Many of you have already seen this video of dancers performing to a recorded version of “Batwanes Beek” sung by Warda al-Jazairia. The young men are break dancing (a dance form which originated in the United States) on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris to this modern Arabic classic.

This performance worked because the presentation was honest. It’s wonderful to see that the younger generation can appreciate the classics and that they can embody the sentiment with their own “truth”. Although it can take effort, you can still be current but appropriately connect to and represent the classics with a fresh, but respectful, approach.

Suhaila