Yes, men are belly dancers, and one of the best in the world will be bringing his full act to Prince George this Saturday.
Nath Keo is the artistic director of Sacred Centre Dance Company in Victoria. He is the most unlikely of experts in belly dance. Although he has studied the craft extensively, including in its region of origin, the Middle East, he is a Cambodian refugee who came to Canada as a child.
He is active in his Canadian community and deeply connected to his Cambodian roots, but still invests his professional energies in the choreography and long history of this Arab artistic tradition.
"I could only have done this in Canada. A Cambodian male learning Middle Eastern belly dancing just would not have ever happened. I'd have never discovered this art form," he said.
Instead, he discovered it, immersed in it, and tours the world as one of its male leaders.
"Where you feel fortunate, in my position, is knowing I'm in a dance form that is predominantly women, and being able to excel anyways," he said. "I got into it because I had friends who were doing it and I wanted to be with that group of people. It was a place I felt safer and able to express myself in my younger days. It's not connected to Cambodia at all, or to Canada, it was just a recreational activity with friends.
"But I made an effort to study the music, the history, the origin of the moves you make, and then bring in some of my traditional Cambodia moves."
Having such a proficient belly dance personality so close at hand has been a benefit to Sandra Tanemura (known as Halawa on stage), proprietor of Zahirah Dance Studio in Prince George.
She has brought Keo in as a guest performer and instructor on many occasions. He has reciprocated, having Tanemura come as a guest to his studio in Victoria.
"Nath is awesome and he has helped shape me as a performer and instructor," she said. "We are thrilled to have him and his troupe here for a show and to open for him as well. This is the first time the troupe has been here."
The Prince George show is part of a tour Keo is taking the troupe on, but he will also stay to teach some classes.
It all helps build the belly dancing network in B.C., he and Tanemura said, and perhaps turn on the light among men that this dance form is available to them.
"Traditionally it was not, but a male version developed over time," Tanemura said, and by that she means several centuries. This is one of the oldest forms of dance one can find on any map. "And among male belly dancers, Nath is particularly well thought of. He is renowned the world over. He never walks anywhere, he dances everywhere he goes, he can't turn it off. He adds all kinds of Cambodian flavours, which are totally unique in belly dancing. When he's on the stage, there are all kinds of interesting hand movements and weight changes, which as a dancer I find really interesting."
"I think when you're the one guy on stage, regardless of your abilities, you become a visual point of focus, so I felt strongly that I couldn't ever let down my cast-mates," said Keo, explaining his dedication to the craft.
He is more than a dancer. His creative expression extends also to pop music. He has put out an album of songs done in the Cambodian language but fusing modern arrangements and North American styles. Another album is in the works.
He is also an author. Although still a young man, his life has gathered a range of dramatic experiences - so much so that he wrote a novel. It isn't an autobiography per se, but it does borrow elements and impressions from his life and culture. Called Bada, it traces through a couple of millenia of Cambodian history through the literary vehicle of cultural artifacts taken from Cambodia and put on display at foreign museums, galleries and private collections.
In one strong sense, he is one of those artifacts, displaced by violence from that ancient land, and now part of the modern reconciliation of facts and factions inside the Southeast Asian country torn apart by war and atrocities in the 20th century. It had hundreds of years of historical conflicts with its neighbouring countries, then got tangled in 19th century French colonialism, the Vietnam War next door, then the ghastly bloodshed of the Khmer Rouge regime.
"I was born in a refugee camp, so I was born into the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge," said Keo.
"We were on the Thai border. We applied to all 18 countries that offered to accept refugees. We had heard Canada was OK with accepting entire families instead of just taking individuals, so we hoped for that, and that is what happened. What I see now with Canada accepting Syrian refugee families, it really warms my heart."
Warmer still is the progress of Cambodia, now well down the road of recovery and becoming a stable and welcoming nation again. Keo returns every year to be part of that.
He brings his colourful personal history and his colourful dance troupe to the Prince George Playhouse on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $25 in advance or $35 at the door while supplies last.
For advance tickets or information, visit the www.sacredcentredance.com website.
Belly dance fans can also book May 14 on their calendars. Zahirah Dance Studio and another local group, Amanita Middle Eastern Dance Studio, will join forces for a show at Theatre North West.
Tickets to that event go on sale March 1 at the two studios or from any of their members.
