Children learn debka.
Debka as memory and resistance
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Children in traditional Palestinian regalia for a debka performance.
The identification of debka as a cultural practice of fellahin or ‘peasant-ness’ works to create a need for cultural preservation of the dance in the face of occupation. A concerted effort at preservation has taken the form of dance troupes and education workshops for Palestinian youth on debka (Barghouti, 2006), (House of Palestine), (Mosaic), (Kates, 2005), (Ibrahim, 2006).
Girls with the Ibdaa dance troupe perform debka and narrative dance.
Refugee camps have started many of these programs with both Aida refugee camp and Dheisheh refugee camp having troupes that have toured internationally to perform (Kates, 2005), (Wishah), (Ibrahim, 2006). Diasporic communities also promote troupes and workshops like the one sponsored by Mosaic in Toronto for adults wishing to practice and perform debka (Mosaic). Troupes from Palestine often perform in the United States and Europe to promote the Palestinian cause. Wishah from Ramallah in the West Bank (Wishah), Al- Rowwad Palestinian Children’s Theatre from Aida camp, and Ibdaa from the Dheisheh refugee camp outside of Bethlehem all support debka as a form of Palestinian cultural preservation (Kates, 2005), (Wishah), (Ibrahim, 2006).
Children dance debka at the Yaffa Cultural Center.
Many of these troupes use mixed performances including debke and narrative story performance to bear witness to the conditions of dispossession and continued conditions of violence and occupation that Palestinians live with (Kates, 2005). These performances often target western audiences, whose reactions are often romantic in description post- performance, often describing the “transfixation” felt during debka performances and the colorful traditional costumes worn by troupe members (Ibrahim, 2006), (Santiago, 2003), (Rasmussen, 1992).
West Bank debka troupe performs.
These performances by and largely for diasporic communities often generate a nostalgia for Palestine (Cainkar, 2005), (Van Aken, 2006). This nostalgia is generated not only by troupes performing for Palestinians in diaspora in the west, but performances also carry nostalgia for refugees outside of occupied territory who dance debka during celebratory events and weddings (Van Aken, 2006).
East Jerusalem YWCA Debka troupe.
Troupes from the West Bank and Gaza predominately consist of refugees. The political issue of refugees and the potential right of these refugees to return to their homes in from before Al-Nakba and the Israeli-Arab War continues to be an unresolved point of contention that seems to forever function as a stalemate between Palestinians and Israeli politicians who argue they would like to see a resolution to the conflict (Kates, 2005), (Wishah), (Ibrahim, 2006), (Barghouti, 2006), (Sa’di, & Abu-Lughod, 2007), (Morris, 2004). The Palestinian Refugee question has been addressed in various frames, but without a doubt the identity of Palestinian refugees negotiates the boundaries of national identification and national uprootedness (Morris, 2004), (Kawar, 1980).
Palestinian woman dances as a debka troupe performs.
The identification with Palestinian national and cultural symbols like debka by refugees becomes a form of cultural preservation that displays both resistance to occupation and ongoing violence as well as a praxis of national identity embodied. Refugees who are often unable or denied the right to own land, use a memory of the village and fellahin as a form of cultural memory and preservation. The refugee dance troupe Ibdaa, which means, “To create something out of nothing” uses this relationship to the land in their mixed techniques performances (Santiago, 2003).
Ibdaa Dance Troupe performing
This repertoire provides a preservation of visual and performance culture that both shows the existence and continuity of debka, but also testifies to the ongoing conflict and everyday experiences of Palestinian refugees and Palestinians living under occupation. This focus is also found in other culturally important symbols and practices such as embroidery, costumes, and traditional forms of music and food (Kawar, 1980). The repertoire, here functions as a testimonial to the importance of maintaining the cultural preservation in the face of exclusion, negation, or erasure (Rossetti, 2007).
Children dance debka at the Yaffa Cultural Center
In an article on the necessity of debka education for Palestinian youths, Omar Barghouti stresses dance education as offering therapeutic forms of movement and resistance that don’t embody violence as an outlet for youth. This celebratory dance is used as a form of cultural resistance by youths but also still functions in celebratory form for many Palestinians (Barghouti, 2006). Weddings provide a celebratory space for the performance of debka but even within this space represent forms of national identity and cultural resistance (Van Aken, 2006).
Debka troupe from Beit Jala.
The performance of identity is found in debka for many varied communities of Palestinians. Although some have been briefly discussed above, Arabs who remained in what became the state of Israel (Israeli Arabs, or Israeli Palestinians) also perform the dance with a slightly different association of identity involved (Santiago, 2003), (Stern, 2007). Recently in Acre, Israeli-Arabs took the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest and longest performance of debka, with 2,743 people joined hands in a debka line that ran down the main street of Acre, dancing for seven minutes straight.
Performers in the Guiness Book of World Records Debka Record in Acre.
Although performed within Israel as a form of traditional dance by both Jews and Arabs, Palestinians under occupation and refugees both use the dance as a form of cultural resistance to occupation. The historical implications of the establishment of the State of Israel and the subsequent exclusion of a state for the Palestinian people resonate in cultural symbols of both countries. Cultural practices and performances thus become inextricably linked to identity and nationalism, usually signifying strong political messages. Debka functions as a simultaneous cultural symbol, as well as, political message. For many Palestinians, this message is one of peace and solidarity (Ibrahim, 2006).
Students from Bethlehem dance debka
The need for a repertoire of cultural preservation is also important in the preservation of a testimonial to the conditions of life Palestinians endure under occupation. Conditions of the lives of the dancers and all Palestinians living in occupied territory are plagued with violence by the IDF. Checkpoints, army incursions, arrest, humiliation, bulldozing of homes, use as human shields, targeted assassinations, and being caught in cross-fire of IDF with Palestinian fighters are everyday experiences of the civilian population of Palestine. These people live in what has been called the largest open air prison in the world, referencing both the encapsulation of Gaza and now the West Bank with walls, an Israeli control of ports of entries, border, air and water space, that effectively cut the Palestinians off from the international community. Isolation and violence are often themes of testimony about life under occupation. The recent boycott of the Palestinian Authority by the international community after the election of Hamas and then complete isolation of Gaza, now under rule by Hamas, function as collective punishment against a population of civilians that have little recourse to the conditions of their existence (Ibrahim, 2006), (n.a., BBC, October 25, 2007).
Palestinian boys dance debka outside
The banality of daily violence against the Palestinian population by the IDF is a consistent theme performances by troupes and referenced in abstract performances of debka as well (Mosaic), (House of Palestine), (Barghouti, 2003). These everyday and historical experiences have shaped the political message of the dance (Rubio, 2003). The Second intifada has been particularly violent with incursions into refugee camps like Jenin, where troops sealed the camp off from the rest of the world, humanitarian aid, journalists, and the United Nations. Evaluating the aftermath of the destruction of camp, psychologists used play therapy and debka with 700 children of the camp to restore a sense of normalcy to these children who had lived through the almost two week ordeal (Mansour, 2002).
Jenin Play Therapy Center
. The embodiment of resistance in the troupes performance of debka along with dancers testimony helps to shape an audience understanding the conditions of Palestinian life as well as shaping a political practice for the dancers (Mansour, 2002).
Debka troupe performs in Bethlehem.
Dance troupes performing in the United States are often surprised by their audiences’ lack of political and historical knowledge surrounding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Debka thus offers, “a vehicle for a political message, a means to communicate Palestinian suffering to the American people, says performer Manar Faraj, 17. We are struggling to tell the story of the reality in Palestine with our bodies, our motions” (Santiago, 2003), (Ibrahim, 2006). “Those motions combine debka and narrative theatre in a compact repertoire of works telling the story of Palestine’s occupation and loss of historic lands” (Ibrahim, 2006). Reaching an American audience is not an easy feat, as noted by Faraj, “We wonder if Americans are empty inside, they are thinking about manicures and pedicures, and we think about getting killed.” Ahmed Algrouz, 17 “Everyone here worries about where to go on vacation, or where to go salsa dancing, they think Palestinians are terrorists who want to blow them up. But when we think of home, we don’t know whether we’ll have to face tank or be taken to prison.” (Santiago, 2003).
This political message is formed in material practice by this traditional folk dance, offering a form of political materialism to the dancers and audience. “The best moment is when we stand onstage and feeling the wood under our feet, with our legs and hands ready and the people out there, so many politicians talk and talk and it comes to nothing. We are thinking, ‘look, we are here; we are doing something. In the camp we may be dirty and poor, but inside, I feel shiny and rich,” Manar Faraj, Ibdaa Troupe Dancer, (Santiago, 2003).
You could even use this space for a gallery of pictures with insightful captions explaining each image and its importance.
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Revised: 10 Dec 2007 02:55:34 -0600