Zeina's Biography

Posted on February 3, 2008

Contents, Materials, Images © 2008 © Jemina Kathaleen Shikany

 

Hello! My name is Zeina. My enthusiasm for Middle Eastern dance began without a specific event; it was just sort of another natural activity for my life.

I have always loved music and dance of all kinds. Music has such a profound affect on me that I am not always sure where I will end up once the music starts. That is especially true when driving!

One of my earliest memories of dancing was standing on an up-ended doll cradle so that I could dance like a go-go dancer. I was probably about six years old the first time that I did that.

I was fortunate as a child to have the opportunity to appreciate music and dance forms from around the world. My grandfather married a Moroccan woman, and I saw her dance with a towel in the kitchen- only in the presence of other women, of course! My mother (Gita) shared with us her love of Spanish culture, including flamenco. The two dance and music forms certainly combine nicely and the connection to the two is reflected in much of the Middle Eastern dance of today. Of course, belly dance is everywhere today. That was not the case in the early 70’s.

In 1974, I was a teenager, and immersed in the popular music of the time. Some of my particular favorites were orchestral rock, like the Moody Blues and R & B. I loved to dance to the R & B. Of course, I danced at home. Mother taught us to dance the popular dances of her youth, so it was natural for me to watch American Bandstand and learn dances of my youth. Mother recognized my enthusiasm for dance, noticed some similarities between what I was doing at home and what she was picking up at her new dance class, and we started swapping steps.

Soon, mother invited me to attend a dance recital. My mother’s dance instructors were two sisters from Yemen. It was my great good fortune to see Sumaya and Suad Raja dance. I could see some of the steps that Mother had shown me at home. Sumaya was a beautiful dancer. She was the epitome of grace and simplicity. Suad was also a beautiful dancer, but her style of performance was much different. She was hot. Boy, could she make that clump of veil on her hip pop! What a great privilege to see both sisters perform that evening. They both demonstrated that a woman can present the height of beauty and grace while dressed simply in leotards and hip shawls. You do not need exposed skin to radiate feminine perfection.

Not much later, I began spending more of my energies on Middle Eastern dance and lessons with Mother. The next few years in dance followed the same course as hers. We went to Shirna Studio for a while, and I met more local dancers and learned additional steps. My little son was crawling on the floor by that time. One night at class, we learned about a new local dancer, whose stage name was Shebba. Mother was intrigued, so she and I met with this new personality of the Springfield Middle Eastern dance community.

Shebba (her real name was Marie) was like a force of nature. We danced with her and became connected to her like family. One time my hair caught on fire during a candle dance. Marie’s husband put out the flames with his bare hands. These are bittersweet memories, as I was one of the last people to speak with Marie in this life. Bless her heart, she was a troubled soul and I take comfort in the hope that she found peace. I will always cherish fond memories of dancing and just enjoying life with her and her family.

The show does go on, and Mother and I continued to dance. I began using the stage name “Zayin” or “Zayin Alena”. Gita and I danced in a variety of settings-from my grandmother’s tavern to local nursing homes. One of my best memories was attending a workshop in Lawrence, Kansas, with Dahlena as the guest instructor. What a fantastic dancer and teacher! Her abilities to isolate and control muscles in her lower back continue to impress me to this day. You just don’t see such muscular control on a soft feminine frame very often.

My sister Angela began to get involved in the dance. True to form, she not only cared about her own performance, but she also helped to costume me. She has always been a fantastic seamstress. My costume collection was partly constructed by Gita, much constructed by Angela, and I made a few humble additions of my own.

A turning point in my dance career came in 1982. I was in excellent physical condition and very excited about some new pharaonic steps that I was working up. I had found a book that detailed the dress, movements, and music of ancient Egyptian entertainers and was incorporating my interpretation of their movements into a highly athletic number. Alas, one day, while performing I injured my knees seriously - and I wasn’t even doing the pharaonic piece. It was simply a cabaret number.

Well, it is quite daunting to be told in your early twenties that you have arthritis in both knees caused by what was essentially a sports injury. I had to be able to heal my knees soon, because I was a full-time college student and could not walk across campus without my knees swelling! This was essentially the end of my belly-dancing career. I was twenty-two.

Over the years, I have continued to enjoy Middle Eastern dance, albeit as a bystander. I have sporadically attempted a return to the dance, without much success until this past year.

It is not easy to get back –especially knowing that I am not physically capable of the dance I once could perform, but as long as I stay true to my inner response to the music, I think that my dance is successful. I hope that you will think so, too.

I am extraordinarily proud of what Mother, Angela, Anna, Jemina, and Jessamyn have accomplished with the dance. What a great family tradition!