Raqia Hassan’s “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” belly dance festival held in Cairo, Egypt is one of the biggest belly dance festivals in the world.  My mother started the “Great Eastern Faire” back in the early 70’s, it was the first and is still the model for most of the belly dance festivals in the United States today; a weeklong workshop before a two-day festival with a room filled of vendors and dancing from morning until night with a variety of soloists and troupes.  How fun is that! 

Ahlan Wa Sahlan is a little different.  Each day there were many workshops with a performance in the main ballroom every night.  Each night had a slightly different theme.  The opening Gala had only the big name Egyptian Stars, on the second night it was the teachers show, next night dancers performed to CD’s, then dancers that wanted dance to a band, and last but not least each night had a line up of contestants for the Grand Prize of the Belly Dance Contest.  The closing ceremonies were another Gala show with only the big name Egyptian Stars.  The vendors lined the hallways selling mostly Egyptian style costumes.  It was like walking in the Souk with “great price” being yelled as each person walked by.

To say that producing a festival in Egypt is a huge task is such an understatement.  To deal with all the legal, religious, and cultural issues is such an undertaking that I can’t even imagine what Raqia must deal with on a daily basis.  The rules and regulations of the country are so strict that each piece in the chess game has to be completely thought out and planned.  My mother had to deal with hotel rules and regulations and maybe insurance drama not to mention the ego of each dancer, teacher and vendor, but to deal with a country that looks down on the dance form, the women that perform, and everything having anything to do with the art of belly dance is a whole other can of worms.  It is a battle each day to produce and preserve the art.  Why does she do it?

When I asked why she started Ahlan Wa Sahlan she said frankly, “I went to Rakkasah my first year touring America and saw what American’s were doing and I said to myself, why can’t I do that”.  It was such a simple answer and I guess she was right.  Why can’t there be a belly dance festival in the motherland?  Why can’t we celebrate the dance form next to the Pyramids?  Why can’t we have every belly dance costume designer and wholesaler right at our fingertips making the mystery of each product we buy in the States not so mysterious?

When I travel and give workshops and lectures around the United States I find it very interesting that most students are surprised that the dance form is associated with a lower class woman and most of the time with “a woman of questionable morals”.  I guess it is a similar view that was held in the States back in the early 1900’s in the theater.  No good woman or good family would allow his or her daughter to work in the theater.  The culture does not allow for many options in a woman’s moral standing so it is black and white.  If you choose to belly dance the culture automatically associates you with a certain class.  It is totally confusing for most Middle Eastern cultures to understand why anyone would choose to belly dance.  And if you are married, have children, educated, wealthy, from a good family name, ect… you would never belly dance.  Now it is more common in some sport centers in the Middle East for women to belly dance as a sport, but never never never would you buy a costume and even consider performing, and it would be an insult and degrading to be asked to dance.  For me this mentality is nothing new.  I had been raised in a strict Moslem household and my mother and I hid the dance from the family.  They knew my mother would go teach, but they would justify the situation by knowing that all her students were American’s and this would in no way jeopardize the family name.  So we all lived in denial and it wasn’t until I began to work in Arabic nightclubs when I was 18 years old did I feel the shame that goes along with the cultural conditioning?  This cultural conditioning is something that Isabella (my eight year old daughter) will never feel which is why no matter what angle I took, Isabella could not understand why she wasn’t allowed to perform in Egypt.  It is illegal for kids to perform in public. 

So how does she do it?  How does Raqia pull of this festival every year with such grace that it grows and grows?  How does she allow all the rules to be broken for one week?  How does she get around all the legal and cultural issues that make it impossible for foreign dancers to perform without a permit?  Only a woman with such grace and power can pull this off.  She goes against the big boys and proves to them that the dance form is appreciated every place in the world, except in Egypt.  She proves that tourism is prosperous because of belly dance.  She proves that the dance can command such demand from all over the world that two major 5 star hotels are fully booked and over flowing with people.  She proves that the vendors and local retailers all profit from her art form.  She does it with the help of a great staff that she compliments all the time, and with the love of her family.  She does it for the art form and the desire to bring people to her country to see what belly dance is in Egypt.  Not just what it is in our minds and creative spirits, but the reality of what is in the motherland.  The reality of the dance form that many American’s don’t even know about and worse sometimes don’t even care about.  Do you know who Om Kalthsoum is?  Do you know who Nagwa Fouad or Sohair Zaki is?  Do you know who Farid Al Atrash is?  Or have you read the words to Inta Omri lately?  Maybe you feel you don’t need to in order to do your new fusion hip hop/urban/S&M belly dance choreography for the up and coming Festival with your troupe (and I feel guilty of this myself mind you), but you must!  You must make a pilgrimage to travel to Egypt (at least once in your life) and see what belly dance is in the motherland.  YOU MUST!!  And what better way to do it than in a Festival produced by a bad ass woman with other belly dancers from all over Europe, Asia, Africa, and the America’s.  To meet your sisters around the world and hear the music with full bands that has you grinding in your seat.  To see all the beads and Lycra you will ever want to see in your life.  You don’t have to buy a new costume, but what a great story to tell the grandkids.

The opening Gala was a total trip.  The line was deadly and I must admit that I will never do that again.  Let the crowd go in first, come late even if you get a side seat because the crowd was ruthless.  At one point I had to pick up my daughter and have her handed to me over three people because she was going to be ripped from my hand grip and torn away from me.  She didn’t mind and said she felt she was at a rock concert, but I was horrified.  I was waiting for a fight to start and the mosh pit was soon to come.  Since it was first come first seating I feel it created energy of hysteria that could have been avoided with assigned seating.  Raqia is aware of this and working on changing this format since the festival has been growing she will have to adjust the needs each year.  She had over 800 people for the workshops and more each night for the performances.  The good news is that more and more of the Egyptians want to get in and see the shows, which means they are getting more press and positive coverage on the festival and the interest from the outside on their dance form.  When the Egyptians see how much we love their dance they might start to acknowledge the beauty, even if it is from “woman with questionable morals”.

When you arrive for sign-in day you receive a booklet with all the teachers and a little bio.  You then pick the classes you want and work out your schedule with the site seeing you want to accomplish as well.  The Lady Egypt Travel service that was in the hotel was fantastic.  They were all very nice and the tours well planned.  We felt safe and in good hands at all times.  You stand in a line and receive a computer print out of your schedule when it is your turn to process your classes.  There are at least 5 classes at one time so it is difficult to choose from all the teachers.  Raqia does a great job of having a variety of teachers and styles.  Her goal is to have it all (even if she doesn’t like it, she will make sure it is represented at her festival).  Raqia also tries to have a variety of instructors from all over the world.  Some names I had never heard of before, which was just another reminder of how we as American’s live in a bubble sometimes.  The vending was good.  I saw all the usual stuff that all the big vendors have at Rakkasah, but more.  At Rakkasah you get a better variety, but this is also something that Raqia is working on in her long list of additions.  Not much was represented in the Tribal Community, but that soon will change next year I’m sure.  By the end of the week I swore I could never wear or even look at another Lycra cabaret costume again, but on my last day I spotted a fantastic 40’s style Tahia Carioca (I hope you know who that is) costume I had to have.  I had never seen a costume like this and even though it was pre made (which I never do anymore either), it was totally made for me (not Lycra by the way).  So yes, I did it… I bought it.  I guess Egypt wasn’t going to let me leave her without bring a costume home with me. 

So I say to you as belly dancers, students, lovers of the art…. Come with me next year.  I will meet you in Egypt for Ahlan Wa Sahlan and we will hang out by the pool while gazing at the pyramids, ride a camel, and study belly dance in the motherland.  It is a shame if you don’t make it a priority in your life to do it… at least once.  So stop drinking Starbucks and take all that money and put it into your “Egypt fund” for next year or the year after.  Don’t use the excuse that you can’t afford it… make it happen!  So the next time you put on your costume (no matter what the style may be) ask yourself this;  “Do I know the soil this costume and dance I’m about to represent (even if it is for a major fusion piece) comes from?  Can you hear the call to prayer?  Can you feel the vibrations of the drums from the night before?”  And last but not least, have you ever thought of lime green Lycra?  Please say no. 

See you in Egypt!