While the dancers didn\u2019t show much skin as per tradition, the move was considered too scantily clad for the country
\n RIYADH:
\nAuthorities in Saudi Arabia were investigating on Sunday after a samba performance by dancers some considered too scantily clad for the kingdom, which has been diversifying its entertainment options.
\nOver the past week, videos on social media have shown three foreign samba dancers displaying their moves in a main street of Jazan, in the southwest.
\nThe women, who were taking part in the Jazan Winter Festival, wore coloured feathers emblematic of the Brazilian tradition with their legs, arms and bellies uncovered. But they did not show as much flesh as samba dancers during Rio de Janeiro\u2019s annual carnival parades.
\nState-run El-Ekhbariya TV aired footage of the festival but blurred images of the women.
\n\u201cShows are for entertainment, not to attack good ways and to go against religion and social morals,\u201d one Jazan resident, Mohammed al-Bajwi told the channel.
\nOn social media many others were indignant, demanding punishment for those responsible for the event.
\nOne Twitter user, Ahmad al-Saneh, said however that he did not consider the dancers\u2019 dress excessively immodest. In Saudi Arabia, most local women still wear traditional cloak-like robes in public.
\nFaced with the conservative backlash Jazan\u2019s governor, Prince Mohammed bin Nasser, early Saturday ordered an inquiry and \u201cnecessary measures to prevent all abuse.\u201d He did not elaborate. For the past five years Saudi Arabia, where two-thirds of the population is younger than 30, has been introducing a wide range of entertainment and sporting events from music concerts to cinema and a Formula One Grand Prix auto race.
\nThe move, despite resistance from conservative hardliners, is part of a broad initiative by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for social reform and economic diversification of the oil-dependent economy, which hosts Islam\u2019s holiest sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While the dancers didn\u2019t show much skin as per tradition, the move was considered too scantily clad for the country RIYADH: Authorities in Saudi Arabia were investigating on Sunday after a samba performance by dancers some considered too scantily clad for the kingdom, which has been diversifying its entertainment options. Over the past week, videos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n