Sedonia, Sedonia, thank you so much!
I just logged in as a reward for much hard work into the morning hours, and saw your post. I'm working towards several big deadlines, so I've been trying to stay away from orientaldancer as much as possible
What a treat this is!
It's easy enough to see whether a dancer is good or bad, or decide whether I like their style or not, but I find it difficult to analyse a dancers movement "vocabulary," and break it down analytically. Lack of experience for sure... So thank you for teaching me "how to see" and putting it into words.
At my school they have actually been screening this particular DVD on the TV in the lounge area. I'm pretty sure it's the same, but because of my heavy workload at the moment I've been running in and out without a chance to ask. I think it must be the universe conspiring and telling me that I need to buy it! Your comments will make such a difference when I finally get my hands on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sedoniaraqs
A'isha mentioned her different posture. I think that Fifi has a posture that is very lifted in the upper body. I think this is a general feature in the Egyptian dancers (that's often lacking in non-native dancers), but in Fifi it is especially exaggerated or strong. Part of this may be that she has a really long torso, so movements look different and especially good with her body. Also, Fifi bounces alot in the upper body; she actually carries the beat of the music in her chest -- always up on the downbeat. Even when she's standing still shimmying the chest is going up up up up with the tempo. Again, this is a general trend in Egyptian dancers but much exaggerated in Fifi.
Sedonia
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A friend of mine and I where discussing chest movements the other day with our teacher. We are both fairly well "equipped" in that area and were expressing our concern about excessive "movement." Our teacher actually referred to Fifi's "bounce," and illustrated with quick, and successive, up-down-up-down movements of the chest, so this is clearly very distinctive of her style. We didn't have a chance to venture further into Fifi-land in that discussion, so I'm glad you clarified this.
Also, I found your comment on Fifi's anatomy (long torso) very interesting--you made another very perceptive remark about anatomy and hip-drops elsewhere on the forum as well. It's interesting because 1) I happen to have a very long torso, and realizing that Fifi does too makes it all the more interesting for me to study how she puts it to use. 2) I think anatomy contributes a lot to defining a dancers style.
From my own experience with various teachers I've found that those with a fairly similar physique to my own, teach choreographies that are more suited to my taste and expression. They may be shorter (which in fact has always been the case since I'm very tall), but they usually have similar proportions. I've danced with one teacher who is the same height as myself, for example, but much less curvy, and her chorographies have almost killed me on occasion because they were so bouncy
I admire her dance and I learned a lot about technique from her, so it's not a question of quality but of expression. Does this make sense?
Freya