Joud Al-Amri Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Saudi men and women have started to resort to new practices to express their feelings. These practices were considered shameful and inappropriate in the old times. Most important among these new habits is dancing, which both young men and women consider vital for emptying emotions whether sad or happy. They believed that suppressing these emotions might in the long run have adverse effects on their lives. Today, many of our young men and women have shown great passion for dancing in its various methods and styles. For a large number of girls who live in complete void, dancing is the only method for venting emotions and surplus energies. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, a number of young men and women said dancing was an entertaining method for killing the feelings of anger and boredom and also for expressing happiness and exultation. “Dancing is the most artistic and enjoyable kind of sport. It helps move muscles which are not activated by other forms of sport. It gives elasticity to the vertebra and to the heart muscle,” said a female dancing teacher at one of the women health clubs in Jeddah. She said dancing is not just a kind of sports of which you may get boarded after sometime. “While dancing you will not feel bored or tired because dancers will be using all their senses including hearing and memorizing,” she said. The teacher said dancers would also reminisce beautiful memories while on the floor. “During belly dancing, the dancers will remember the melodies of famous singers such as Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Um Kalthoum and Abdul Haleem Hafiz. “The faces of the women who were not even born while these singers were alive will glow with happiness just listening to their music and melodies. They feel disappointed when the melody comes to an end,” she said. The dance teacher also said that the young women do not feel bored from dancing because they know that they are doing this for their own private enjoyment. “They do not feel that they are practicing a kind of sport to lose weight or to keep fit. They feel happy to move their bodies with music,” the teacher said. She added that it was not only the belly dancing that keeps young women happy. “Our girls also dance salsa, hip hop, tango and others,” she said. Razan Sulaiman, a 19-year-old Saudi girl, said she loved dancing since her early childhood. “I dance at home almost every day. I may be driven toward this by boredom, feeling of emptiness or the excessive energy in my body,” she said. Sulaiman said had it not been for dancing, she might have developed other bad habits. “I may go to my girl friends to smoke and eat ravenously. “Both of these two habits are damaging to the health. Smoking may cause heart problems and over eating will increase fats, “ she said. She said by dancing through the entire evening, she and her girl friends will be practicing a useful sport and at the same time enjoying themselves. “In the absence of sufficient number of health clubs in the city with reasonable prices, we dance at our homes,” she said. Hatim Naif, a young man of 25, said he loves dancing very much and he always get together with his friend at his home or theirs to dance. “We laugh and have lots fun. This is much better than squatting along the streets or chasing girls,” he said. Laura Mohammed, 29, said she has been dancing since she was eight years old. “Thanks to dancing, I am now quite fit, have flexible body and stable weight,” she said. She said dancing also kept her away from smoking because she has to have a long breath if she has to dance properly. Mohammed said though she comes home from her office completely fatigued but then she makes a point to dance in her room. “I listen to Western and Arab music. I dance at all tempos. I practice both belly and modern dancing in my privacy,” she said.
