“I’ll Dance for You, I’ll Dance for Me, I’ll Dance for the Sake of Dancingˮ

Abstract

Abstract This article examines ʿAtaba thaqīlat al-rūḥ (“Threshold of heavy spirit,” 2011), a novel by the new generation West Bank writer Māyā Abū l-Ḥayāt, who is considered one of the prominent new generation Palestinian West Bank writers, in which diverse and unique use of a dance motif is found. The article reviews the history of dance in Arab society and the meanings that it had in the past and currently has in Arab society and culture. It illustrates how Abū l-Ḥayāt uses each of these meanings throughout her novel in order to reveal the female soul and the status of women in Arab society. The article shows how Abū l-Ḥayāt incorporates this motif into her novel in a unique and original way, thus exposing woman’s yearning for freedom, creating a new feminine language and undermining accepted norms.