Nadine Felisca Tunas
I Am Not Allowed to Dance
On the 8th of March, five teenagers recorded themselves dancing to the Selena Gomez and Rea song ‘Calm Down’ and proceeded to upload it on Tiktok. The females dance without headscarves in Ekbatan, Tehran, next to a tower block. According to reports, Iranian officials detained the teens on 10 March 2023. In Iran, it is forbidden for women to dance in public or to be seen without a headscarf covering their hair. An apology video was broadcasted not so long after, and it was believed to be a forced confession, which was uploaded on the page of dance instructor Khanom Mitra. Despite all this, support has come for their action from people all over the world.
American singer Selena Gomez shared an article on her Instagram story stating: “[love] to these young women and all the women of Iran who continue to be courageous demanding fundamental change. Please know your strength is inspiring.” Whilst Nigerian singer Rema also wrote on Twitter: “To all the beautiful women who are fighting for a better world, I’m inspired by you, I sing for you and I dream with you.”
In Iran, women have started publishing videos of them dancing to the same song without head coverings in support of the teenagers. The videos have been posted with the women’s faces blurred to maintain an anonymous identity from the Iranian authorities. Mass protests have been seen in the country in the last six months, since 16 September 2022, the date of death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for an alleged breach of the strict dress code for women.
