Girls Dabke takes root in Milwaukee

Photos by Mouna Rashid

Banat Al-Huriyah Girls Dabke Group debuted in June at Celebrating Palestine, the first Palestinian cultural festival in Milwaukee.

Attend any wedding for a bride and groom with family roots in the Levant—Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and adjacent lands. As soon as guests hear that special beat, some leap up, line up, clasp hands and start stepping in unison.

Dabke, a lively Arabic line and circle dance characterized by rhythmic stomping and synchronized movement, is alive and well in Wisconsin. From young children to their grandparents, everyone seems to know what to do. They grew up celebrating every occasion by dancing a dabke.

You’d hardly think anyone needs lessons.

One young Milwaukee woman, a talented dabke dancer herself, has long had her sights on creating a place for girls and young women to take their dabke to the next level. A chance meeting with a new Milwaukee resident, fresh from the West Bank, who happened to have performed dabke professionally, gave her the boost she needed. They joined forces to form Banat Al-Huriyah, Milwaukee’s new dabke group for women and girls.

Banat Al-Huriyah debuted at Celebrating Palestine, a cultural festival organized by the Muslim Women’s Coalition and held at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee in June. It trains at the Betein Academy, where girls and women of all ages can take dabke classes from the dance group’s founders.

Banat Al-Huriyah poses at premiere performance. Front row, Maryem Mansour; back row, left to right, Samia Turk, Naya Rashid, Maya Audi, Shahd Sawalhi, Amelia Bader, Mona Hanna, Bana Jaber and Nur Badwan.

Making the dream a reality

Amelia Bader, 22, of Milwaukee talked with friends about starting dabke classes for women. But she was busy studying psychology and art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working on and exhibiting her art, and socializing with family and friends.

When her sister Mandy married last year, Amelia led a Palestinian-style dabke at the festive women’s party. Every joyous occasion was an opportunity to dance. But, Bader had more in mind.

Now with her Bachelor of Science degree behind her and a gap before starting a masters in nursing program at UW-Milwaukee next spring, she had time to pursue her passion for dabke. But how?

Serendipity!

Enter Shahd Sawalhi, a former dancer, 10 years with El-Funoun, a famous Palestinian dabke group based in Ramallah. “They are the most famous dabke group back in Palestine,” she told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. “Our group travelled locally and internationally for performances.”

“I met Amelia’s sister at Marquette University at an event showcasing different cultures,” Sawalhi, 25, associate director of enrollment management and outreach for MU’s College of Engineering, told Wisconsin Muslim Journal in a recent interview. “Mandy was tabling for Arabic and Islamic culture and I was doing a table specifically for Palestine. I was actually born and raised in Palestine. We were right next to each other and just got to talking. That’s where I met Amelia and her family. We all became super close.”

Shahd Sawalhi and Amelia Bader founded Banat Al-Huriyah after a chance meeting early this year.

Sawalhi came to the United States from Ramallah in 2018 to study biomedical engineering at MU as a Global Scholar on a full-tuition scholarship. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and now works for MU.

Bader was teaching dabke as a coach with Betein Academy at the time. When another coach left, she recommended Sawalhi for the position. Teaching together, with space to practice, “it was the perfect opportunity to jumpstart our group,” Bader said.

“We wanted to fast track our performance group because Milwaukee needs a female dabke group, especially because there are a lot of female-only events,” Bader said. “We needed it sooner than later.”

They hold classes for girls and women who want to learn dabke and invite those who want to train to perform to give it a try.

For girls and young women in Milwaukee, “we want our dance group to be a way they can connect to their heritage and express unity with the people back home,” Sawalhi said.

Bader and Sawalhi debated a few names back and forth, then decided on Banat Al-Huriyah (Girls of Freedom), “a powerful and deeply symbolic name for a Palestinian dabke group,” Sawalhi said. Both founders are Palestinian and the group performs in Palestinian-style dress. However, dancers come from a variety of backgrounds and all are welcomed, Bader said.

Instructors and students practice during class. Left to right: Coach Amelia Bader of Milwaukee, Bayan Atari of Tampa, Maya Audi of Milwaukee, Maryem Mansour of Milwaukee and Coach Shahd Sawalhi of Milwaukee.

Visiting class

Wisconsin Muslim Journal dropped in recently on their dabke class at Creative Productions Dance Studio, 7044 South 13th Street in Oak Creek. Sawalhi led warm-ups.

“Shoulder rolls,” she called. “Forward, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Back two, three, four … They were followed by arm circles and a variety of stretches.

Bader arrived and the group of five lined up. The youngest, Maryem Mansour, 10, of Milwaukee, dressed in a Palestinian thobe, sparkling with sequins. The others were dressed for exercise, with Bader and Sawalhi adding Palestinian scarves, and Bader twirling a fine, decorative cane. They traveled across the floor with synchronized steps, kicks and stomps.

“I’ve been wanting to be part of something like this for a while now,” said Maya Audi, 22, of Milwaukee at a break during practice. A recent MU graduate, Audi is working as a civil engineer in the private sector. Sawalhi “was my boss at Marquette in the Engineering College, where I had a student ambassador position, and I’m friends with Amelia,” she said to explain how she learned about the class. She is also part of the performance group.

“I started in February, right when they announced it,” she said. “We are Lebanese and do dabke at gatherings. I went to Lebanon with my family in May and, of course, we got together and danced. Everyone there dances. It is very natural to do when we get together.

“The dabke is very simple but takes skill and technique to learn it,” she added. “Once you’ve got it, it is very easy to do it.

“I’m enjoying learning some more advanced moves and choreography. Having practices after work and on Sunday afternoon is very convenient.”

Bayan Atari, 13, of Tampa is in Milwaukee to visit family but plans to move here with her family next year. “I only started three weeks ago. My mom saw it online,” she said. “I know the basics since I’m from a Palestinian American family.”

“So what brought you here?” we asked 10-year-old Maryem Mansour of Milwaukee, a fourth-grader at Salam School.

“During weddings, I’d always ask my mom, where did everyone learn all this? Then she told me, there’s a place where you can learn. Would you like to go?”

“Yeah! So, I came here and started learning a lot. I’ve been coming for three months now.”

“Were you in the performance?”

“Yeah.”

“Were a lot of people watching?

“Yeah.”

“Were you afraid?”

“I was nervous because not just my family but my cousins and aunts also asked for tickets.”

“Did you do a good job?

“Yeah.”