Behind the veil: an in‐depth exploration of Egyptian Muslim women's lives through dance

Abstract

Muslim women in Arabic countries have unique experiences that are shaped in large part by their cultures' beliefs regarding the female body. Mandated behaviors and men's attitudes towards women's role in society have likewise created oppressive situations which have affected women's sense of self. Because many of those experiences are body‐based, it is reasonable to assume that much valuable information is accessible through the body. Memories, feelings and relationships can all be explored and expressed through movement. This method of research proposes to communicate the implicit, non‐verbal and non‐quantitative aspects of Muslim women's experiences in their bodies. Movement interviews were conducted with six intentionally selected women to gather non‐verbal ‘embodied’ material. Because the women were hesitant to be videotaped, I invited each to hold the camera and film me twice. The first time, each woman filmed my own kinesthetic response to her dance and the second, as I recreated her dance in my body. Data were analyzed through the embodiment of the women's movement and transformed into a dance conveying the significant themes shared by the women.

In this manuscript, the process of the movement interview will be described along with the dance/movement therapy techniques used during the warm‐up. The use of non‐verbal attunement to build a non‐verbal, movement‐based bridge between researchers and research participants will be discussed. The artistic, dance/movement therapy based methods known as ‘kinesthetic empathy’ and ‘somatic countertransference’ used to collect and analyze movement data will be thoroughly presented together with the dance‐making process to present research findings.