Albertina

I've just recently (a year ago) started studying Egyptian after a few years of dancing with a company who did something vaguely tribal and fusion-y and I'm really struggling.

I realized one day in class that I don't know how to dance to the melody. At all. We had live drummers with my old dance company so we only ever danced to the rhythm, although a lot of times we didn't even do that. We would just count out the choreography without the music and then rehearse it to whatever 4/4 rhythm the drummers played. I always had the feeling that something was missing or this was not the coolest way to do things - but I was a baby belly and didn't know any better.

So, needless to say, this whole musical interpretation/musicality thing is totally new to me. I watched the clip someone posted on the Egyptian dancers thread of Lucy from DC and I had a moment of "Yes! That's the quality that I'm searching for!"

Are there guidelines for interpreting the music? You know, do you normally do a hip drop on the dom? Do you only shimmy when there's a drum making a shimmy-like sound? Or can you shimmy whenever something is happening that seems vaguely shimmy-esque? Some parts of a song seem to almost demand a particular movement and some others leave me standing there looking lost.

Argh. It's so challenging. I'm having a blast.

Aisha Azar

Dear Albertina,
I am not really big on teaching this stuff without the human body and the actual music, but first,drop the choreography, and really, really listen to what the music makes you feel, how your body and soul really want to respond. Aside from that, on a more practical level, I can recommend my fundamentals DVD where I do work with and without rhythm in order to show movement to melody as well as beat.
Regards,
A'isha

teela

Albertina: Welcome and you've come to a good place for advice.
I would say purchasing A'isha Azar's DVD would be an excellent idea as she really knows her material. Another DVD I would recommend although a bit more on the expensive side is Yasmina Ramzy's Nightclub performance DVD because she goes into a ton of detail about instruments, rhythms, openings, closings etc and is a two disk set. This DVD gave me the "gotcha" moment to make it easier to dance to music. I would also agree with A'isha Azar's comment about "really, really listen to what the music makes you feel, how your body and soul really want to respond." because that is the best piece of advice you can have.

Mara2

A'isha and others have given you excellent advice already. I can add this to help you a bit. My teacher had me listen to the music with the bass turned all the way down. You can hear the wind and string instruments better that way. Your arm movements, shimmies, etc., are mainly done to the lighter-sounding instruments (not the drums), the way I was taught. Also, if the songs have vocals, you want to dance with those too. You do NOT need to hit every note, so don't worry if you miss them (you actually should miss as many of them as you feel like). You're not supposed to dance to everything, only what you feel like dancing to. And, as A'isha said, dance with your soul. Listen to a piece of music that really makes you feel something. Even if it's Western music. Just so you know that feeling when you dance to Egyptian music. Hope this helps too.
Warmest Regards,
Tegan

Marya

Hello there,

I had the same questions about 5 years ago when I also switched from Salimpour style Tribal and fusion to Egyptian. I loved the classical Egyptian Belly dance music but had absolutly no idea how to dance to it.

I had seen Aisha Azar perform and realized there was a whole 'nother area of Belly Dance that I knew nothing about and wanted to know more. After taking a few workshops with Aisha I switched styles and she is my main instructor now.

I also had to retrain my body in order to do the Egyptian style movements. That took awhile. I did learn some beginner choreographies to help jump start the process. If I am performing solo I rarely use choreography now.

I also watched Egyptian performance videos (over and over and over) and purchased the music that was used on those videos so I could practice to the same music. I can't come close to dancing like Mona Fil Said or Randa, but I can learn about what movements go with what kind of music and how they do their entrances and exits and how they work the audience etc. Bear in mind there are some videos out there with BAD Egyptian dancers too (yes, just because they are Egyptian doesn't automatically mean they are good dancers) but they are also educational.

Some good dancers are, Mona, Lucy, Randa, Dina, Dandash, others on this list may have some suggestions as well. When you get a little farther on in your studies I highly recommend Raqia Hassan's instructional videos, she is the choreographer to all the good Egyptian dancers and although she does not break down movements in the videos and sometimes the class room is so crowded with students you don't get a good view of her, there is tons of material that can be adapted to any level of skill and she is so creative that I am always inspired just watching the videos.

I feel obliged to mention that although I say Raqia is a choreographer for the Egyptian stars, Aisha always says that Egyptian choreography is more like a suggestion than a strict rule. I am always forgetting choreographies anyway so it is liberating not to have to use them.

It can be frustrating because it takes time, but the rewards are worth it!

Marya

Albertina

Ladies, thank you so much! Your advice has been a big help. I really appreciate it.

Aziyade

Hossam Ramzy has a couple of articles on his site about his theories of what goes with what, but they're pretty basic. BUT it gives you an idea of what to look for if you want to dance like an Egyptian.

For putting movements into context, I'd fully recommend Shareen el Safy's dvds and videos. She usually teaches a choreography, so you can see what goes with what music, and how to transition between the steps, but she also teaches technique inside that choreographic structure. Her videos are very talky -- she wants you to listen to what she has to say, and you should! They're not easy to get through -- be prepared to spend a LOT of time rewinding. But they gave me a really good sense of what is the Egyptian method of expressing the music. You might start with El Hob Koulu -- it's probably the best filmed, and I LOVE the music.

LeylaLanty

Lots of good advice here from everybody. I recommend A'isha's Fundamentals DVD too - it's a GREAT way to learn the whole basis of Egyptian dancing. I'm not familiar with Yasmina Ramzy's video/dvd series, but I have seen a performance from one of them and think she's great. I recommend reading her husband's (Hossam's) articles on his web site and especially recommend Raqia Hassan's and Shareen el Safy's instructionals when you've mastered the fundamentals.

sedoniaraqs

Immerse yourself in good Egyptian music and good videos of the Egyptian dancers. That did it for me.

With regard to dancing with the melody, when you listen long enough to the music, phrasing and patterns appear. Generally even with big orchestras, the lead is trading off between instruments. If the music changes from the violin being the predominant one heard to the ney, something in your dance should change.

When I listen to a phrase of music, I try to dance to the instrument that is speaking to me the strongest at that moment. I don't shimmy until something in the music tells me to. This is not only drums! Violins, which usually invoke deep undulations, circles, and flowing movement can invoke shimmies when they are bowed really fast. Kanoun and Oud or any other stringed instrument that is strummed generally invoke loose blurbly shimmies.

If there is a major rhythm change, for example from a malfuf entrance to a masmoudi kabir, then something in the dance should reflect that change.

I try to switch off between dancing to the melody and dancing to the rhythm, or by use of layering, address both.

Another aspect of the music that is hard to put into words is whether the music is saying "travel and use space!" or "dance without traveling!" I'm not sure I can explain it, but with Egyptian music I can very clearly hear the difference between these two. Possibly this is one of the most important technical aspects to framing an Egyptian dance. One example, pretty much any time there is a malfuf rhythm, you will use traveling steps.

Another layer of the music is lyrics, which are important even if an instrumental version of a song that has lyrics is used. YOu need to find translations of those lyrics and study them. A general idea of the mood and meaning of the song is absolute minimum. Better yet would be a line by line translation so at any given moment in the song you know what the singer is (or would be) singing.

These are just general rules. There is always a way to break or bend them, and there are always exceptions. Well, maybe except for the lyric part.

Sedonia

sedoniaraqs

One thing I do is sometimes provide detailed notes on a particular piece of music to help students "hear" what I here. Here is an example. For one of my continuing level 6 week sessions, we did some loose choreographic structure to the song "My music intro" on Souhair Zaki's Aswan Dances CD.

The point was not to teach a set choreography, but to listen to some different sections and learn some step choices or combinations that would work in each. Here are the notes I made for the class. Please note, this is not supposed to be *the* way to dance to the music, just *a* way to plan out a dance:

“My music intro” from the album “Aswan Dances with Souher Zaki”

0:00 – 0:29 prelude (generally wouldn’t dance to this)
0:30 – 0:33 4 measures drum break (announces that dancer’s arrival is imminent)
0:34 - 1:05 Dancer enters and sweeps around stage with veil. Would probably use combination of: dancer’s basic walk, step-step-glide, step ball change, simple turns and a few spins. Sweeping-type traveling steps should be used for this whole section (no standing in place). Rhythm is Malfouf (sometimes called Lef)
1:06 – 1:14 Drum break. Veil would get dropped during this section (either beginning or end) Stand in place or if traveling, cover less space. Movements should speak to drum: hip drops, shimmies, other sharp hips.
1:15 – 3:04 Probably minimal traveling, movements speak to distinct phrasing of this section, which repeats itself. Rhythm changes to saiidi
3:05 – 3:28 Major mood and tempo change here. Also change to a basic maqsum rhythm (hard to hear). Movements probably minimal or no traveling, ooey-gooey figure 8s, undulations, arm undulations.
3:29 – 3:48 Change to faster, upbeat maqsum. Dancer should immediately change movements to faster, traveling steps. Possibilities include prancy Egyptian walk (chest up on the downbeat) 3/4 shimmy, walk w/ shoulder shimmies, Mona one-hips.
3:49 – 4:10 Back to slow as before.
4:11 – 4:30 Back to fast
4:30 – 4:36 Transition (feeling of deceleration)
4:37 – 4:47 4 measures of Drum break (could do 3 measures of hip drops and one measure of shimmy)
4:49 – 5:09 another slow section
5:10 – 5:30 another fast section
5:31 – 5:51 another slow section
5:52 – 6:11 another fast section
6:12 – 6:18 transition
6:19 – 6:28 4 measures of Drum break and change to chiftitelli rhythm (of Turkish origin; sometimes called wada khabir in Arabic).
6:29 – 7:50 violin taxim (an improvised solo without rhythm. Violin meanders over the chiftitelli rhythm playing in the background but does not follow it strongly)
7:51 – 8:22 transition section with lots of accents to hit with pops and locks
8:22 – 9:25 Back to Malfuf rhythm (as in beginning). This is the closeout section. Sweep around the stage again with step-step-glide, step ball changes, spins etc. Could pick up veil and use it again.
9:25 strike a pose
9:27-10:17 short repeat for bow out. Bow and leave the stage.