Suheir

No, I didn't explain my perplexity!

Aisha Azar

Dear Caroline,
Now, I am confused because the music is Saidi, but the claim they are performing Raqs Sharghi?? I found the clips to be pretty nice..... theatricalized Saidi stuff with some nice feeling, but I would not want to watch a 90 minute show of it. AND it must really be attractive to workshop attendees to have a live Saidi takht right there in class. Great marketing strategy!!
Regards,
A'isha

Caroline_afifi

I should have said I would rather sit through an hour of that rather than what i saw.
Raqs Sharqi means dance of the East, it has no defined meaning and the music was definately saa'idi. The band looked like the Musicians of the Nile actually. Her husband looks like he enjoys dancing more than her!

She used to be very innovative but I have to say for me, she has always lacked spirit. She always looks like she is chewing a wasp.

Aisha Azar

Dear Caroline,
Among the Arabs I know, they define Raqs Sharghi as the professional belly dance we see done by people like Randa, Fifi, Suhair Zaki, Danash, etc. I note that they often do not have any names for folkloric dances on the other hand, and may call them "belly dance" in English if they think a person does not know there is a difference. Raqs sharghi among Arabs does seem to have a specific definition.
On the other hands, I introduced a Saudi dance into the States with a friend of mine who is from Riyadh. She stated that the dance has no name, and we had to some up with a definitive name for it as opposed to other styles, so I asked how to say "Modern Nejdi dance" in Arabic and we call the dance style "Raqs Nejdi Hadith" ,for teaching and distinguishing the dance from other styles taught in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. She is the only Saudi I have ever met who has formally taught dance in the States and she thought she was doing something pretty darn risque. She LOVED it and thought her friends back home would be sufficiently scandalized! I hope to have her teach with me again some time because she is so willing to talk with the students about life in Saudi Arabia.
I do see the disconnect with Hilal, from the emotional content of the dance. Most Egyptians I know have a very well developed sense of fun. I have studied with a few of the older great dancers and they definitely imply that the dance is all about emotional connection to the music and the feeling it gives them. In fact, they seem to think of physical technique as secondary to that. In other words, movement is one vehicle for expression, as opposed to being the THE most important element in the dance.
Regards,
A'isha

Aziyade

I'm not picking on anyone in particular, and this is largely a rhetorical question, but is ANY of this recognizable as "Egyptian urban folk dance" -- I mean does the urban folk dance in Egypt LOOK like this?

I thought "Jewels" looked like a lot of modern dance, but that's my only experience with Hilal. This at least looks slightly more "ethnic" but what are we really seeing here? Is this as "fakeloric" as Reda? What is the philosophy of RSS today?

I really don't understand and I"m NOT trying to be snarky.

Caroline_afifi

[quote=A'isha Azar;66500]Dear Caroline,
Among the Arabs I know, they define Raqs Sharghi as the professional belly dance we see done by people like Randa, Fifi, Suhair Zaki, Danash, etc. I note that they often do not have any names for folkloric dances on the other hand, and may call them "belly dance" in English if they think a person does not know there is a difference. Raqs sharghi among Arabs does seem to have a specific definition.'

mmmm... not really my experience. My husband knows diddly squat about dance but he knows Saa'idi, Beladi, Shaabi etc. he knows the names of the very famous dancers from the TV too.
They do call dance just Roqs generally and do sort of lump belly dance styles together. Jamal Blogs does not know the difference between some of the styles and generally tend not to analyse too much.

Suheir

I very much doubt it...

I think you hit the nail on the head, "fakeloric" - it's not a living dance form and doesn't progress.

This is what the Raqs Sharqi Society says on their website:

"The Raqs Sharqi Society is a not-for-profit association formed in 1997. We teach, perform and study the dance and music arts of Egypt, both rural and urban.

We have an international network of teachers and performers in the UK, other European countries and Egypt. Our administrator is based in London.

Our dance form is called ‘Raqs Sharqi’. It has deep traditional roots as well as modern forms of expression.

Our aims are:

to enable more people to learn this beautiful dance form and to learn about the music it expresses
to continue to develop the dance
to advance the understanding and appreciation of Raqs Sharqi and its rich musical and cultural traditions
to strengthen the presence of Raqs Sharqi in the mainstream dance world.
We:

provide a range of good-quality tuition in traditional Egyptian dance and music.
cater for all levels of experience
work in community dance and professional areas
work with the finest musicians in Europe and provide opportunities to dance to live music"

It's Egyptian dance, Jim, but not as we know it...

Aisha Azar

[quote=Caroline_afifi;66508]
Dear CAroline,
I hear them say Raqs (dance in Arabic), too, but not Raqs sharghi to talk about the folk dances. I also note that they do not seem to call the folkloric dances by specific names, but they do seem to keep professional belly dance in a separate space in their brains.... if that makes sense.
Regards,
A'isha

Caroline_afifi

I sort of do.
My husband cannot get his head around the attraction of any of it despite being a regular at some of the low dives which i now love going to with him and his friends (some also police).
He thinks Dina, Fifi and Randa are in the same class as the rest but with more expensive costumes. He was up until 3 years ago a Major in the Police in Cairo. he is very open minded and easy going but he thinks i really live on another planet where my interest is concerned.

He too would have laughed or slept at Suraya.
By the way, I heard she is not Egyptian. Her real name is Selwa Raja and this is not an Egyptian name at all.

Aziyade

Um, huh? Can you explain? I missed something.


BTW -- you said your husband puts Dina etc in the same class as the rest -- does that mean he does NOT think highly of them?