So You Think You Can Dance?

Since the Smooth Criminal, Saudi style video from last week was quite popular, I thought you might enjoy this too:

Here’s the same video from last week but with the original southern folk music:

Moving from south to north, check out these two guys:

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28 Comments

  1. Posted Monday, June 15, 2009 at 18:13 | Permalink | Reply

    Well if I had a dancing group I will definitely take the last two guys… Bu of course.. get them a makeover first :P

  2. Chiara
    Posted Monday, June 15, 2009 at 19:46 | Permalink | Reply

    All three videos are great! The first reminds me of the Macarena. The second, visually is a little like an Arabian “Riverdance/Lord of the Dance”, and musically gives credence to the hypothesis that the original Arabian migration to Morocco was from the southern part of the peninsula. The third shows 2 very talented young boys! Any relation? LOL

  3. A Global Citizen
    Posted Monday, June 15, 2009 at 21:07 | Permalink | Reply

    Ahmad,

    It’s always the quality, not the quantity that matters the most. ;)

  4. Posted Monday, June 15, 2009 at 21:24 | Permalink | Reply

    hahahaha
    I thought you were gonna talk about the show itself and got all excited lol :D

  5. Magicrealism
    Posted Monday, June 15, 2009 at 22:39 | Permalink | Reply

    *laughing like crazy* :D
    never thought Saudis could tap dance

  6. Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 16:06 | Permalink | Reply

    Ahmed – do you mind if I use one of these videos on my blog?

    :)

  7. Jerry M
    Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 16:58 | Permalink | Reply

    Do Saudi women do anything similar (and I don’t expect you to have a video of it)?

  8. Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 16:59 | Permalink | Reply

    pretty funny..
    thanks 4 sharing mate..

  9. Karim
    Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 17:55 | Permalink | Reply

    Re the 3rd video: After the Irish River Dance behold the Saudi Wadi Dance ;-)

  10. Chiara
    Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 18:41 | Permalink | Reply

    So being from the North, would that be the “Sheikhs of the Wadi as Sirhan Dance”, then? LOL :)

  11. Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 0:21 | Permalink | Reply

    Si, they remind me too Irish dancers, so I guess deep down we all are not that different…

    Those 2 boys are really talented… and I think
    The M.Jackson song just fitted great with the 2nd video. I like the first one too. i found those traditional dances very nice, but I wonder as Jerry m said before, if there is anything similar for woman. Do they have also a traditional dance?

  12. Chiara
    Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 2:34 | Permalink | Reply

    Others here will be better able to reply in detail, but yes women do have analogous traditional dances.

  13. Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 4:34 | Permalink | Reply

    I think you can find Saudi women dancing on YouTube.

  14. Chiara
    Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 5:26 | Permalink | Reply

    I tried a video search, but all I found were ones of questionable authenticity, with extraordinarily vulgar and racist comments left on the topics of Saudi women, and Saudi women dancing.

  15. ellen557
    Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 6:12 | Permalink | Reply

    Chiara – try googling “khaleeji dance” and you might find something. My husband’s sisters dance a bit like this but slower:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POuohlIxRdk (this is an iraqi video) over in the Eastern province.

    I imagine it’d be different depending where in KSA you’re interested in :)

  16. Chiara
    Posted Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 16:48 | Permalink | Reply

    Ellen–thanks, will do. Love your first name, btw (Irish version of Helen, Greek for light). Thanks for enLIGHTening me LOL :)

  17. Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 3:14 | Permalink | Reply

    ive seen this vid a while back, but wats more hilarious is the guy in a besht dancing 2 50 cent’s song “in da cluib” edited clip afcourse. u guys shud try 2 look 4 it cuz its hilarious!!

    btw im a fellow blogger 2 so if ud like 2 have a few laughs come check it out: http://mo2thehammed.blogspot.com/

  18. Canadian
    Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 6:38 | Permalink | Reply

    And this gets billed as the best blog in the ME?

    • Chiara
      Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 19:40 | Permalink | Reply

      Comic relief: Shakespeare used it to great effect; and, Ahmad is none to shabby at it in the blog context either.

  19. The FireBrand
    Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 17:05 | Permalink | Reply

    I think the videos are cool, especially #3. As a dancer myself, if I were choosing the music for these as a mashup. I’d put in place Jamaican dancehall or raggaeton since the beats are heavily rhythmic and are timed similarly. I can imagine video #1 Daddy Yankee’s- Rompe #2-Pittbull’s “I Know You Want Me #3-Sean Paul’s “Gimme the Light”.

  20. Posted Friday, June 19, 2009 at 13:14 | Permalink | Reply

    You can find a lot of Saudi dances like these being performed by Saudi students across UK and US on international cultural festivals/shows. To be honest, I was really amazed how they come up with them, especially the group dances.

  21. Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 5:27 | Permalink | Reply

    Hi Ahmed, I like the second one. Yet, I do not like linking the word criminal to the first one even if for humor. It could be called how the globalization affected the amazing Saudi dance.

    • Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 12:50 | Permalink | Reply

      It’s because Michael Jackson’s song Smooth Criminal that is used in that video, I did not come up with that.

  22. Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 6:12 | Permalink | Reply

    Ahmed I just check the youtube for the criminal dance and it is written it is a Kuwaiti one. Can you clarify further please. And, why you said it is Saudi style?

    • Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 12:51 | Permalink | Reply

      I don’t care what YouTube users have to say about it. I know that this dance is folk dance from southern Saudi Arabia.

  23. Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 14:47 | Permalink | Reply

    Actually, I am not fan of Michael Jackson and I do not listen to him. Also, I did not know he has a a song called Smooth Criminal. Unlike you I do care what youtube users say when naming videos because some of the youtubers name videos (ex.Kuwaiti or Saudi) is based on their Ideology or point of view.

  24. Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 at 14:49 | Permalink | Reply

    By the way, I did not claim that you come up with that titled. I was seeking a kind clarification.

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Oh, Those Saudis! | Crossroads Arabia on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 18:57

    [...] UPDATE: As a commenter suggested, but I did not agree, it does appear that the video below was a mash-up. It combines video of a Saudi ardha dance troupe with a pasted-on audio track of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”. Oops! Saudi Jeans has the accurate story here. [...]

  2. [...] video mashups of Saudi folk dancing with Western music have been a popular item on this blog. Here is the latest in this series, courtesy of [...]

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