Cross-Dressing In Middle Eastern Dance
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- RubyVroom
- ghaziya
- Hurley
- ghaziya
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» RubyVroom - Cross-Dressing in Middle Eastern Dance
Shira, thank you so much for writing this article! It combines two of my most intense interests. I have been taking bellydance lessons for 2 months now, and I have finally found my niche. I am totally obsessed with it! And, my wonderful boyfriend happens to be transgendered and cross-dresses frequently. He loves to watch me dance but is too "uncoordinated" (as he puts it) to try it himself. It's interesting to me that even though women and men were not allowed to mix at social events in the Middle East, it was perfectly acceptable for some men to take on a female persona, so that, essentially, the sexes could mix anyway (after a fashion)! As a feminist, I find this fascinating and rather perplexing. At any rate, I hope your article gets people thinking, discussing and investigating this neglected topic. Good job! Oh, and BTW, your website is my one-stop bellydancing resource! Truly awesome!!-- posted by RubyVroom
» ghaziya - Re: Cross-Dressing in Middle Eastern Dance
In response to message posted by RubyVroom:Hi Ruby! Thank you for posting your message! The thing that inspired me to write it was seeing the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender event that is currently running here on Suite101. Using Suite101 events as a source of article ideas has taken me in a number of directions I might not have thought of on my own, and I feel it has made my corner of Suite101 much more interesting than it otherwise would have been.
Middle Eastern culture has many aspects that make it very different from North America. That's one of the reason I find it so fascinating. I like to dig behind the Orientalist fantasies that overwhelm Western culture. Glad you enjoyed this exploration!
-- posted by ghaziya
» Hurley - Re: Cross-Dressing in Middle Eastern Dance
In response to message posted by RubyVroom:Yes, I can't wait to see this article! My troupe leader has had to teach dance to two different transgendered people. One was the brother (formerly the sister) of one of the diehards in the troupe. The other is a woman (who used to be a man) who took it up to enhance their ballroom dance ability. Apparently her Latin dancing is much better!
Anyway, this woman is comfortable around women and doesn't feel very judged. However, when she was at a competition a couple months ago, she realized that half the people there were men. This made her feel very self-conscious and nervous. Consequently her dance performance didn't go very well.
I don't suppose anyone has any advice that might help her with that?
-- posted by Hurley
» ghaziya - Re: Re: Cross-Dressing in Middle Eastern Dance
In response to message posted by Hurley:Hi Lorienne! You can get a sneak preview of the "cross-dressing" article by going to "GLBT" event that's currently going on here at Suite101. It's already accessible there, it just won't appear here in my Middle Eastern Dance corner until next week.
So the presence of men in the audience made her self-conscious, huh? It sounds like she hasn't completely integrated "the change" into her life yet - there are areas where she still feels insecure.
At first thought, I'd suggest that the best way to overcome the nervousness is to perform as often as possible in community festivals and other such events where men are present, rather than just performing in events sponsored by the dance community. The more she dances in front of male audience members, the more at ease she'll become doing it.
Beyond that, I'd recommend that she dress as "girly" as possible doing everyday things like grocery shopping: skirt, high heels, etc. The more she gets comfortable with appearing in public as a woman, the more comfortable she'll be dancing in front of audiences with large numbers of men.
-- posted by ghaziya
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