Malikat al Dabke

The first all-women’s dabke troupe in the DC metro area

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Malikat Al Dabke (Queens of Dabke) is the first all-women’s dabke troupe in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area, specializing in performing and teaching Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi dabke/chobi, zaffe wedding procession and bass drums called tabls. They also incorporate into their performances singing, ululations and aweeha, and pride themselves on teaching the history, cultural significance and percussion beats related to dabke music and dance across generations and communities.

“We don’t do our art in isolation. We do our art to make sure people know that they can’t erase us.”

~ Fairouz Foty

Fairouz Foty, co-founder of Quartertonez Music School, was inspired to create a space through dabke for women based on a mutual love for dance and Arab/SWANA culture to spread its joy across generations. This space naturally developed into a collaborative, professional dance troupe, starting in January 2023, and is made up of dedicated Arab American women who work every day to preserve their identities through dabke and resist erasure and appropriation.

Each member of the group has over a decade of Dabke experience performing and teaching hundreds of students through volunteer and educational workshops. They have performed across the country (including DC, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Massachusetts and Michigan), and helped to raise more than $93k to aid Palestinians through prominent organizations such as UNRWA USA, Palestinian Youth Movement, Leo Education Organization, and Heal Palestine, among others. They continue to dance to raise awareness of the Palestinian genocide and occupation, along with the reverberating effects it has on neighboring countries, through countless events and protests.

Malikat Al Dabke regularly performs at community and cultural events, fundraisers, embassies, conferences, universities and schools, private events and much more. They also regularly host dabke classes and workshops at schools, events, conferences and independently. Some notable events that Malikat Al Dabke has performed in include The Kennedy Center, South African Embassy, Nicaraguan Embassy, Laylit, ADC, Interfusion Festival, The Black Cat, New York Arab Festival, PBS, Arab America among many others. 

For more information about our work and services visit our Linktree, Malikat Al Dabke Instagram, and Malikat Al Dabke TikTok.

Our mission is to resist through art.

We want to engage Arab American communities, as well as audiences unfamiliar with Arab culture, by centering Arab women while celebrating cultural heritage and affirming our presence and significance in the arts.

We accept donations in support of our operations.

Thank you for your generosity! We will make sure to keep you updated on all of our endeavors.

3% Cover the Fee

Video credit: Malek Abuzenah