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They’re calling it Jingle Bell Raks.
And, no, “raks” is not how a 1950s hot-rodder would refer to the front of a filled-out angora sweater.
In the Mideast, Egyptian dancing – belly dancing – is called rak sharki.
So the semi-translated title of World Fusion Dance Studio’s holiday performance this year is Jingle Bell Dance.
In other words, get your mind out of the sweater, mister.
For the past year, students at Lisa Young’s (also known as Jordana bint Zweena) dance studio have shimmied their way through both choreographed traditional belly dances and fusion dancing, a combination of Egyptian dance, ballet, hip-hop and modern dance movement.
On Saturday, the students will take the stage at the Allen County Public Library – wrapped in scarves and baring their tummies – and perform some of these numbers for more than 230 people.
“We have a lot of dancers who have worked really hard this year,” Young says. “They’ve worked up the courage to get onstage and have fun and dance for their friends and families.”
Sounds a little nerve-wracking, actually.
“Of course it is,” Young says.
“We have students who have been with us for two years, and we have students who have been with us for 14 weeks,” she says. “So there is a mixture of nervousness and excitement involved. But even I still get nervous. Getting onstage, you’re baring your soul to everyone. It can be a little unnerving.”
This is the third year for the annual holiday performance.
Unlike the Halloween and spring recitals, which focus on fusion dancing, the holiday performance highlights traditional Egyptian dancing.
“Dance forms, especially in American culture, often get fused with other dance forms and it changes the dance. For other performances, we’ll combine new and old movements and make it our own. But for this show, we’re doing very traditional dancing to traditional Middle Eastern music.”
The show will also feature belly dance troupes from Muncie and Indianapolis. Local students have also formed their own troupes.
Scheduled to perform are Troupe Taleeba, Kali-Ma, Rana, Il Troubadore, Ambriehl, Belly Belly and Datura.
Each troupe has chosen a name that embodies the group’s dancers.
Young dances with Troupe Taleeba, which formed in 2001. Initially, all of the members of the group were students. So they chose the name Taleeba, which means “student.”
“That’s one of the reasons we’ve kept that name,” Young says. “Because we continue to learn. There are always new dances and new movements to discover. And each year, we all end up learning together.”
