Of Arab-Iranian origin, Leila Molaei has been performing and training students in Arabic dance since 2005. Based in the United Kingdom, she runs Layali Academy, one of the busiest Arabic dance schools in London covering the dances of Egypt, the Levant and the Arabian Gulf.  One of the only natives of Iraqi and Gulf dance in the UK and popular amongst the UK Arab community, Leila was also invited to teach and perform Iraqi kawleya[1] dance at Raqs Britannia. Her aim is to preserve and promote the authentic roots of Arabic dance, and this feeling is conveyed in her performances.

Mark: Hey Leila! Shlonich? [2]

Leila: hamdillah 3la salama!

You are an Arab-Iranian, please explain to the readers about this.

My family is a mix of ethnic Arabs (from Al Ahwaz[3] in Iran) and Turks (Azeri from the border of Iran/Turkey). Relatives who spoke Arabic, Turkish and Persian surrounded me as a child. Iranians are very similar to Iraqis and Iranian Arabs even more so and there are a lot of families that are mixed Iranian/Iraqi.

While I do not find this so important in relation to my culture, in dance terms it is very significant. People expect that I am a professional Persian dancer, knowing everything about Persian court dance and so on, when in fact, I grew up with Iraqi kawleya, raqs sharqi, baba karam, raqs chagoo[4], and khaleejy as well as Gulf-Iranian dances like bandari as well as social Arabic and Iranian dancing.

For the first half of my dance career, people would call me the Persian belly dancer which I just went along with, but in fact I probably only have a small amount of Persian in me – and there is no such thing as Persian belly dance! In the Arab world, belly dance is raqs sharqi and Persian dance is Persian dance, with its own sub-categories.

When and how did you start dancing?

I was dancing all my life; raqs sharqi and kawleya were my passions. As a young child, my weekday extra-curricular activities were French class (which I went to university for) as well as modern dance and ballet.

The weekends were when the real fun happened! My father is a restaurateur and at that time we lived in Westbourne Grove near Queensway, which is a very Arab and Iranian part of London. We were always at family or friends’ parties and you HAD to dance! At these parties you had Arabs, Iraqis, Persians, Armenians, Kurds, Jews, Muslims and Christians. But it didn’t matter – this is what I love about Iranian culture and I have only ever seen Iranian people united by their shared culture and customs.

I learnt dance informally from my family growing up, took part in amateur shows but I always dreamed of dancing professionally. This, however, was a no-no for me. While my family is not that religious, it is a big taboo for an Arab or Iranian girl to become a dancer or show her body in public.

Anyway, my desire got the better of me and around seven or eight years ago, I finally went to a raqs sharqi class in London with my friend, May Al-Zandi. It was quite strange having what you know stripped down and taught back to you. However, I understood that if I wanted to dance professionally then I would have to get over this.

In the end, we realised that we needed to learn from an Arabic teacher who would be able to help us build on what we already knew. I started attending classes with Shafeek Ibrahim and Meret Gabra as well as Khaled Mahmoud. My creativity started to emerge, and it was then with Juliana Brustik and a handful of other well-known UK teachers that I learnt how to perfect my basic moves and posture. I will always be grateful to all of these teachers who helped me realise my dream. I used a lot of the professional dance skills (not technique) I learnt in sharqi to apply to my kawleya dance too. I am even going back to sharqi class now – you never stop learning!

Did you get resistance from family about your profession?

Yes – it’s great isn’t it! Arabs love to watch raqs sharqi but they do not want their wives or daughters performing it and I totally understand that. Right now, I am happy and I want to pursue my career and push myself forward. I always make sure I perform in respectable venues for respectable clients.

There are jobs I will not do out of principle, because of experience and that does not just mean male-only stag parties, for example. I think all dancers should bear this in mind – professional Arabic dance in the west is, in the words of my great friend and dancer DaVid of Scandinavia, ‘a luxury’ and should be treated as such. Some of my family knows what I do and they are fine with it. My mother and sister are totally supportive – and other members of my family may or may not find out, if they have not already. Maybe there will come a time when I cannot, or will not dance any longer. For now I am making the most of being able to do a full time job that I love – not many people can say that.

Tell us about “Iraqi belly dance” or Kawleya dance.

Well, firstly there is no such thing as Iraqi belly dance – I hate that term! In Arabic, belly dance is raqs sharqi and Iraqi dance is something else. Also there are different types of Iraqi dance – the most common being kawleya and chobi[5] – and chobi is far from belly dance!

I grew up with these dances, but I never realised there was a demand for kawleya until about four years ago. I was exposed to it from a young age, but there is still a stigma attached to it and in the Arab world even more so. When I first performed it, I was worried what non-Arabs would think – it is so different to sharqi. Luckily, the audience saw the beauty of it and it was well received.

Who’s Malayeen?

She is my dance idol! She is at the forefront of Iraqi kawleya dance and brought some respectability to the dance. I was very privileged to dance with her at a private event a year or so ago. This was one of my career highlights. She is very humble and sweet and a true artist. I don’t want to say too much about her as I respect her need for privacy but you can see her acting in popular Syrian series during Ramadan. I hope our paths will cross soon again.

(Update: Malayeen is mostly acting now versus dancing on television, her last big role was on “Hindustani” on OSN Ya Hala1 channel based in Dubai)

Tell us about the Iraqi dance scene in London.

Interest in Iraqi kawleya is growing quickly; there has definitely been an explosion in the past year or so. I feel flattered that people are interested in our culture and want to learn about this amazing dance. I hope that all dancers from other fields take the time to learn it properly, including the techniques, the music, the culture, and the language – from the right sources – just like you would with raqs sharqi. In my eyes, Iraqi dance is so fragile – you can get it so right and its beautiful, and conversely, you can easily get it so wrong. There are lots of different variations of Iraqi dance: Basrawi[6], folkloric, chobi and so on. I have seen many dancers struggling to dance kawleya to a Basrawi song when they should be dancing to reda7/hecha3[7] music – this is just one example. While Iraqi dance is more than just spinning the head as we see in kawleya, I have seen some great performers of this style in London and I hope to see more.

Tell us about the Layali Academy.

My aim when setting up Layali Academy was to provide an authentic learning experience in a relaxed atmosphere to other Arab women. We have since grown to provide a warm welcome to non-Arab dance enthusiasts. Soon be moving on to other Arabic dances and art forms for men and women to provide a pan-Arab curriculum. Please do have a look at our Facebook page for more information.

Shukran jidan!

Afwan, ya Mark

Leila will be teaching two Iraqi Kawleya workshops on June the 2nd and 3rd in NYC. For more information, please visit http://www.markbalahadia.com/?p=31