Dabke is a modern Levantine Arab folk circle dance of Canaanite origin. It is performed in Lebanon,Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Israel.
Dabke combines circle dance and line dancingand is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions. The line forms from right to left. The leader of the dabke heads the line, alternating between facing the audience and the other dancers.
The Palestinian dabkeh jumps may or may not have origins in age-old Canaanite fertility riteswhich communicated the growth of plants. They were used to scare away evil forces and to protect the security and growth of seedlings. According to Yazbec, the Phoenicians were the first teachers of the dance in the world, and the dabke is a representative descendant of the Phoenician dances.
According to one folk tradition, the dance originated in the Levant where houses were built from stone with a roof made of wood, straw and dirt. The dirt roof had to be compacted which required stomping the dirt hard in a uniform way to compact it evenly.
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