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The Wall Street Journal
“Penguin dance,” or “raqsat al-batriq” in Arabic, is sweeping school playgrounds, wedding parties and rug-draped living rooms of Saudi Arabia.
VIDEO: Penguin Dance Sweeps Saudi Arabia
http://news.ftcpublications.com/2014/04/video-penguin-dance-sweeps-saudi-arabia/
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Penguin Dance, Goofy Wedding Staple, Sweeps Saudi Arabia
Hopping Dance Is a Thrill in Kingdom Where Many Diversions Are Banned
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Abdulaziz al Qahtani, an 18-year-old Saudi university student, closed his bedroom door and in the privacy of his own room began. Sidekick-sidekick. Sidekick-sidekick.
Bunny-hop forward. Bunny-hop back.
His mother’s voice rang out through the walls.
“I know what you’re doing in there!” she cried, in an episode Mr. Qahtani recounted two weeks later. “Cut it out!”
Mr. Qahtani’s mother had warned him about the penguin dance, a perky conga-line of bounces and kicks that landed in Saudi Arabia from out of nowhere late last year. It has been sweeping this most traditional, un-bouncy penguin of kingdoms ever since.
In a land where a strict interpretation of Islamic law means movie theaters and many other diversions are banned, nightclubs are unthinkable and the weight of tribal custom is heavy, Saudis in large numbers are discovering the thrill of a little sidekick-sidekick bunny-hop.
“Last night I swayed, I chanted, I penguin danced,” a Saudi girl wrote on Twitter. In a Riyadh shopping mall, 26-year-old Nourhan Ashraf, an Egyptian who has spent her life in Saudi Arabia, beamed when asked about the dance. She pulled her cellphone from her purse. “The penguin dance? We’ve got it on our ringtone!”
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