…Warning. This is a rant.
I’m just going to say it. I went to Harvard. Four years ago. I did a Masters program in Middle Eastern Studies and graduated with a 3.9 average. I’ve been deeply fascinated with the Middle East ever since experiencing the terrorist attacks of September 11th firsthand, and decided I’d drive myself into serious debt studying everything that went into them.
So why for the love of God am I belly dancing in Cairo? Shouldn’t I be putting my education to use? Shouldn’t I be raking in a six-figure salary working for the US government or a consulting firm somewhere? Aren’t I wasting my life “shaking my butt” in a third world country?
People have been asking me with these questions since I moved to Cairo more than two years ago, and quite frankly, I’m getting sick of it. Who made it a crime to hold a Harvard degree and work as a belly dancer? Are there not hundreds of highly educated women teaching and performing belly dance all over the world? I never dreamed I would encounter so much resistance from family, friends, and fellow dancers who never miss an opportunity to remind me that Harvard and belly dance just don’t match. Ok, I’ll give my family a pass. They care about my well-being and are proud of my education. They will never get the whole belly dance thing. They think it’s stupid. They also think I’m risking my life in Egypt. They do not understand that Egypt is not Iraq.But what about everyone else? When did knocking people’s life choices become acceptable?
I’m not usually prone to bouts of self-doubt, but this has gotten to the point where there is not one person who supports what I do. Not one. Even Egyptian talent agents who profit from working with me believe what I’m doing is wrong. Just because I went to Harvard. Hello, don’t you want to make money off of me? Don’t tell me these things or I just might believe you and go home.
As an aside, I’d like to point out that belly dancing professionally in Egypt requires quite a bit of intelligence. Granted, there are many kinds of intelligence, but I’m talking about book smarts. Being book smart can be an asset in this dance insofar as academics learn how to think abstractly. They formulate new ideas and improve on old ones. They invent things. Academics are also highly informed about the contexts in which they operate. When applied to dancing in Cairo, these skills are very useful.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I expect to be belly dancing in Cairo for the rest of my life. I realize this is a short-lived, stressful career, and that I’ll have to have Plan B later on down the line. I know about social security and pensions and all that stuff that I should have when I’m older… and oh yes, kids. But this doesn’t mean that I can’t pursue my dream job while I’m still young and able. I have plenty of time to sit and rot in an office from 9-5. I just don’t want to do that now. Not when youth, enthusiasm, energy and ability are still on my side.
