To perform a dabke, you link hands with a group of people in a line, which is led by a leader who sets the pace of the dabke. It is a dance that is categorized by lots of stomping, stepping, jumping and at times, clapping. A basic dabke line may have three to five different steps that the line follows. Meanwhile, the leader—someone who is usually quite skilled in dancing dabke—improvises complex moves to the music that the rest of the line doesn’t follow.
The Music: There are different sets of traditional music that correspond with different styles of dabke. Traditional dabke music is folkloric and usually surrounds topics of love, life and struggle. Some of my favorite dabke songs are the ones that describe different villages and traditions specific to those villages such as dress and characteristics of their residents. Some of the most common instruments used for dabke music are Oud, which looks like a pear-shaped guitar; mijwiz, which is a kind of reed clarinet; tableh, which is a hand drum; and tambourine. Dabke songs are often sung by men and a choir of women as well who make a particularly high-pitched sound of celebration.
Dabke has been around for hundreds of years, and it has taken many shapes, forms and purposes, and differs from region to region. However, it’s stuck around all this time because it is a part of the culture that is fun, easy and inclusive. While dabke traditionally was danced mostly by men, now that is something that is changing. Many dabke dance troupes have both male and female members.
