Today we’d like to introduce you to Malikat Al Dabke Dance Troupe.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Dabke is a traditional, folkloric dance of the Levant with origins rooted in community and care for the land (historically danced for communities to aid each other in home building and in relation to the fertility of the land).
More commonly performed by men, Malikat Al Dabke (Queens of Dabke) is the first all-women’s dabke troupe in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area.
Fairouz Foty, co-founder of Quartertonez Music School, was inspired to create a space through dabke for women based on a mutual love for dance and Arab/SWANA culture to spread its joy across generations. This space naturally developed into a collaborative, professional dance troupe, starting in January 2023, and is made up of dedicated Arab American women who work every day to preserve their identities through dabke and resist erasure and appropriation.
Through our experience and passion, we created over 25 choreographed dance pieces over the course of two years. Through our community and social media engagement, we performed at venues and events that include The Kennedy Center, South African Embassy, Nicaraguan Embassy, Laylit, ADC, Interfusion Festival, The Black Cat, New York Arab Festival, PBS, Arab America, among many others.
Additionally, Quartertonez and Malikat Al Dabke host a festival, now in its 3rd year, featuring local activists, Arab chefs, artisans, woodworkers, writers, painters/artists, fashion designers and performances that feature Arab Americans – providing a space for the community to experience the culture. This work is important because there is a negative image in the media that demonizes Arabs. Spreading the culture through music is essential to spreading awareness of current events and how those events affect the people in question.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The struggles we’ve faced in our journey have been widely related to Palestine. We have had a number of institutions invite us to perform and then censor us – telling us not to use the word genocide or wear the keffiyeh because it’s too political and that some parents or staff will be offended. We’ve also faced backlash for saying “Free Palestine” – especially in the educational institution sphere.
We have always been clear that we embody the Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi cultures and their causes, and that we have the right to be. People are unable to digest the word genocide (which has been confirmed by Amnesty International, the International Criminal Court, and more), while we are unable to digest that it is actually happening to our families and our people.
The keffiyeh is a part of our uniform/performance and a deep part of our culture. Aside from being a symbol of resistance – the keffiyeh was worn long ago in our region and the patterns symbolize fishing nets, trade routes and olive trees.
Other struggles include proving that we are a talented group, as many people see dabke as a man’s dance or done better by men. We’ve also been asked to perform and teach for free on numerous occasions, whereas others who were part of the same events would receive compensation for their efforts. This has been challenging because we have had to prove that our dance group is a professional one, and whose services should be compensated.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We specialize in performing and teaching Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi dabke/chobi, alongside its cultural, historical and political significance through the lens of women.
Each member of the group has over a decade of Dabke experience performing and teaching hundreds of students through volunteer and educational workshops. We are proud to have performed throughout the country and at countless events — including weddings and fundraisers.
We are known for being able to break down dabke moves in a digestible way for those more inexperienced with or unaware of what the dance entails, as well as the joy we exude when we perform. We do cultural callouts and engage each other while dancing, showing audiences that this is our passion and dabke is joy. We also place a more solemn spin on dabke, intertwining cultural elements and singing to express our mourning of lives lost in the genocide.
What sets us apart from others is the egalitarian nature of our group. We came together organically and work every day to maintain a space where we are all heard and celebrated.
How do you define success?
We see success when we hear excitement about and receive requests for our services, especially within our community. Success to us means bringing the community together, proving joy is part of our existence, and weaving celebration into our communities where it may not have been as prominent before. More performances means spreading our love for dabke and awareness of our culture. This plays an important role in keeping our culture alive and resisting erasure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.malikataldabke.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malikat_al_dabke
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@malikat_al_dabke?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
