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 Khaleegee
– Dance of the Gulf
Written
by Kerry Stewart
See
pictures here
Historical
Background
The
Arabian
Peninsula
has been inhabited since 5000BC. Between 4000-2000BC, settlements along the
eastern coast of the
Peninsula
dominated trade between
India
and the
Mesopotamia
. The people of this area have always had close ties with the people of
north-west
India
and
Pakistan
.
Around 3000BC, south-western
Arabia
became the major trade route between
India
and
Mediterranean
civilisations. Local frankincense and myrrh, coffee, spices and cotton added to
the wealth of this trade. Sea traders came into the
port
of
Aden
, then goods were transported north on camel trains along the western coast.
Some archaeologists believe that the fabled Queen of Sheba came from
South Arabia
and travelled north along this trade route to meet King Solomon.
Trade waned from its peak in the second century AD (3,000 tons of frankincense)
as the Greeks and then the Romans found alternative trade routes. The Romans
also adopted simpler Christian burials without frankincense and myrrh.
Important
cities along this caravan trade route included
Medina
and
Mecca
. The prophet Mohammed was born in
Mecca
and migrated to
Medina
in 622AD as a result of religious persecution. Mohammed’s followers spread
the Islamic religion north out of the
Peninsula
and
Baghdad
became the capital of an Islamic Empire for seven hundred years.
The
Arabian Peninsula
has a long history of migration, regionalism and tribal autonomy. It also came
under the influence of the invading Persians, Egyptians and
Ottoman Empire
. The Saud family moved into the dry central region of the
Peninsula
in the 15th century, and increased their control of the central and western
areas as the influence of the
Ottoman Empire
waned. In 1932, the
Kingdom
of
Saudi Arabia
, which covers approximately eighty percent of the
Peninsula
was founded.
The
Dance, movements and music
 Khaleegy,
or khaliji, is a traditional dance performed in
Saudi Arabia
and other eastern Gulf countries at parties and celebrations. The Saudis
refer to this traditional dance as raqs khaliji (pronounced khaLEEgee), which
means “dance of the Gulf”. In
Qatar
, it is called rags khaliji, and in
Kuwait
, it is called Samri (Saumri) after the rhythm to which the dance is performed.
In the UAE, the women’s dance is called Na’ashat
in reference
to the movements of the women swaying their hair to the rhythm.
Raqs
Khaliji is performed by women for their own entertainment at parties and times
of celebration, such a wedding. In
Kuwait
, the men and women may be at opposite ends of a room, but in
Saudi Arabia
, the women are separated from the men and dance to female musicians. The dance
is performed in groups or pairs and is largely improvisational. “The dancers
repeat the steps many times, improvising within a framework of traditional
movements, while allowing the clever and original dancer room to innovate.” (
Campbell
)
“The
young women who get up and dance are very conscious that the women who remain in
the audience are checking them out and quite possibly considering them as
candidates for marriage to a son, brother, cousin or other male relative”.
(Azar) According to Leila, a Saudi national, the older women don’t like the
girls to be shy and will encourage them to get up and dance (quoted by Azar).
Khaliji
is a style of dance which, like the traditional costume of the khaleegee dress,
has absorbed original localised geographical and tribal differences and become
more uniform across the Gulf area with the modernisation of the
Arabian Peninsula
. Due to the group and improvisational nature of the dance, moves and gestures
which women have seen on video or television from other Arab countries, have
also been added.
Whilst
khaliji is often performed to modern popular music nowadays, there is a
traditional and very distinctive rhythm, the adany rhythm from
Yemen
, which Western musicians call khaleegy, a hypnotic 2/4 rhythm (1+2 pause) with
two heavy beats and a pause. Strictly speaking, there are many “khaleegy”
rhythmns.
…there
is no such a thing as a "Khalidji" rhythm . The rhythms in the Gulf
area, which includes Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain,
Qatar, Oman, and the Emirates are all called Khalidji rhythms, and there are
hundreds of them.
Most
of the rhythms in this area have a few strong influences to them. Mainly from
the Arabian desert tribes, also from the Indian silk and spice routes as well as
from the central African Slave trade who brought various rhythms with it [and]
the speed of the rhythm varies from tribe to tribe and also according to the
emotion of the song itself.
Hossam
Ramzy
The dancer
uses a limping or hopping step, with the flat foot falling on the heavy beat and
the ball of the other foot at the heel of the flat foot, stepping on the half
beat. The step on the ball of the foot lifts the dancer and gives the step its
characteristic bounce and lightness. The dancer moves in the direction of the
flat foot, with the other foot on the ball either slightly behind or crossed
over in front of the leading flat foot. (Similar hopping or limping steps are
used in the dance of many countries, including
Afghanistan
,
Morocco
, in Nubian dance and in Russian ballet. This is not surprising, given the
history of this region.) The pause in the rhythm also allows for a change of
footing from one side to the other (LRL RLR), in which case the lift step is
exaggerated even further on the change of flat foot.
The
dance features chest and shoulder movements, such as shoulder shimmies, which
are exaggerated by the decoration on the costume. The costume can be held
against the hips to emphasise hip movements, which are otherwise difficult to
see under the voluminous costume.
Melinda
Smith (an anthropologist who married into a Kuwaiti family) believes that some
movements of the dance originally represented the everyday activities of Arab
pearl divers and the rolling motions of the dress imitate the action of the
waves. The dancers touch their hand to the side of their nose as a diver would
have, and their hair is tossed in imitation of seaweed floating on moving water
(Azar). This is very likely true of the tribes originally living along the
Eastern coast of the
Arabian Peninsula
. The
Najd
, from the isolated Central area of what is now
Saudi Arabia
, would presumably have had different traditional moves.
 Hair
tosses feature in khaleegy dance. The women are very proud of their beautiful
hair and some “make a friendly competition of growing their hair to complement
their dancing” (Azar). In a performance, the hair tosses are usually done in a
kneeling position at the most dramatic part of the music.
“Women
of all ages let their hair down when performing the dance. The woman with the
longest and richest tresses gets the chief praise. Elderly and many married
women are known to refrain from dancing, yet the most conservative old
traditionalist may, in the momentum of a festive occasion, pull off her headgear
to the beat of the tar and swing her loosened tresses to the right, then left,
until she has reached the point that her long tresses can perform figure eights
behind her head. ” (Ross)
Costume
See
pictures here
Layered
clothing as a means of conserving body moisture and protection from the sun is
traditional in the
Arabian Peninsula
. The thawb nashal is a large, semi-transparent garment which was worn as an
overgarment over a body shirt (dharaah or kaftan, often with embroidered
cuffs) and sirwaal (pants with embroidered ankle bands, of Turkish origin). The
thawb is semi-transparent, made from fabrics such as chiffon or sheer silk and
heavily decorated with metal thread or silk embroidery and sequins. Silk was a
sign of social status and wealth. An unusual feature of the thwab is the large
under-arm gusset, often heavily embroidered, and often cut off an older, worn
garment and appliqued onto a new one. Consistent with the over-sized nature of
the thawb, the sleeves are huge, and can be draped over the head like a veil.
The central panel of the thawb and the edges of the sleeves are heavily
decorated with stitching, often with metallic thread, sequins and, at times,
jewels or small trinkets.
This
traditional dress originally had regional variations. However, the widespread
use of the sewing machine over the last thirty years and the modernisation and
urbanisation of the Arabian Peninsula have resulted in the thobe or thawb nashal,
thought to be originally from the Najdi or Central Arabia, becoming the
traditional costume of women right across the Gulf area.
The
thawb is often called a wedding dress because all the ladies of the
Najd
wore one to a wedding celebration. The bride wore cerise, although a black
thwab with gold embroidery was common for the other women. Women in
Qatar
refer to this dress as a ‘sequin dress’, or a ‘peacock dress’. The
peacock is a common motif of the elaborate embroidery on the thawbs, often made
by the craftsmen of north-west
India
and
Pakistan
, who have produced textiles and embroidery for the people of the
Arabian Peninsula
for many centuries.
Bahrain
also produces beautiful thwabs.
Arabian
women nowadays wear the thawb over their party clothes when they dance (at a
party or a celebration). Young girls may also wear this traditional costume for
performances at school.
 References
Abdulaziz,
Leila and Azar, Aisha Raqs Nejdi Hadith (workshop notes, May 2002)
Abercrombie,
T. Arabia’s Frankincense Trail National Geographic October 1985
Azar,
Aisha Are we confused yet? A lesson in Folkloric dance
Jareeda, March 1996
Azar, Aisha Observations
on Samri Zaghareet Nov/Dec
1999
Campbell, Kay Hardy Loosening
their Tresses, Women’s Dances of the Arabian Gulf
Habibi Vol 16, No. 3.
Campbell
, Kay Hardy Traditional Dancing Costume of
Saudi Arabia
Sistrum February 1997
Ross,
Heather Colyer Art of Arabian Costume
EPS/Players Press 1994
Dancing
in Afghanistan, by Qan-Tuppin (DeAnna Putnam) (www.gildedserpent.com)
Saudi
Arabia
The Kingdom and its Power National
Geographic September 1980
Women
of
Arabia
National Geographic
October 1987
www.hossamramzy.com
www.uaeinteract.com/history/trad
www.dublin.50g.com/uae/land/dance
ARTICLE
UPDATED
22 OCTOBER 2004
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