Folk Dance in Ibb [Archives:1999/45/Last Page]

Folk dance is one of the most important pillars of culture which our heritage is very rich for. This form of our tradition is very fixed in our history so long in the past and has done a lot to the enrichment of other cultures in the Arab lands. 
Yemen has participated in many international exhibitions and in all of them all could not help but admire our art. Many Yemenis could show themselves well and make exquisite performances that help the audience really appreciate the Yemeni culture. The Yemeni city is characterized by a specific dance and each one is still holding fast to it such as the Sana’ani dance, Al-Hadrami dance, Al-Lahji dance, etc. It is generally believed that these dances reflect some of the people’s ambitions and desires of each and every city. 
There may be also different dances within the same city or district. For example, in some districts there are some specific dances for the time of harvesting, for weddings, for planting, etc. If we get so deep into its artistic features, we will find that there are lots of human concepts that are encompassed by these dances. After the revolution, many talented people started showing their desire to study these dances and excel themselves in them. 
In this article, I will shed some light on one of the famous dances that Ibb city is distinguished for. 
Ibb city is one of the most beautiful cities in Yemen. It is also called “The Green City.” Its landscape of beauty has reflected itself on the people and their culture. One of the most famous dances in this city is “Al-Bara’a.” It is very much common in Ibb and in some other governorates as well. This dance has specific features such as the dance’s swift-moving and quick pace which all should be in harmony with the drumbeats. The dancers also hold their Jambias in their hands. Besides using the drums in this dance they also use what is called Al-Tassah which is made of concave silver and is covered by the leather of animals. This instrument should be beaten with two small sticks by the dancers. 
This musical instrument is called ‘kairawanah’ and it is usually hun from the neck. The performance of this kind of dance needs four or five dancers according to the size of the dance floor. Dancers move in a circle. After some time the tone changes. During the change, two new dancers are added to form a circle inside the other one forming a new kind of dance called al-Hawshaliah. One of these two dancers holds a piece of cloth in his mouth and the other has to pick it without using his hands. All this is done through a very attractive piece of traditional dance. The dance stops if the piece of cloth remains in the dancer’s mouth. If the other dancer succeeds in picking it out, the dance continues. 

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