Dabka

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Dabka or debka is a type of dancing common in Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian villages and cities, it is considered to be the "national dance" in both lebanon and palestine and it has many variants differing from village to village.

Debka is performed in many social occasions, mainly in weddings, where multiple people stand aside each other or make a circle and hit the grond with their feet in a unified pace, it also includes minor jumps usually to the side which is also performed by all "dabbikeh" (Debka dancers) together.

Debka is usually performed with music played or with singing, but it can also be performed without those and the tone of the hitting feet on the ground is considered to be "musical".

Debka is performed by both men and women, but whether they perform it together depends on the aria and on the event, Dabbikeh usually have a leader who stands ether on one side, in the middle of a circle or simply as a part of the chain, the leader is called "lawwah" which means the "waver", this position might be switched to other members of the performance while dancing, the lawwah usually waves with a piece of cloth or a "masbaha" in his hand, and does some kind of controlling the pace and tempo of debka, he or she also does estra movements to show his or her skills, such as getting down on his or her kness and getting up while dancing and without losing the pace and tempo.

The dance is popular and people learn it by joining it in their childhood. In addition there are some trainers and people go and learn it as any other dancing technique, debka has bands and groups which sometimes perform for the public in a manner similar to "concerts".

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