The Bold and the Beautiful - Kurdish Women from the Diaspora

In the last few months (OK, half a year), I haven't been posting a lot, but plenty of new commercial venues have opened here... and a few have shut (primarily restaurants), a few more construction sites have sprung up and a few have become semi-completed ghost towns (or playgrounds for neighborhood children).

One of the new venues, J&K Women's Sport Center (more to come later - experiences here definately warrant at least a couple posts on this blog), is the setting for this post. Yesterday, I went to J&K after I finished teaching to participate in one of the rather lame aerobics classes they hold there in the afternoons. But when I arrived, all the shutters were closed and there music had already started (classes here NEVER start early... or on time)! I opened the door planning to take my space, but instead of the regular crowd of aerobics-goers (a bunch of women who really just make a less than half-hearted attempt to follow the instructor and then stand on the spot for most of the class), there were three rather sexily-attired women gyrating, shaking, undulating and twirling individually to the music. I apologized and went to leave, but they invited me in to exercise/dance with them. Curious, I entered.

I later discovered that all three were Kurds living in Europe - Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and that two of them (the former two) were singer/dancers and Dashni, the Swedish one, was also a model. Dashni was very friendly and attempted to teach me a couple of belly dance moves that she purportedly learned from watching Shakira videos (I don't believe it, I have never seen Shakira do belly rolls like that). Anyway, I was impressed with how friendly and down to earth she was given that so many people here of even dubious "fame" have egos of a size impossible to live up to (I suppose there are people like this everywhere).

I looked her up on YouTube and discovered although I know that she can really dance, her videos- like almost all music videos in the Middle East region, focus on her "assets" and have her posing and rolling around more than dancing... (note that there are a few of the Shakira + bellydance moves somewhere sandwiched in the middle of the following video)



The woman from Switzerland, Loka, was a tiny little thing. I didn't really talk to her as she didn't understand a lot of English, unlike Dashni whose English was perfect. But Loka too was on YouTube; however, her clips seem to be more representative of local music programs than regional music videos.



The last women, the Dutch Kurd, is a businesswoman living right here in Kurdistan, and while she is not a singer dancer, her bellydance moves were also impressive. All three were hosting a private party to encourage local women to dance and enjoy life...