Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Debka

The debka is a lively Arab folk dance with lots of bouncing and stomping. Darajat has its own debka troupe. Here their teacher leads them through the steps in the school yard.

The next day the youngsters performed for us.

Males and females may dance the debka but traditionally, they do so in separate groups.
Here they are not only dancing together but also holding hands! Well, Darajat is a very progressive village in many ways.
The small boy in front is the raas, the head of the group, a good leader.

You'd never know it was a chamsin, with 100 degree heat. The young people went on jumping with boundless energy, enjoying themselves.

The pride of the dance troupe and of the villagers watching them was very moving in itself.
I tried hard to restrain my happy-tears. BRAVO!
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4 comments:

  1. This is so wonderful. Did you get to dance, too?

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  2. Again you not only have some beautiful lively images, but you have taught me something about a culture I know little of.

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  3. Very nice! I guess they are all accustomed to 100-degree heat to be able to dance in it with long sleeves.

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  4. We are enjoying your blog evryday. We try to pronounce the words, but do not have a clue of the pronunciations.

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