Aisha Azar

Dear Shanazel,
Mostly feminine essence is a feeling rather than a type of movement. I wish you could also see Khaled Mahmoud dance raqs sharghi, so you could compare and see that he has no feminine essence as opposed to Tito, who does. (Please do not confuse "feminine essence" in males with being gay. Gay is not feminine, it is gay.)
Some of the physical things that I see in Tito that may help on the physical level to give that impression of feminine essence:
* Look at his overall posture. He is actually sort of sway backed much of the time, and so we do not get that "masculine feeling" of broadness through the shoulders that you see in many male dancers. He stands and moves from a place where his hip line and torso are the places that predominantly catch your eye, even when he is moving his arms. While a female would not stand so arch backed and her female body line draws the eye to the pelvis more automatically, the the effect is the same.
* He uses his arms in ways that you do not see males, even in the Middle East, using theirs. He uses his arms, as one other poster put it, sort of delicately.He has a fluidity and beauty in his arms that few men have. It put her off, but I found it very appropriate for the style and very complimentary to his movements and feeling. Look at him at about 1:09 into the clip.
* His use of roundness in many of his movements, as opposed to his very masculine little hip drops. He is fluid in ways that enhance the feminine essence in the dance. Again, if you could watch Khaled Mahmoud do the same movements, you would see what I mean, because he has a decided lack of feminine essence in his dance.

The things that are masculine in his dance:
Mostly the physical strength with which he is able to do movements. Look at his back bend at about 1:55. He can come out of it that way because he is physically stronger than a woman would be, and because he carries his center and ballast in his chest instead of his pelvis, as a woman would.

His show off attitude is more about being a male than it is about being a female. Men tend to "Strut" more naturally than women do, I think, and this shows in his dance.

I hope this was helpful.

Regards,
A'isha

Shanazel

Thanks, A'isha. When I get home where I have sound on my computer, I will watch the clip again with these things in mind. Any clips of Khaled Mahmoud that you can recommend?

Aisha Azar

Dear Shanazel,
I have only seem him do raqs sharghi live and do not know of any clips other than one Khaliji one where he is fabulous!! His raqs sharghi leaves me cold, though. Does anyone know of anything on the net?
Regards,
A'isha

Tarik Sultan

Will wonders never cease? And all this time I thought Tito was a BAladi Dancer! Now it turns out he is a Sharki dancer after all I guess it wasn't enough that he calls himself one, or that Ai'da Noor, Fifi Abdo and Rakia Hassan do as well. Even though I know him personally and have seen him dance live, I guess I didn't know what I was talking about either.

It is not unusual for men to wove their arms gracefully when they dance. Men do it all the time when they dance socially in Egypt. Its expressing the music and the arms should be used in that manner when the music calls for it. there are times when his arms are stronger and times when they are more delicate. It depends on the music and he goes back and forth within the same routine. It doesn't mean that its Sharki one second and not the next. Some people will disagree with me on this...They always do

Tarik Sultan

Aisha Azar

Is it REALLY necessary for you to act like an ass every time I post? Since I have now seen Tito dance sharghi instead of all the stuff you were putting up before, I , at least, have the grace to admit it when I am wrong. I have not seen you do that yet.

I might add that since you admittedly know nothing about feminine essence, that you are not qualified to judge whether or not it is present.

Tarik Sultan

Dear A'isha:

Thank you for noticing. You are right, I was deliberately being an ass and I think I did a very good job of it. And I do have the grace to be man enough to admit it. When you're right you're right! Next time though, ya just might want to entertain the possibility no matter how slight that I'm not making it up.

Toodles!

Aniseteph

Oooo-kaaay, I'm going to regret this...

As soon as I saw the Tito clip at the start of the thread I picked up a "feminine" vibe. Not effeminate, just a, well, essence, and I'd rather keep out of another "what is feminine" argument! It's a different vibe to men dancing folklore styles and sloshing sticks about... whatever. Maybe feminine is the wrong word if it implies its something girls are allowed and boys aren't, oh blah, whatever....

ANYhoo - I didn't comment because I thought I was being biased, because I've done a workshop with Khaled Mahmood using the same song, and it was right girly. He was most insistent that it was cheeky and coy and very girly. And it was very similar in style to Tito's version, to be honest.

Khaled's style in that number was jawdroppingly feminine to be honest - absolutely amazing, but VERY feminine. On several occasions I've seen friends at shows not being able to get past that . At another workshop he was telling us about how he learnt and explaining that he dances in a feminine style. And having seen him perform several times I don't get the impression that he tailors his workshops to teaching Western liberated ladies how to do feminine, then dances a different style himself.

Of course there is no reason why he shouldn't have different flavours for different dances, but his is not the name that springs to my mind when looking for an example of a man dancing with no feminine essence. Maybe we are talking a different thing? But IMO it is precisely the femininity of his style that freaks some people out.

There are a few YouTube clips. I've no idea if this is a good example of anything, but hey, it's Khaled - YAY!
YouTube - Nile Group Festival - Khaled Mahmoud

Moon

He is such a great dancer. Loved those videos!

Tarik Sultan

Maybe, maybe not.

You are right that it is a different energy than the theater folk dance. I've said before in different threads that its a different feeling and energy. The stick dances are based on a martial art, therefore they have a much different energy. Oriental and Baladi have a different intent. Its a loving happy playful type of energy. They're not posturing or taking themselves so seriously. It's about having fun and expressing emotions and feelings. Now is this feminine? It depends on how you define feminine. Many people would define the more delicate emotions as such. I can understand that but I draw the line at calling it womanly for the simple fact that all people have to have that energy to be rounded integrated people. When a man is holding a baby he has to draw on that softer energy, not an aggressive energy. Am I making sense?

The feeling of this music is very gentle and therefore calls for a more delicate approach, but there are songs that are different and call for a bolder interpretation whether the dancer is male or female.

With regards to Khaled. What you explain about him makes a lot of sense. Unlike Tito his general energy is very feminine, one could say even womanly. Even in the way he chooses to costume himself, but then again, he seems to admit that about himself and it is his intent. I find him to be a very talented dancer, although I don't personally care for his interpretation. HE is not an example of what I would recommend as an example of a man who dances in a manly fashion, and definitely would not say he has no feminine essence. And you are right, most people do find it uncomfortable seeing a man cross the line like that for many reasons, I am one of them. It doesn't motivate me and is not something I would want to emulate. However, I preface that last statement with the fact that he and dancers like him have every right to perform regardless of how I personally feel about it or not. Regardless of what all essence he has the boy can dance and that is undeniable.