Aziyade

I can't remember who told me this and it's driving me crazy.

What I was told for the Melaya dress was that somebody's sister -- was it Farida's or Reda's -- was the person who was sort of responsible for "dressing" the troupe, and for this dance, she borrowed the design from a ready-to-wear dress that was in current fashion in the area at the time. I've also heard it was Farida herself.

Of course, "borrowing the design" could mean anything, but to me it meant the design of the close-fitting, asymmetrical, flounced dress. The little pom pom hat seems to have been part of fashion then, and not anything particularly dance-related.

(if anybody can track down this source, and the actual person who did the designing, I'd love to have it.)

Aisha Azar

Dear Wulpsie,
In the late 70s and early 80s, Amira Al- Khatan used to do the first Meliya I saw except for Fifi Abdou. I would not agree with Hadia that is is "very tricky" unless she means that getting the right flirtatious attitude is what is tricky. I have done the dance with a gentleman named Ra'ed Azar being the "straight man" if you will. We used to perform it to a song that said basically
"Lesh albu ma yuashkul umra ashe esht il darwish". Perhaps Gypsy could write that out properly and give us the exact meaning, which is currently escaping me. but its something like, "I am not interested in him because he is poor like a dervish". We did it skit style and had the announcer explain what was going on for those who did not speak Arabic. Ra'ed's character would explain to the audience that I ought to give him a chance because he is handsome, his heart is pure and yadda, yadda, yadda. My character would reply that she was not in love because he is too poor. Then, the miracle would happen and in the song, it is suddenly ALL ABOUT ME!!!!!! Ra'ed would tell the audience how beautiful I am and I would act out the idea that..."Oh, maybe there IS something to this guy after all", and it would all turn out wonderful. The Arabs in the audience just loved it and they would come up after the show and tell Ra'ed how smart he was to change tactics, and me how he worked so hard to to win me over, etc. It was pretty fun. I would start out fully robed in meliya and by the end of the song, I would be using it lie a shawl and a hip frame. there was some very basic beledi dance, but a lot or just plain actiing involved.
Regards,
A'isha

Kashmir

Aida Nour said the first performance was not with the asymmetrical, flounced dress - that came much later.

Wulpsie

Wow A'isha, that sounded like you had fun doing that dance. I thank all you replied and helped me on this dance. Hadia is still coming to SA but will not be doing workshops in the Johannesburg area as we were told there are not enough of us for the workshops. It is a great pity as I was looking quite forward to it. Most ladies said it was too expensive and also coming straight after the festive season. Thank you all for the help

Aisha Azar

Dear Wulpsie,
It might be worth your while to travel to study with Hadia. She is very knowledgeable and she has a reputation as a very good teacher.
Regards,
A'isha

Wulpsie

Thank you ladies for all your help.We were very upset to hear that the workshop had been cancelled. Living in South Africa it is not easy to get to see the good teachers so when some body does come out here we try and fit in as much as possible so we felt a bit let down but was told that Tamaryn Dallal (Superstars) is coming out in June- any info would help thanks