Salome

Lovely! I've mostly seen Fifi's later work. There was such a sweetness about her in that clip that I had not seen before.

Outi

Yep, I have the DVD, too. It's great! At least she wrote the name of the DVD in the pages.

Tarik Sultan

That's a really good DVD. It was one of the first videos I ever saw of Fifi. This was also when I realised I was doing my shimmies all wrong. I like this clip also. I wish I could find a DVD with the whole performance. Anyone know where its from?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=expjL32dg2M

sedoniaraqs

I was watching this DVD again this evening and decided to revisit this thread. Freya asked to here more comments about Fifi and her style so I'll start the ball rolling again.

I never tire of watching Fifi because she does so many different variations of movements and steps. On this DVD we've been discussing, she dances in a purple dress and she does I don't know how many variations of a 3/4 shimmy, and what I call the Egyptian figure 8. Even something that looked like these two layered together. If you watch her performance with an eye for trying to break down what she's doing so you could copy it, you see very quickly that its pretty difficult.

A'isha mentioned her different posture. I think that Fifi has a posture that is very lifted in the upper body. I think this is a general feature in the Egyptian dancers (that's often lacking in non-native dancers), but in Fifi it is especially exaggerated or strong. Part of this may be that she has a really long torso, so movements look different and especially good with her body. Also, Fifi bounces alot in the upper body; she actually carries the beat of the music in her chest -- always up on the downbeat. Even when she's standing still shimmying the chest is going up up up up with the tempo. Again, this is a general trend in Egyptian dancers but much exaggerated in Fifi.

Also what Fifi's feet are doing is different than the footwork used by most Egyptian dancers. She uses some kind of rapid little step ball change when she's doing travelling steps usually.

I love Fifi! So what does everyone else love about Fifi? Are there particular moves that she does that you have picked up, or wish you could do?

Sedonia

Freya

Sedonia, Sedonia, thank you so much!

I just logged in as a reward for much hard work into the morning hours, and saw your post. I'm working towards several big deadlines, so I've been trying to stay away from orientaldancer as much as possible What a treat this is!

It's easy enough to see whether a dancer is good or bad, or decide whether I like their style or not, but I find it difficult to analyse a dancers movement "vocabulary," and break it down analytically. Lack of experience for sure... So thank you for teaching me "how to see" and putting it into words.

At my school they have actually been screening this particular DVD on the TV in the lounge area. I'm pretty sure it's the same, but because of my heavy workload at the moment I've been running in and out without a chance to ask. I think it must be the universe conspiring and telling me that I need to buy it! Your comments will make such a difference when I finally get my hands on it.


A friend of mine and I where discussing chest movements the other day with our teacher. We are both fairly well "equipped" in that area and were expressing our concern about excessive "movement." Our teacher actually referred to Fifi's "bounce," and illustrated with quick, and successive, up-down-up-down movements of the chest, so this is clearly very distinctive of her style. We didn't have a chance to venture further into Fifi-land in that discussion, so I'm glad you clarified this.

Also, I found your comment on Fifi's anatomy (long torso) very interesting--you made another very perceptive remark about anatomy and hip-drops elsewhere on the forum as well. It's interesting because 1) I happen to have a very long torso, and realizing that Fifi does too makes it all the more interesting for me to study how she puts it to use. 2) I think anatomy contributes a lot to defining a dancers style.

From my own experience with various teachers I've found that those with a fairly similar physique to my own, teach choreographies that are more suited to my taste and expression. They may be shorter (which in fact has always been the case since I'm very tall), but they usually have similar proportions. I've danced with one teacher who is the same height as myself, for example, but much less curvy, and her chorographies have almost killed me on occasion because they were so bouncy I admire her dance and I learned a lot about technique from her, so it's not a question of quality but of expression. Does this make sense?

Freya

Madeline

(Slightly off topic…) :o

Anatomy definitely contributes to different dancers’ styles. My waist it so short I my hips sometimes bump up against my ribcage! I’ve also noticed that certain movements look quite different. Where is the post about anatomy and hip drops? I’d like to see that!

Aniseteph

Oh yes - some of us just aren't designed for bouncy .
Interesting about the physique/style connection though - obvious bounce issues aside, do any of the teachers out there have any examples of how different moves turn out on different anatomies? eg. what type tends to have problems with particular moves, what moves look good/not so good on different physiques?

sedoniaraqs

I personally think that movements look different, but not necessarily better or worse, on different bodies. Though, I do think that in general, having extra fat around the midsection (as opposed to on the hips/butt/thighs) has a tendency to hide movement and even interfere with it, though this is going to depend on the individual. At least this is the case with me. I have been slowly but steadily losing some weight during the past year and since most of my fat is around my middle and upper torso, that is where most of the loss came from. I think my hip movements show more, and they *feel* better also. for example, before, when I liften my hip, the resulting fat roll between my pelvis and ribcage would be the limiting factor in my movement range.

Obvious exceptions are cases where a person has some kind of condition that is considered abnormal and problematic. For example I have a student who has pretty severe lordosis -- deep curve in her lumbar and anteriorly tilted pelvis -- that is beyond my ability as a teacher to "fix". Her feet are also pronated -- again not an easy fix. Pretty much every move I teach does not look right on her because of her alignment problems. Basically, if your pelvis is tilted forward all your up and down hip movement disappears and moves to the back of the body and becomes a side to side butt waggle.

Since she has already been told by a doctor about the condition, I have merely tried to encourage her to go back to all those physical therapy exercises and stretches the doctor gave her and work on mitigating the problems with muscular strength. I do think she can greatly improve her condition even if she never achieves a 100% normal lumbar curve.

Sedonia

Sara

I don't think I've ever seen a Fifi clip up until now, but she is amazing!

She's so fluid and just wow! It's a very cutsie sort of performance. Aww- I'm in love! :p

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

Freya

I just came home from the Cairo by Night Festival and I'm too exhausted to write a proper comment, but here, at least, it the hip drop thread I was talking about:
http://forum.orientaldancer.net/show...ight=hip+drops

Cairo by Night was wonderful! I've had six and a half hours of classes straight today so I'm completely wiped but very happy.
- oriental with Khaled Mahmoud
- saidi with Professor Hassan Khalil
- zills with Yasser al Swery (and Nour)

I promise I'll write a full report once I have met my work deadlines

Freya