International Journal of Music and Performing Arts

"BADKE or Ethnography on the Stage"
Hasan Isikli

Abstract
Badke is a performance which combines the dance forms of dabke; a traditional Palestinian folk dance with the diverse urban styles. Beyond of any arguments about Palestinian culture and western audience’s Eurocentral perception which may cause a complex issue in the representation or else, the mixed style which is pretended to be ‘just a feel-good performance’, Badke reveals many layers as it is unfolded on the stage. The aim of this article is to analyse how Badke manages an ethnography of Palestinian culture, specifically the festivities with the dance medium. While that mixed dance style is constructed to transfer not simply the structure but also the emotions of the festivities; joy and madness, it prevents to fall from an ethnographic dance into the commodification of a Palestinian culture. Moreover, the performance catches an intersection of heterotopia between its content; the festivities and its format; the stage. Finally, while it associates the ethnic elements with modern dance, hip hop, circus and capoeira that the westerner spectator is familiar, it creates a dialogue between the stranger (other) and familiar (common).

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijmpa.v3n1a9