Alexandre Paulikevitch ( ar, الكسندر بوليكيفيتش; born February 20, 1982, in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese artist living in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. He is one of very few male Arab belly dancers, and is known for his thought provoking work and the social issues he tackles through his art. He studied at the

University of Paris VIII Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...

majoring in Theater and Dance. He returned to Beirut in 2006, where he is now permanently based, and has since "been creating spaces of reflection on Middle-Eastern dance through his work as a choreographer, a teacher and a performer". Today he specializes in contemporary

Baladi Baladi ( ar, بلدي ' relative-adjective 'of town', 'local', 'rural', comparable to English ''folk'', with a lower-class connotation) can refer to an Egyptian musical style, the folk style of Egyptian bellydance (Raqs Baladi), or the Masmoud ...

dance, a new dance form he has created and divulged.

Early life and career

Paulikevitch was born in Lebanon where he grew up in a conservative

Armenian Christian , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

neighborhood of Beirut. He embraced his sexuality early-on and came out as a homosexual man to his friends and family at the age of 16. His solo debut in Beirut was in 2009 with “Mouhawala Oula” (Arabic for "First Try") with which he begins to challenge gender stereotypes.

Homosexuality

Although a relatively progressive country in the Middle East, homosexuality has not yet been decriminalized in Lebanon. As a male with a feminine demeanor, he is often the target of derogatory catcalls when in public. In one of his first solo shows, entitled Tajwal, Paulikevitch dances to a compilation of insults directed at him on the streets of Beirut, turning his suffering into art.

Gender

Paulikevitch's work also redefines "gender roles through oriental dance". As a male dancer of Baladi, he uses his body to question

gender stereotypes A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

in the Middle East.

Activism

Beyond his dance practice, Paulikevitch is an active member of the civil society in Lebanon and a visible participant of multiple civil rights marches and protests. During the

2019–2020 Lebanese protests The 17 October Protests, commonly referred to as the 17 October Revolution () is a series of civil protests taking place in Lebanon. These national protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications s ...

, also known locally as the October Revolution, Alexandre was violently arrested and detained by the riot police after participating in a public protest on the eve of January 14, 2020. He was summoned to military court, setting a precedent in a series of military tribunal convocations for citizens arrested during the protests. Paulikevitch's experience of arrest and detention inspired his show "A'alehom", during which he expresses his personal grief and the difficult year that was 2020. His work has been described as a "call to revolution", and he has been called the "militant dancer."

Baladi career

Known as "the most famous male Baladi dancer", Paulikevitch is also perceived as the "precursor" of the dance form. His shows are often inspired by personal experiences of traumas, and have been received by audiences and critics with great success. He is one of few Arab baladi dancers to perform on international stages and as part of large dance festivals. In 2022, his performance "Cabaret Welbeek" was selected as the show to watch in the Festival LEGS, and was described as "the peak of a playful mix between joy, poetry and subversion."

Baladi appellation

One of the main missions Paulikevitch claims for himself is to battle what he describes as 'the colonial designation' of '

Belly Dance Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...

'. In describing his work, he aims to reclaim the native significance and original Egyptian appellation

— Arabic for my country or land. His main critique is that the term 'Belly Dance' was created through the colonial gaze to eroticize this dance, condemning it as female and suggestive. As a male Arab dancer within this tradition, he combats these stereotypes, thus reclaiming a space for a male figure in a female dominated world. In 2017, he influenced the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

to use the term "Baladi" instead of Belly Dance in their show "Move / Hips don't lie", a retrospective of the dance's history.

Features

Paulikevitch was featured locally and internationally in many outlets. This includes an episode of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''We Speak Dance'', hosted by Vandana Hart and filmed in Beirut; a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' article, "Coming Out in Lebanon" about openly queer and transsexual individuals in Lebanon, a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Culture documentary, ''The Male Belly Dancer Fighting Gender Stereotypes''; and a short documentary about his food cooking and preservation techniques entitled "Tastes of Loss" by Romy Lynn Attieh.

Selected works

Solo shows

* “Mouhawala Oula” (Arabic: محاولة اولة), Debut: 2009 * Tajwal (Arabic: تجوال), Debut: 2011 * ELGHA (Arabic: إلغاء), Debut: 2013 * Baladi ya Wad (Arabic: بلدي يا واد), Debut: 2015 * A'alehom (Arabic: عليهم), Debut: 2020 * Cabaret Welbeek (Arabic: كاباري والبيك), Debut: 2022

Collaborative shows

* Poster session / school -

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...

, a collaboration with dancers/choreographers:

Christine De Smedt Christine De Smedt (1963) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer. Her artistic work is situated on the boundary between dance / performance, choreography, artistic coordination and artistic projects of various kinds. Simone Forti Simone Forti (born March 25, 1935), is an American Italian Postmodern artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer. Since the 1950s, Forti has exhibited, performed, and taught workshops all over the world. Her innovations in Postmodern dance, inclu ...

, Xavier Le Roy, Mette Ingvartsen; directors: Jan Ritsema et Cyril Teste; rapper: DGIZ; author and playwright: Bojana Cvejic; essayist: Charlotte Nordmann; and director of the École supérieure d'art d'Avignon (ESAA): Jean-Marc Ferrari, Debut: 2011 * SKINOUT, a collaboration with

Cecilia Bengolea Cecilia Bengolea (born 1979, Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian artist, choreographer and dancer. Her works have been shown or performed at the Desert X of the Coachella Festival, the Art Basel or the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao amongst other venues. ...

, François Chaignaud, Ylva Falk, Elisa Yvelin, Naïs Haidar, Alex Mugler, Debut: 2012 * Palais de Femme, a collaboration with

Joelle Khoury Joelle Khoury is a Lebanese-American pianist and composer of jazz and contemporary classical music. Background Born in Beirut, Joelle Khoury left Lebanon for the United States after the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. She obtained a degr ...

and Chaghig Arzoumanian, Debut: 2014 * Dresse le Pour moi (Arabic: فأدِّبْهُ لي), a collaboration with Nancy Naous, Debut: 2018 * The Last Distance, a collaboration with Leen Hashem, Debut: 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulikevitch, Alexandre Lebanese people of Armenian descent Armenian Christians Belly dancers Lebanese dancers 1982 births Living people Artists from Beirut LGBT dancers University of Paris alumni 21st-century LGBT people