EGYPT: Miro is one of a small number of male belly dancers in a women-dominated profession

Record ID: 186955

  • Title: EGYPT: Miro is one of a small number of male belly dancers in a women-dominated profession
  • Date: 29th April 2008
  • Summary: (MER-1) SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT (RECENT) (REUTERS) HOTEL CAFÉ WHERE BELLY DANCERS ARE PERFORMING
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA25OLT3541UO47SLOPR5FACRZU
  • Story Text: For the thousands of tourists who flock to Egypt's Red Sea coast every year, taking in the nightlife and a traditional display of belly dancing is as much a part of the experience as seeing the choral reefs or coming home with a tan.
    But visitors to the Sharm el-Sheikh resort who come expecting to see the hip-swaying dance being performed by a curvaceous young woman have been surprised to find a man in the starring role.
    The man in question is Amr Madih, known on stage as "Miro", and he is part of what some say is a growing trend of male belly dancing in Egypt.
    The tradition of male belly dancing stretches back to before the name for the dance was coined, to Ottoman times, when the primary dancers were boys known as "köçeks".
    But since the advent of the modern art form, which is thought to date to 1930s Egypt and was developed partly in response to the tastes of westerners, women have dominated the world of belly dancing.
    For some of the audience members, seeing a man belly dance for the first time was a refreshing change.
    "It has a new feeling, it's great dancing, it's not a man's dancing. But concerning the fact that it's a man dancing, it's great dancing, it's new, something I haven't seen it around a lot," said Tarek from Lebanon.
    Nisrine, also from Lebanon, said that she had enjoyed watching Miro perform more than his female counterparts.
    "He's better. Didn't you see the way he was dancing? It's nice that a man can dance like a woman," she said.
    Not everyone agreed, of course.
    "It's not the way a man moves. It's not a manly way to move to dance like that. It's not our way of moving as men, it's the movement of girls," said Mohammed from Syria.
    But Joanna from Lebanon said that, although unusual, Miro's performance was enjoyable.
    "I've never seen a young man dancing like that, moving like that, so for me it's strange, but it's nice too. It's strange," she said.
    But the revival in male belly dancing is not without its controversies.
    For many in the Arab world, seeing a man perform the seductive belly dance steps that are considered the very definition of femininity, is counterintuitive.
    Nevertheless, with a revival in interest in belly dancing in the West in particular, where belly dancing competitions and schools to teach the art have sprung up, male belly dancers have seen increasing opportunities to both practice and teach their art.
    Among those who have made a name for themselves were the late Ibrahim Farah, American performer Tarik Sultan, Egyptian Yousry Sharif, and Miro's own teacher, Tito Seif, who became famous in Sharm before moving to Argentina, where he is a minor celebrity.
    Miro says, for him, being a belly dancer is the fulfilment of a dream.
    "I am devoted to this profession, I love this profession. I think that this type of dancing is not shameful, I love it a lot," he said.
    Indeed, one of his fellow performers, Zamaan, a woman, said that Miro's novel act sometimes outshines her own.
    "There are people who like him a lot because he's doing something new, a man who is dancing like women, so it's something more eye-catching than what I do," she said.
    While Miro can rely on novelty to pull in the crowds, he says that the nature of the dance makes it more challenging for a man.
    A woman, he says, can rely on revealing clothing to draw the attention of male viewers to her body, while a man has only his dancing skills to fall back on.
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