Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Belly Dancers banned from Muscat Festival

No comments:
Here's the video of an Egyptian duo of Belly dancers entertaining the Muscat festival goers at Naseem park: https://vidd.me/n4t
when several male volunteers from the audience enthusiastically joined them. The men had some pretty good moves themselves.

However, it seemed to be too much (men and women dancing together so suggestively when such dancing is generally segregated in society) for some onlookers to take in who complained to Festival officals. Later, Muscat Baladia (Municipality) issued a general apology to the Omani public and banned the dancers. Some Omani threatened to boycott the Festival over it, but realistically having such dance acts probably attracted more crowds.

Belly dancing is at least 5000 years old and may have its roots during fertility rituals, but has been practiced as a social dance in the Arab and in other cultures.