INFINITE POSSIBILTIES

Ah! The infinite possibilities that come from the belly of Nuit. I often say that if there was one ancient Egyptian goddess or one aspect of Isis that embodies the essence of Bellydance, it is Nut or Nuit. She is the goddess of the night sky whose belly is the Vault of Heaven. Her belly holds the vast universe from which all possibilities come. In the evening Nuit swallows the sun and in the morningShe gives birth to the sun again.

A violinist once told me that when an Arab singer sings “Leili” (“my nights”) in a mawaal, they are expressing that feeling of being alone in the desert on a moonless night where above and in all directions of the infinite horizon is nothing but stars. There are no clouds in the desert, no sounds of living creatures and so there is nothing between you and the sky thick with piercing shining rays of light that feel they are so close, they are touching you. This sense of oneness with the infinite universe of empty space and infinite possibilities is what is expressed when “Leili” is sung.

Delving into my beloved art form and its infinite ways to express and share continues to reveal to me just how infinite Nuit’s belly really is.