DANCE 45 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Quran
Lecture 13
Morocco Tradition, Changes
• Traditionally Islamic women
o Dance expressively at parties just for themselves
▪ Ex: Celebration for upcoming wedding
o Women veiled, prevent fitna (a curse on men, chaos)
o Women will barely dance in front of their father or brother and once married,
only in front of immediate family
o Koran says women must hide anything erotic from men
o Her body doesn’t belong to her, must preserve the body
▪ It’s has a responsibility to the community
• Traditionally Islamic men
o Rural men dance athletically
▪ Use swords, daggers, and rifles
o In cities, there are parties just for men with sheehats
▪ Sheehats will only consider the profession as a dancer or singer if they
have no male support
• Changes: men and women dance at clubs
o Enormous gap between generations because women have evolved, more literate
and play an important role in society- emancipation
o Acceptable to hold hands while dancing
o Missionaries put Christian text in their songs because they couldn’t rid of it
Rock n Roll- European & Africanist Aesthetic
• 1950s Civil Rights Movement, couple dances
o Black music crossing into white culture
o African American and white western is brought together
o Elves Presley moved his pelvis, and African aesthetic
• 1960s twist, no longer a couple
o Wore unisex clothing, no touching and personal dance rather than relationship
