of course! And as previously mentioned, we sometimes choose to for certain aesthetic purposes (like creating a belly roll!).
But you’re not making yourself safer with the extra “squeezes.” You’re just changing how the movement looks and feels.
Sometimes if we have a specific pain or injury, it can be helpful to avoid certain movements for a while. But it doesn’t mean that movement or way of moving is inherently dangerous. Human bodies are great at adapting to stressors.
Did you learn something new about muscles? I’m glad!
My name is Siobhan Camille.
I’m an exercise scientist and a professional dancer.
I love helping dancers get better, stronger, and more resilient.
