It starts with a phone call. A woman in a black top and silver leggings stands on concrete and announces that she is doing dabke dance. Her friend, wearing a silver top and black leggings in the woods, asks the question many viewers are thinking: what is that? The rest of the video is the answer, delivered with a lot of energy and a few surprising locations.
Chapter one is titled "Dabke A la Neukölln" and filmed vertically at a gas station. A woman in a brown jacket, top and jeans dances right next to pump number 8, with energetic squats, kicks and the hand-holding steps that make dabke so lively. A man in a striped shirt joins her, and suddenly pump 8 is the most popular dance floor in town. We do not recommend dancing near fuel pumps, but we admit the pump looks happier than usual.
Next comes "Break the Dabke," and the setting changes to brick walls and teal beams. A woman in a black tank top and blue flared jeans steps in with a curly-haired partner in a patterned jacket. They start with the traditional steps, and then he breaks away into breakdance moves, flares and swipes, before smoothly rejoining the line. Folk dance meets street dance, and both seem pleased with the arrangement.
Then the best moment of the whole video. In front of a red door and a blue building, the same dancer spins and drops with full commitment, while her partner, in a leather jacket and long denim skirt, holds a coffee and a pastry perfectly steady. Not a drop spilled, not a crumb lost. That is the real talent here. Anyone can dance; very few can dance next to someone who refuses to put down breakfast.
The video returns to the pair from the intro dancing hand in hand outdoors, and then circles back to the gas station for the finish, as if pump 8 deserved one more encore.
Dabke is a joyful line dance, and this clip shows how flexible it can be: gas station, brick hall or city street, it works everywhere. Just bring friends, good shoes and, if possible, a coffee holder with a very steady hand.
