The word 'gypsy' is derived from the word 'Egypt', which is where Europeans assumed recent dark-skinned immigrants arrived from. The meaning, therefore, was descriptive, and it is only further generations, armed with fear and prejudice, that began attaching derogatory meanings to the word. Aren't western minds always wary of 'new' people and eager to protect the lands they claim as their own?
It needs to be stated that these people were actually a nomadic people who call themselves the Rom (or Roma), in general, and by many other names specific to the places they inhabit - Gitano in Spain, Ghawazee in Egypt, Sinti in many parts of Europe, etc.. Rarely do the people who we think of as gypsies call themselves gypsy.
The intent of gipsy.ca is to use the romanticized spirit that the word gypsy has generated in recent memory - that is, the spirit of travel, of adventure, of freedom and of learning the culture, the song, the dance and the colour that dwells in each place along this nomadic journey called life.
We believe that in honouring the word and any attachment it has to the Rom, real or perceived, that we will only exemplify and point out the positive aspects of what it means to be a romanticized 'gypsy'. This perceived freedom the word embodies is at the heart of what it means to be a 'gypsy', and it is probably with much jealousy that the word became slanderous in recent memory. To us, nothing could be more positive than to strive to live your life by making your own rules, by abiding by the nature of the land in which you reside, and by not oppressing others in order to do so.
We assume no ties exists in reality between this romanticized perception of what a 'gypsy' is and who the Rom really are.
In using the word 'gypsy', we in no way seek to demean the Rom people, their cultures and their ways.
At gipsy.ca, we don't even pretend or assume to perform anything resembling traditional 'Rom' dances. Our dances strive to envelop the romanticized notion of the 'gypsy', gathering dance knowledge from the many dances and cultures we love, and incorporating them into our bellydance routines. It's that simple.
To further explain the 'gypsy' archetype we wish to exemplify, we refer to this quote and further information from Paulette Rees-Denis of Gypsy Caravan:
'The image of the Gypsy - the wanderer, the outsider, the wild and sensual, wise in the ways of magic and mystery - this is an image which has been severely repressed in Western culture for many centuries. Yet is is within us and we long to call in back into ourselves, into our conscious lives. And we do; we dance our Gypsy dreams into existence when we become Tribal Bellydancers..
The one context in which the name Gypsy has validity and honour is in the realm of dream and fantasy.”
p.213 from 'The Tribal Bible' copyright 2003 Kajira Djoumahna. All rights reserved.
For more information:
Paulette's Site: www.gypsycaravan.us
Kajira Djoumahna, author of The Tribal Bible: www.blacksheepbellydance.com
Voice Of Roma: www.scn.org/roma
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