Aniseteph

OK flame me for lack of authenticity, but... Ewwwwww!!!!!!!

Sara

I love to watch this kind of dancing. I really do enjoy it. I saw a clip I think, only a short one, of our Maria doing it somewhere. It looks a right lot of fun to perform n all.

btw- Your English is well impressive Janaki. Ive been meaning to mention it before.

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With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, now shake your bum.... :P

Tarik Sultan

Okay, here's the real deal about melaya. As has been stated before, this is a theater dance, not any type of folklore. It was initially created by Reda. Its a character dance. Its based on the baladi girls from the local neighborhoods. Its supposed to be earthy and flirtatious, but not an invitation. The attitude is that the girl knows she is abmired but she's an unobtainable jewel. Its kind of like Eddy Murphies ice cream routine, where the kid has an ice cream cone and he's teasing all the other kids that don't, "Want a lick? PSYCH!
This dance is a parody. Its comedy, not a dance done with a serious attitude. That's why the gum chewing.

The dance has nothing to do with prostitutes or prostitution. A Bint il Balad is the quint essential good girl, so although she's flirting, the attitude is look and suffer, but don't you dear touch, because if you do, you're going to get a woodden slipper upside your head.

Gum chewing: Remember this is a caricature dance. They are making fun of her unsophisticated manners, hence the gum chewing. Although western style gum might have been new at one time, they always had their version gum Arabic, which was made from the sap of some sort of tree.

Nadia Hamdi, who was a dancer from Mohamed Ali Street always did this dance in her routine. Not only did she chew gum, she wore real wooden slippers shebsheb which she would clank around in.

The melaya is the modesty wrap that women wear over their hous clothes when they go outside. Its very rare these days, but youcan still see it sometimes when you go through the poorer urban areas.

The attitude and whether or not you chew gum is optional. The most important thing is the attitude and comedic value.

taheya

Thanks to everybody's info on melaya leff, I am interested in this style of dance, very interesting thread janaki.

Yasmina

Thanx to Tarik for sharing his wisdom

By the way, Eddie Murphey's ice cream thing is sooo funny. "I got my ice cream and you doooon't, cos you're on the welfare and you can't afford it....And your daddy is an alcoholic" Oh nooo, now I'll never be able to get this scene out of my head when I dance with the melaya...

Tarik Sultan

Hey don't miss the 20yr anniversary special. Scary to realize that was 20yrs ago isn't it?

Yasmina

Yeah that's scary...especially because I was 3 years back then... So everything I saw is kinda.........second hand, but still, my ice cream imitation is one of the most requested things during parties with my friends and cousins

And by the way, I just spent an entire night reading several threads on this forum, which mostly contain miles of texts by you and A'isha. Although I'm very grateful for all your knowledge, I'm also a little bit upset with you guys because you totally ripped me of my nightly rest. See what you're doing? No seriously, thanks, I appreciate it.

Tarik Sultan

You were 3? ....yeeaah...I was 3 too....I saw it in reruns many years later...

As for the texts, yeah I do have a big mouth. Its a tough job, but someone has to do it. I promise not to make anything up and alert everyone if I find information that forces me to adjust my position on something. I don't ever claim to be an expert, just relay what I've learned by experience and observation, so its always bneing updated. Now go to sleep! You can read the rest at work!

Aisha Azar

Dear Group,
What is not often stated about the dances of the Saidi region, including the one we ourselves refer to as "Saidi", is that they are mimicry dances. I learned Saidi originally from a Saidi girl and she said the dance was basically about sort of poking fun at friends and relatives. They would get up and mime Uncle riding his horse, or Sister admiring herself in a mirror, or Auntie looking out the door at the handsome neighbor man, Mom slapping dough around for bread, etc.
Meleya and other props in the dance are extensions, I think of this basic mimicry, taken to the stage. We see a lot of this kind of mime in things like Fifi smoking shisha on stage, or raqs assaya, or Reda style stuff that shows how the people live in dramaric and colorful form. It's about the story of life in Egypt, told in high drama. Meleya is one of those dances that mimics and pokes fun at the people, in the exaggerated style that is so loved by the Arabs.
I used to do Meleya with a friend named Ra'ed Azar. He was an entertainer in Jordan at one time. We would do it to the cutest song. I can't remember the name but the man would sing to the audience about how he felt about the girl and she would sing back , "Lesh albu ma' you ashkul umra ashe esht el darwish", meaning basicly that she was not interested in him because he was too poor like a dervish. I would dress in a cutey pie dress, pomm-pomm headress, heels, and meleya and I would fidget and fuss with the meleya the whole time until the end when I fall in love because he tells the audience how beautiful I am. The dance just tells a little exaggerated slice of life.
Regards,
A'isha

PS-My apologies Yasmine for all the lost sleep!! I can sympathize.