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Dance Styles: |
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These notes have been compiled from my readings from many sources including books, articles, web sites, and essays. Most of my information sources are listed under the Resources section of this website. Raqs: Arabic. Meaning “dance” or “make the heart quiver and shake” and “celebrate”. Raqs Baladi: literally “Native Dance” or "country dance" in Egyptian Arabic. This term is applied in many ways including to a particular dance style. For example, any folk dance can be called a baladi, however it is also a term used for a dance style that is an Egyptian folk dance, traditionally performed by women, where-in the dancer is the musician's visual aid/muse or directly interprets or channels the music through her body. This style has a lot of undulating with the chest and stomach and is mostly stationary. It is about expressing the feeling of the music as it is internalized by the dancer. The music as does the dance begins simple and builds to a complicated climax. Baladi is both a celebration of female expression and a ballad for the beautiful Egyptian country side and love! Raqs Sharqi: literally “Eastern Dance” in Egyptian Arabic. This is the umbrella term that professionals use to describe their dance done in performance. This dancing incorporates many dance forms including ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop, samba, flamenco, Turkish, Lebanese, Indian, Persian, etc. This dancing is full body, using graceful arm and hand movements, torso undulations and isolations, head movements, pelvic movements, and even legs movements (arabesques) and pointed toes. This form of raqs is acknowledged widely as classical Arabic dance (it's "bigger is better" loud sister is American Cabaret). Some call this dancing cabaret with the country name proceeding to describe the style (Egyptian/Turkish/American/Lebanese Cabaret). Many Westerners call this form Oriental or Belly Dancing, the latter of which some find to be an offensive term. Raqs Baladi or Folk Dances: Khaleegy/Nasha'at/Saudi/Samri: Arabic Gulf. Raqs Na'ashat dance or the Hair dance. Women’s social dance often in groups. This dance has a lot of hair throwing, small shoulder shimmies, very little hip work, simple arm and hand movements and gliding footwork. The dancers wear huge throbes (darrah zerri or nashaal) that they dance with and are usually embroidered or sequined. Saiidi: Upper Egypt. Origianally a men's dance of camel shepards and horse trainers. This is a heavy, earthy dance that, when performed by women, uses mostly hips, shoulder drops and shimmys and some steps mimic horse movements done to a saiidi rhythm. Draws on influences from tahtib, a men's martial art. Often performed with a cane (assaya) or finger cymbals (zagat), the dancers wear a variety of costumes including beladi dresses, vests, gallibiya or tunics tied at the waist and always a hip scarf and head covering often with a hip length veil draped down the back of the head piece. Hair can be covered, partially showing in front of headpiece or worn in two braids framing the face. Sometimes this dance is performed with a dancing horse, nowadays, usually two guys in a horse costume! Ghawazee: Upper Egypt. This dance form is associated with the ghawazee, gypsies or Nile dwellers of non-Egyptian origins, possibly from India. Ghawazee are Sinti gypsies now based in Luxor, their dance is constant shimmies, hips swing, twist and swoosh a lot while the feet and finger cymbals (zagat) carry the beat. Modern costumes consist of layers of beaded or cloth fringe all the way up a skirt or dress. Older style costumes consist of calf length skirts with a long ribbon hip belt, coin belts, white tranparent tops, bras decorated with coins and a short tight vest fastened under the bust. Even older styles consist of long, tight tuics with plunging neckline or fastened under the bust and worn over gauzey white tops with draping sleeves, a short skirt over huge Ottoman style harem pants with low slung hipscarves tied snuggley around the hips, and head coverings with coins braided into the ends of the loose hair. Sha'abi: Egyptian, means, "of the people". This dance combines street dances from Falahi: Egyptian country dance of farmers. Often they perform a balaise or water jug dance. During the jug dance they do simple hip movements and shoulder shimmies while using their hands to swish the large dress, hold the water jug, and pretend to collect and share water. They also wear a head wrap with colorful pom poms. The dress is quite large and has a long loose ruffle around the bottom and bell sleeves. These dresses are usually very colorful and often use print fabrics for the ruffles. Malaya Lef : Alexandrian character dance created by Mahmoud Reda and performed by women. Mimics the women in the market flirting with men. This is performed only to Alexandrian music preferably songs that sing of the beatiful Alexandrian women. In Arabic Alexandrian is pronounced Eskandaria. The typical costume is a short form fitting dress with a ruffled top and bottom, a knitted face veil with gold coins in it, a head scarf with colorful pom poms sewn around the edges, high heels (which are often kicked off during the performance), nylons, and a malaya which is a huge stretchy black, opaque wrap (which is tossed about, wrapped around and sometimes discarded during the performance). The malaya was actually worn by the women of Alexandria in everyday life to cover up. Usually the hair is worn in 2 braids framing the face. Port of Said : Egyptian, from Port of Said. This is a fishrmens and sailors dance. This dance mimics the tossing of nets, reeling them in, and typical sailor type dancing. A lot of foot and leg work. This dance can be performed by women or men. The women's costuming consists of tight pants with a belled bottom, a long fitted top with long or 3/4 length sleeves, or a crop top, and a hankerchief on the head, with hair often worn in braids fraiming the face. The men's costumes are typically large white harem pants that are fitted from the calf to the ankle, a simple thin hip scrarf, a cap, and a waist length or short vest that can be worn with or with out a shirt. Often the spoons are played on various parts of the body during the performance. Shamadan/Zaffa: Egyptian, a wedding dance performed with a candlabra balanced on the head. Performed to the Zaffa rhythm. Sometimes performed with zagat (finger cymbles), while wearing a galibia or beladi dress and hip scarf. This dance is usually used in wedding processions to bring in the bride and groom to the ceremony or reception. A Zaffa is traditionally danced when an Egyptian wedding is announced and the bride is taken from her parents' house and delivered at the groom's residence. The shamadan dance we see outside of weddings (i.e. on stages) and performed by groups or solos is attributed to Mahmoud Reda, and evolved from the traditional zaffa. Debke: Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan). This dance is usually social and danced in lines or circles while holding hands. It my also be done solo or in small groups. It consists of fast and intricate footwork that is often repetitive and can include kicking and stomping as well as some shoulder work. This dance varies from region to region. Hagalla: Hagalla is a happy folk dance from the Sinai areas of Egypt danced by un-wed women at social functions. Traditionally this dance was used as part of a ceremony where the young women would pick her husband to-be and the men would also dance and try to impress the young woman. There is a lot of vibrating and shimming movements in this dance with a lot of 3/4 shimmys with special emphasis given to the downward accent. The costumes consist of form fitting tunics and/or blouses with a short -medium length white skirt over another longer skirt and hip scarves, and sometimes a hankerchief style head wrap. Pharonic: Egyptian Fakelore, deriving from ancient Egyptian temple dancing with many arm poses, head slides, and some Wide-legged stances. Utilizing group formations, circles, and lines. Zaar, Zicker, & Tanoura : All spiritual trance dances done to a variation of the ayoub rhythm. Zaar: an exorcism ritual designed to rid one of evil jeanie's. Most often women with some social, mental, or spiritual ailment will come all together for this trance dance ritual. Often done with live drummers who will play different versions of the rhythm until the "jeanie" responds to one of them. Involves a lot of head and hair tossing, upper body contractions, throwing the arms and hands about. Zicker: an Islamic prayer/meditation swaying dance (soft swaying). Tanoura: this is a meditaion sufi spin, the Arabic version of the Whirling Dervish. In this dance one spins wearing a white long sleeved top, white fitted pants, ankle or knee high boots, head wrap, and one or more large colorful skirts that are removed and move up and down the body or spun over head, while spinning. Mevlana/Turkish Dervishes/Sufi: Derv meaning “to Rotate”. These dancers spin around themselves all together using the spinning as a form of meditation or prayer. Their spinning is symbolic of many cosmological realities and based in Sufism. Dervishes can be male or female and wear tight pants and black shoes under a long dress or robe, which is tailored at the waist and is wide at the bottom and has long sleeves and a belt. Over this they wear a waist length jacket. Men must hide their hair under a tall cap called a fez, which sits on top of the head and has a black tassel that hangs from the top center of the fez. Women cover their hair with a low cap that wraps around the neck just under the chin. Zambra Mora (Moorish)/Gypsy/Spanish Fusion/Rom: Little known form of Flamenco, which is Oriental in flavor. Developed during the Moorish occupation of Andalusia and is most commonly found near Granda today. This style of Flamenco is a combo of Spanish, Gypsy and Arabic dance styles. Uses hips, footwork, clapping and snapping of the fingers, arms, skirts, fans, and finger cymbals, performed barefoot. Turkish Rom or Gypsy Rom is similar to Zambra Mora, however they utilize more floor work and wild hair movements to Turkish rhythms such as 9/8, 6/8 or 7/8. Persian: Iran. Bandari is one of the styles of Persian folk dance. Very little hip movements and somewhat quick paced and bouncy. Uses hair tosses hand shimmies, a few hip drops, head slides, and some simple turns and shoulder shimmies. Mostly performed be women, they wear knee length tunics with long fitted sleeves, and ankle length pants that are tight and gathered at the ankle to the mid calf, with a head piece that covers the hair and is loose and hangs down the back. Baba Kim is another type of Persian folk dancing which is mostly performed by men and uses a slower rhythm than Bandari and a lot of macho attitude.This is typically performed with a hat and suit (similar to a Zoot Suit). BollyWood: from India, incorporates Hip-Hop, Raqs Sharqi, and classical Indian dance. This dance is typical of Bolly Wood movies. Often used in musicals as a narrative. Incorporates many arms and gestures with meaning correlating to the lyrics of the music typical of traditional Indian dance. Ouled Nail: Algerian, the name either means “Nail’s Children” or “Children of the Plated Shoes” These dancers use a lot of stomach rolling and hip movements with forward and backward-sliding steps and wild foot stomping wearing iron-plated shoes or sandals. Some dancers also utilized many small veils, which they would slowly remove and tie together and un-tie like magic tricks. They would also let out shill tilling while dancing. Dancers were also known for their crowns or caps (zeriref) that were of cloth or brass with many coins, shells, amulets and jewels. They wore a lot of embroidered clothing, with long wide sleeves and bangles studded with pins and sharp points to protect them from thieves. They died their hair henna red and wore kohl on their eyebrows and used rouge. Many Algerian raqs sharqi dancers today balance trays of candles on their heads. Tunisian: from Tunisia, this folk dance is a more simple dance consisting mostly of twisting hips and sometimes balancing baskets or pots on the head. Moroccan and Greek: Coming soon! Raqs Sharqi or Cabaret Styles Egyptian Cabaret: Also falls under the term Raqs Sharqi, Very elegant form of cabaret, performed with smaller tighter hips, subtle movements, and many of the hip movements are accented in a downward motion. Many props can be used such as finger cymbals (sagat), Isis Wings, veils, canes. This can also in corporate stylized versions of the Arabic folk dances. Their spins are done flat footed and they traditionally perform barefooted, however Samia Gamal popularized high heels (which is more Lebanese). Costume is usually a two piece bra and belt set with a skirt or a very glamorous dress inspired by the more rational beledi dresses. Turkish Cabaret: Also falls under Raqs Sharqi borrowed from Egyptian/Arabic dance but, added more floor work and dance to faster rhythms such as Turkish 9/8. This style is more bouncy and performed mostly on the toes also utilizes more pelvic thrusts/bouncing and lower stomach contractions and upward hip motions. They also use many hand and arm gestures with many meanings both positive and pertaining to prostitution . Their spins are more often done on the toes. Persian Cabaret: Also falls under Raqs Sharqi, uses more subtle hands and arms similar to Indian dancing. Facial expressions are of extreme importance, sometimes mimicry. Focus on naz (Charm) graceful gliding, head slides and gentle torso undulations. Lebanese Cabaret: Also falls under the term Raqs Sharqi, Similar to Turkish and Egyptian Cabaret with quick pace and more pronounced pelvic movements. Allot of super fast spins. They also perform in high heels. American Tribal Style: This is not a cabaret dance, however it is a fusion dance and not a folk dance so, I included it under raqs sharqi. American Tribal began in the 60's or 70's in Berkley, California. It is a fusion of many folk, cabaret and other dance styles. It is a social dance that is solely improvisied in groups. There is a leading dancer that gives particular signals to the rest of the group so that they know what is next. Often the formations and leaders switch several times during the performance. This dance is all about dancing in-sync with the whole group. This dance is always evolving and has branches including Tribal Fusion with many other styles including Polynesian, cabaret, Japanese dances, and most recently Raqs Gothic. Some Props Canes/sticks single and double, Isis wings, candles, candelabras, swords single and double, daggers, zills/sagat (finger cymbals), spoons, veils (rectangular and half circle) double and single, tambourines, various drums, baskets, fans, snakes, skirts, rattles, belly chains, glasses, trays of breakables, and fire. ZhagareetLoud trilling with the tongue. Egyptians make this sound by moving the tongue side-to-side while the Tunisians flap their tongues on the roof of their mouth creating a continuous high, pitched tone. Women make this trilling as a sign of appreciation for the dancer or approval. It is a ecstatic sound that lends to the excitement and joy of the moment and encourages the dancers. Men don’t normally make this sound rather they make a hissing sound signifying the same encouragement and pleasure. Dance FactHistory came from dance in ancient Rome Histor meant “a dancer” also from history came the words minister (Min-Istria) and later minstrel. The Turkish word oyun was a shaman and shaman rites performed, today that same word is used for dance, poetry and drama. Some Definitions and Thoughts on Dance“…dance was the first form taken by worship. It is the oldest, most elemental form of religious expression, repetitive rhythmical movements being essential to the process of union with the deity and the cosmic flow. All art forms began as ritualistic and reverential expression, and because dance was primary in rituals of worship, dance was the mother of all arts.” Iris Stewart “Dancing is an elemental, eternal form of human expression.” Iris Stewart “Through the intensity of the dancing moment, new worlds and possibilities open to one’s own understanding. Through the movements of the body, the heart opens and a great reconciliation with oneself and others can take its course.” Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi “Dancing offers the conscious and the unconscious, the rational and the intuitive, a space in which they may gradually flow into each other. In belly dancing, feelings can surface gently and safely, acknowledged, and win acceptance, so that life may be seen from another perspective.” Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi “No one dances while he is sober unless he happens to be a lunatic” Cicero a Roman orator |
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