Silver and gold coins attached to brightly colored outfits jingled as members of the Belly Dance Club shimmied their hips to the beat of an Egyptian pop song.
The Penn State Belly Dance Club and the Arab Student Union jointly held an Arabian Nights Hafla in the Pollock Rec Room Saturday night.
“A hafla is an Arabic party. It has open dancing and live drumming. It’s basically a generic term for a big party in the Middle East,” said Briana Schmiedekamp, Belly Dance Club treasurer.
The evening was held to celebrate a culture that may be unfamiliar to many Penn State students.
“The evening — it’s all about watching performances. It’s about having a Middle Eastern event at Penn State,” the club’s founding President Beyza Sinan said.
There were 24 performances at the hafla, ranging from solos to small group ensemble numbers, all showcasing a variety of styles.
“Belly dancing is the oldest form of dance; it’s been around since the Roman Empire. It used to be a form of dance done for women by women. It was done to promote fertility. Now it’s grown to become a performance art,” Sinan (junior-biology) said.
Club member and performer Elizabeth Desmond said she liked the artistic expression of the performance.
“It’s really about accepting your body, so it’s a really positive energy,” Desmond (freshman-archaeology) said.
Despite the Middle Eastern origins of belly dancing, its popularity has spread worldwide.
“I was amazed how the non-Arabians performed so good,” Mohamed Alzaabi (freshman-industrial engineering) said.
During the day, three workshops were held to lead up to the night’s main event.
The first taught American Tribal-style belly dancing, and the second taught Egyptian Saidi Cane dancing.
“Tribal is more earthy with more grounded movements. Egyptian has smaller movements, classy movements; it is very flirty. American Tribal is done as an improv, and there is usually a leader, and Egyptian is choreographed,” Schmiedekamp (senior-biochemistry) said.
The third workshop taught participants to play the Darbukah, a traditional drum in the Middle East.
Diane Loesch, of Port Matilda, participated in the dance workshops.
“I need practice, but it was fun,” she said. “I’m just here to have fun and learn.”
