After tonight’s World Bellydance Championship (هزي يا نواعم) there remains only one prime: the finale. Five dancers were reduced to four tonight with Syrian Sandra leaving the show, finally.

When the show started off, I expected Sandra to get booted in the first prime because she could not dance if her life depended on it. But since she has a double-D bosom she remained, with Simon Asmar clearly indicating the generosity of her bodily features in every prime and giving her 6’s or 7’s on really mediocre performances. My theory is that they wanted to keep her in the competition because she was bringing them the most viewers. But tonight since only one prime is left, people will watch it anyway out of curiosity and Miss.Booby can leave, so they ditched her. That’s show business politics for you.

Here are my impressions of the four finalists:

Fadwa

I find Fadwa too aggressive for my taste, but she is a brilliant dancer nonetheless. She has never failed to impress the jury and is versatile enough to jive with any beat. I expect her to compete over first place. Ironically, I danced with her tonight, mimicking her every move, and to my astonishment I kept up with her. This means she needs to step her game up for the finale.

Layla

Never underestimate a foreign bellydance aficionado.This gorgeous Ukrainian dancer keeps getting better and better every week. Her last week’s performance (dancing on the darbukka, or tableh) was so passionate and beautiful and perfect. I have never seen something quite like it myself, and I have seen a LOT of bellydancing. Layla wants to learn Arabic, any volunteers?

Estelle

Estelle has many things going for her; the jury likes her, she’s tall, and she does exceptionally well in improvisation. I don’t know what it is about her though that I do not digest; maybe the height and skinniness, or it could be that I feel she’s more technical than passionate on stage, unlike Fadwa and Layla, for example.

Rana

I love Rana. She looks so nerdy when they do the small video clips of her before the dance, with her geeky glasses on and casual wear. But when she appears on stage she is a total diva. She’s very sensual and sweet and her dancing is fantastic and well-timed. I like her the best BUT I don’t think she will compete over first place because Estelle and Fadwa and Layla are way more aggressive than she is. Maybe she will give it her all next week, you never know. I would gladly become Rana’s best friend - call me, Rana!

Those were my impressions. I expect the show will have a sequel next season with many many more girls participating and a lot more respect from the general public. For now though, I can hardly wait for the finale!

I’ve been thinking of the hijab issue lately and how some people have major problems with it and others do not. I finally got to a conclusion that I think sums up my opinion on the whole thing. Are you comfortable in your seat? Good.

Here’s what I think: People who have a problem with other people who wear a head garment are shallow. The word “hijabi” itself does not appeal to me as it sounds too much like “jihadi” and we all know the negative connotations that word holds. The two words do not even exist in the Arabic language to which their creators think they belong. How stupid is that?

I find it absurd and offensive to the human race that some people would stop at the level of what another person is wearing and go no further. It is even more offensive when these people hold hostile or dismissive attitudes towards people who wear a specific thing, in this case the hijab.

I am not defending people who wear the hijab and I am not saying that some of them do not represent an embarrassing lot. I am not even defending the hijab itself. This isn’t about religion or social norms, it is about human interaction and understanding. My opinion is that if we stop at the level of clothes, clothes people!, and judge each other and dismiss each other because we cannot see someone’s hair and cleavage — then we are a miserable race and we deserve the wars and conflicts that we live in today.

How can we have a decent conversation with one another if we have already judged and belittled one another in our minds? How can we expect everyone to believe we’re progressive, educated, and intelligent human beings when we lower our standards of human interaction to mere clothes and hair? Why do some of us still live in the Middle Ages when it comes to openness and understanding, when they claim to be liberal all the time?

By the same token, I do not defend people who go around half naked. Hijabi or not, clothes are either a choice or an obligation. Either way, you just cannot make up scenarios in your head about what other people think and who they are or what they believe in based on what they’re wearing. Who do you think you are, anyway?

The issue of the veil never ceases to fascinate people from other cultures, nor does it stop claiming centre stage in any talk show or social gathering that aim to be tagged controversial. You may want to think of it in this context: it’s an instant attention grabber.

Whenever I meet new people, I am instantly asked some questions about religion or the veil. I understand why this happens, of course: people see a veiled woman and they instantly believe that she is religious or quite literate in religion. But isn’t this assumption fallacious in many cases?

Many times a woman wears the veil due to social or cultural pressure. In some families, wearing the veil is the normal consequence of puberty or bodily maturity. In some geographical locations, wearing a veil is simply the way women dress. In others, it is considered improper not to wear a veil. The reasons are many and diverse, and only a portion of them has to do with religious beliefs.

I am usually annoyed when people ask me religious questions. It feels as though I have this preacher duty to do, and I simply hate preaching. Asking me about religion also puts me under a lot of pressure to give out the “correct answer” which, more often than not, I do not have. To avoid any misunderstandings, I always start my answer (if I decide to answer) with announcing that “I am not an authority on religion” and then I proceed to explaining my personal beliefs about the question asked. I always urge people to ask an expert if they are really interested in investigating things, or to do their own research.

Even if I meet the investigative type of people, like journalists or writers, who are interested in one activity I have, I still get the usual questions on religion and the veil. I am usually asked why I wear the veil, and why other Muslims don’t, and if it is wrong not to wear it, etc.

I resent these questions because they stereotype me as being a religious person and I am not really religious. Why I wear the veil is a question worthy of asking, of course, but it is also private. If it’s the charm of my contradictions that people are interested in, well then, why don’t they ask about that?

Questions on religion and the veil also take away from the “point” I am being met or interviewed for. It’s almost like meeting someone who wears socks and who’s also a distinguished artist. Instead of paying attention to the art, many people would focus on the socks and forget that their main interest in this person is de fact, the art. Not the socks.