Sunday, Apr 13, 2014
(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 4/12/14)
By Ellen Knickmeyer
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Abdulaziz al Qahtani, an 18-year-old Saudi university student, closed his bedroom door and in the privacy of his own room began. Sidekick-sidekick. Sidekick-sidekick.
Bunny-hop forward. Bunny-hop back.
His mother's voice rang out through the walls.
"I know what you're doing in there!" she cried, in an episode Mr. Qahtani recounted two weeks later. "Cut it out!"
Mr. Qahtani's mother had warned him about the penguin dance, a perky conga-line of bounces and kicks that landed in Saudi Arabia from out of nowhere late last year. It has been sweeping this most traditional, un-bouncy penguin of kingdoms ever since.
In a land where a strict interpretation of Islamic law means movie theaters and many other diversions are banned, nightclubs are unthinkable and the weight of tribal custom is heavy, Saudis in large numbers are discovering the thrill of a little sidekick-sidekick bunny-hop.
"Last night I swayed, I chanted, I penguin danced," a Saudi girl wrote on Twitter. In a Riyadh shopping mall, 26-year-old Nourhan Ashraf, an Egyptian who has spent her life in Saudi Arabia, beamed when asked about the dance. She pulled her cellphone from her purse. "The penguin dance? We've got it on our ringtone!"
"Penguin dance," or "raqsat al-batriq" in Arabic, is sweeping school playgrounds, wedding parties and rug-draped living rooms of Saudi Arabia, Saudis say, and videos posted online attest. Saudis share videos of themselves -- the men in white robes called thobes; and, dancing out of sight of the men, the women in all-enveloping black abayas -- on the social-networking site Keek and on YouTube. One of the most popular videos, featuring a man in traditional attire waddling and hopping around the living room with his little daughter, has had 1.8 million views.
Nobody knows where the penguin dance came from. "Layla," as she calls herself, is a Finnish nurse married to a Saudi man in Riyadh. She writes the popular English blog "Blue Abaya" on Saudi Arabia. She says she sees a dead-ringer for a Finnish folk dance. Some Western-educated Saudis say they see more than a hint of the Hokey Pokey. Many a video on YouTube shows a co-ed version danced at what appear to be blowzy Eastern European weddings. And, then, there's the chicken dance.
With the kingdom's limited range of acceptable public entertainment, Saudis are one of the leading world consumers of YouTube, Keek and other video-sharing media. That has helped spread the dance. "We saw it on videos," says Mr. Qahtani, like many, when asked where he learned of it.
It is not without controversy that the penguin dance has waddled into Saudi Arabia. In the eastern city of Dammam, the capital of Saudi Arabia's oil center, an argument broke out at a wedding in January when the groom's family wanted to celebrate with a little penguin dancing. The bride's side protested the penguin dance as un-Saudi, and a brawl ensued.
Traditional dance is important and widely performed by all ages in Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states. Saudi men perform the ardha, a swaying, bobbing dance sometimes done with a sword held rigidly at arm's length. Women -- in the privacy of all-female gatherings or families, usually -- perform dances including ones featuring swinging motions of the head and hair. Pop videos from the Gulf typically show off traditional music, traditional dance and traditional instruments.
Propriety is valued, as well. While weddings and traditional dances can get boisterous in other parts of the kingdom, in Riyadh, the capital, the joke is that when you walk into a men's gathering you can never tell if you've entered a wedding or a funeral, notes Layla, the blogger.
Ms. Ashraf, the Egyptian woman who has lived in Saudi Arabia all her life, said she tried unsuccessfully to get the DJ to play the penguin dance at the all-female party for her wedding earlier this year. Marriage means she and her new husband now can penguin dance to their hearts' content, in the privacy of their home, she says.
At evenings at home with her female friends, Ms. Ashraf said, she sometimes wants to propose a little penguin dancing, but she doesn't dare. "Here, we sit. We drink tea," Ms. Ashraf said.
The mother of Mr. Qahtani, the teenager who had tried to teach himself the penguin dance in his bedroom, opposed penguin dancing as both untraditional and unmasculine, he said. When she said no, he stopped, Mr. Qahtani said, looking sad.
On Twitter, some Gulf Arab tweeters suggest the penguin dance is a pernicious Western import. Zionist, some tweeters say. A Christian ruse, one argued, showing a chart of the dance to claim that the steps formed a Christian cross.
But still in Saudi Arabia, they penguin dance. At parties, at weddings, even sometimes on Riyadh's Thalia Street, the city's main drag for young people, when the government-paid religious police aren't around, young Saudis said.
"We like it because it's something the families can do together," said a Saudi university student, who danced penguin at home and on campus.
Despite their dour image, "Personally, I think Saudis like to have fun and enjoy themselves as much, if not more, than the next person," said Leila Molaei, a London-based expert in Gulf and other Middle Eastern dance. "The penguin craze is a manifestation of that. It's a bit of fun."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
13-04-14 0432GMT
