While this blog is dedicated to Arabic typography and type design, I feel that the connection between letters and their environment is 1- very strong, 2- very important to understand. There are many non-Arabs who are very successful in their designs, but it is always important to understand the context of type, and not just its history. So, for those who are interested in this topic, I will start a new series — the newspaper one turned out to be very popular — about the context of our letters. For this I will refer to things like cuisine, music, dance, and many other topics. I have to say though, this is my very personal view, and I’m in no way objective. I prefer Tabouleh to Fattoush, and classic oriental dance to the Saidy.
Oriental dance is very elegant and often quite sensual. The movements vary from soft and rhythmic to fast and with sharp breaks. Sounds familiar? Arabic calligraphy has many of these qualities, and it is in the alternating tempo that the richness of both dance and calligraphy lie. Both have many different styles. Both have a vast repertoire of movements. Both are elegant and pleasing to the eye.
Below is link to a video from youtube about a male dancer. This is highly unconventional but very interesting (and shocking) to see. He’s quite good and I will post more videos of dance clips in future posts. The first 30 seconds are slow so please bear with us…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6autbeh_tUk&feature=PlayList&p=0EC927A322C11319&index=3