The Hagala

Daimona

Moderator
Often the moves are like Chinese whispers as one person learns it, modifies it and passes it on. But the version I learnt for hagalla, specifically, from both Denise Enan and Aida Nour had no outward movement in it. As both as these women learnt first hand I'll go with their version :D

I know. I haven't had the pleasure of learning directly from either of these, but both of my two first teachers have learnt directly from Aida Nour and Raqia Hassan, so I guess the my version is either with them or in my head :lol: (but it doesn't explain why some of the other teachers I've been taking classes with have done the same as well)
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
Yyyyyyyyeah...it's 5:22 in the morning, and I'm practicing my hagalas. :confused: When our teacher showed us how to do it, I remember her placing her feet in front of her body as she stepped, but I just now noticed in Jane's video that the dancers don't step in front of their bodies. I wore myself out just walking across the living room! :confused:

I'll now try the other way, as soon as I catch my breath! @__@

5:38---Edit: *raids the Halloween bucket for chocolate and goes to bed* -_-
 
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gisela

Super Moderator
Not sure what you mean by stepping in front of your body? Like a model-on-runway walk where you foot is in front of the other foot?

I think the pigeon toe thing probably comes from the hip rotation, when the hip goes a bit "over and inwards" the foot might turn too, but shouldn't. Could be the same problem some have with doing figure eights where their heels turn out when the hip goes infront.
... Is this making ANY sense at all :lol:
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
Not sure what you mean by stepping in front of your body? Like a model-on-runway walk where you foot is in front of the other foot?

I think the pigeon toe thing probably comes from the hip rotation, when the hip goes a bit "over and inwards" the foot might turn too, but shouldn't. Could be the same problem some have with doing figure eights where their heels turn out when the hip goes infront.
... Is this making ANY sense at all :lol:

*scarfing a mini Tootsie Roll* Yeah, that's it, just like a runway model! Only I keep losing my balance. I feel like a klutzy Marilyn Monroe, without the blonde hair and big...eyes. :(

I'm now officially depressed. *goes for another Tootsie Roll*
 

gisela

Super Moderator
*scarfing a mini Tootsie Roll* Yeah, that's it, just like a runway model! Only I keep losing my balance. I feel like a klutzy Marilyn Monroe, without the blonde hair and big...eyes. :(

I'm now officially depressed. *goes for another Tootsie Roll*

Nooo! don't be depressed! Just don't step like that. I don't think I do. Practice in a way so you can keep your balance. When you've learnt the move then you can try and vary the placements of the feet so you'll have a bigger range of variations. There's no use practicing something in a way that means you can't even do the move.
Example: why try to shimmy standing on the balls of your feet or on one leg if you can't shimmy OR keep the balance? Practice and learn the shimmy first, then get to the other stuff.
 

Aniseteph

New member
Yes Gisela, making sense! Look at their feet in the clip.

The dancer in the middle has her feet hip width apart and parallel all the time.

The other two are doing biiig hip twists and it's coming out in their feet, either as a tendency to step onto a pigeon toed position (look at the last few steps the dancer on the left takes), or a twisting on the ball of the back foot as the weight transfers to the front foot. The dancer on the right puts her front foot straight but is twisting the back a lot. (Not having a go at them BTW, mine would probably be 100x worse with feet all over the place and my knees complaining, but fascinating to be able to analyse what's going on :cool:)
 

Oona

New member
To me, this is hagalla...a move but also a style of dance that has lots of 'the move' in. Kazafy from Reda Troupe recently taught this style at JOY. The move seems fairly similar amongst all the Egyptian teachers I've studied with although Raqia occasionally sometime does it with emphasis on the up.

 

Farasha Hanem

New member
-_-;;; The Hubby just caught me practicing 3/4 shimmies while I was frying chicken. Laughter ensued. :wall:

I practiced the Hagala again before finally going to bed this morning, and it definitely felt like a 3/4 shimmy on the up, only without throwing the hips out, and this time, I left out the Supermodel runway step. I just stepped forward normally, and was able to keep my balance better. Thank you for the tip, Gisela. I'll practice this way for now until I get the movement in my muscle memory before adding the Supermodel twist-step. :)

@Kashmir: Is it correct for the hip to roll up just before you step down?

@Anisteph: Thank you for pointing out what the dancers' feet are doing in the video. I went back and studied all the clips a bit more, and saw the same thing you did in Jane's clip.

The reason why I was practicing the 3/4 shimmy (both on the down, and the up) is so that I make sure to feel the difference; I don't want to get my 3/4 shimmies mixed up with the hagala! :confused:

Whew! Learning the Angelika routine is even harder than I was expecting, and this is only the beginning of the dance! @_@
 
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Kashmir

New member
I know. I haven't had the pleasure of learning directly from either of these, but both of my two first teachers have learnt directly from Aida Nour and Raqia Hassan, so I guess the my version is either with them or in my head :lol: (but it doesn't explain why some of the other teachers I've been taking classes with have done the same as well)
Some years back I went on a folkloric intensive with another teacher. When we came back she decided to teach some of what we learnt to her students. My class backed onto hers so I'd see the end of her class. The first few weeks it was pretty much as we had learnt it - but about three weeks down the track she had seriously modified the moves to jell with her own personal style. For instance she naturallly did the 3/4 with an out. So guess what she taught her students? Many people find the down/up/down really hard and counter-intuitive so I'm not surprised if they modify it - consciously or otherwise.
 

Ranya

New member
While I've been in Egypt, I learned that the hagallah folkloric step as done in the North region of Egypt/Libya is just one (the one where your hip is going up and down in a round movement from the back to the front) and that all the other ones are just variations with the 3/4 shimmy.
 

Outi

New member
While I've been in Egypt, I learned that the hagallah folkloric step as done in the North region of Egypt/Libya is just one (the one where your hip is going up and down in a round movement from the back to the front) and that all the other ones are just variations with the 3/4 shimmy.
:dance:

Yes!
There is Haggala, folklore. That style is Beduin dance from northen Egypt - around Marsa Matrouh. That has down acsent. It also is asymmetrical step as the right side is emphasized.

Then you have normal 3/4 shimmy, which can be done with different variations, up, side, down etc. Many teacher call this step Haggala, but I wouldn't as Haggala is a dance of specific area with it's own rules ets.
 

Yame

New member
Hagallah is a folkloric dance done by the Bedouin in Egypt and Libya. The step being referred to on the original post is what I know of as a "hagallah walk," which is a type of 3/4 shimmy that is commonly used in this dance.

There are many types of 3/4 shimmies, I think "3/4" just denotes that you are doing 3 different moves with your hips on the first 3 counts (whether it's up, down, side, in, whatever, in whatever order) and holding on the 4th.


Here is Raqia Hassan demonstrating:

YouTube - Raqia Hassan

I learned the step from Dahlena a bit different than Raqia does it. Perhaps it a variation of the same step?

In this video, Raqia Hassan demonstrates a few variations of the 3/4 shimmy. It looks like what she is referring to as "hagallah" is what I would call a "3/4 shimmy." That is just a difference between her terminology and mine, though, not a matter of right or wrong.

I think the hagallah dance uses more than just one variation of the 3/4 shimmy (the one I call hagallah walk) anyway, perhaps all 3/4 shimmies came from this dance? She might be onto something here.

In any case, interestingly enough none of the 3/4 shimmies she showed is actually the one I would call "hagallah walk." I don't have a name for all the 3/4 shimmies that I know or do, but the one I call "hagallah walk" has an emphasis on the down, unlike any of the ones shown by Raqia Hassan. This might be what you've seen as well, which explains why this seems different to you.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the names.

Here's an interesting link about the Hagallah: Egypt2
 
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Daimona

Moderator
Some years back I went on a folkloric intensive with another teacher. When we came back she decided to teach some of what we learnt to her students. My class backed onto hers so I'd see the end of her class. The first few weeks it was pretty much as we had learnt it - but about three weeks down the track she had seriously modified the moves to jell with her own personal style. For instance she naturallly did the 3/4 with an out. So guess what she taught her students? Many people find the down/up/down really hard and counter-intuitive so I'm not surprised if they modify it - consciously or otherwise.

Certainly an interesting phenomena.
I think I need to work more on the down/up/down version as well. Thanks!

:dance:

Yes!
There is Haggala, folklore. That style is Beduin dance from northen Egypt - around Marsa Matrouh. That has down acsent. It also is asymmetrical step as the right side is emphasized.

Then you have normal 3/4 shimmy, which can be done with different variations, up, side, down etc. Many teacher call this step Haggala, but I wouldn't as Haggala is a dance of specific area with it's own rules ets.

So the version Raqia Hassan explains in the above mentioned video as haggala is basically a version of the 3/4 shimmy, but the one below is the basic haggala from the folklore (although, raqs sharki executed version).. :cool: I always wondered about that.

 
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Outi

New member
Actually neither is really.

Raqia Hassan makes variation of 3/4 shimmy.

The other video "Hagalla basic" is closer, but there should be much bigger movement down on the right side compared to the left. It should look more like limping step. That would be the basic haggala step.

If you have Raqia Hassan's vol 8
I'm there.. She is making Haggala step in every video :)
when she askes to make Haggala step, Iäm doing the folkloric step and the other student makes 3/4 shimmy.
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
The other video "Hagalla basic" is closer, but there should be much bigger movement down on the right side compared to the left. It should look more like limping step. That would be the basic haggala step.

Outi, would you do me a big favor, please? Would you take a look at the troupe video I posted on the first page of this thread, starting at 4:25? What you describe kind of reminds me of what my teacher's troupe does, only instead of walking forward, they're walking sideways with it. Is this another variation of the haggala step? :think: Thank you in advance for your answer. :)

I think I'm even more confused as to what is haggala, and what is not. :confused: I just know enough to know that it's not what the teacher calls "The Elvis Step." The reason why I mention this is because in my research last week, I ran across a video put out by Expert Village. They were supposedly teaching how to do the haggala step, but it was obvious even to me that that was not what they were doing. It looked more like what Fatima calls "The Elvis."
 
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Outi

New member
Something like that. It's guite short piece (two seconds) and very far. So I can't see very well.

Of course with any step you can walk in any directions :)

Masrah (Finnish dance company) has VSH (!) from show called Oriental Express. There is a loads of folkloric dances, including one of the best Haggalas I have seen (I'm there ;). It's not the normal Reda style, but more down to earth folklore.
It's only 5 euros + posting. Masrah
The Masrah's videos are really good! Some of them are old and the level of the dance is not so high (in mid 90s), but there is a loads of things to learn. How to put troupes on the stage, different folkloric styles, costuming.... Most of them are VHS though.

There is also dvd made from old Qaumeya group VHS. They made two dvds from one VHS. Unfortunately they didn't include all of the original haggala :(
Only the first part. That made me quite unhappy.
https://www.hollywoodmusiccenter.co...B2gS9uJ2lM6w&productId=1245&language=english&
This has haggala and siwa dances

The other part from the original vhs is Egypt in Dance
https://www.hollywoodmusiccenter.co...B2gS9uJ2lM6w&productId=1278&language=english&
Which has nubian and simsimeyya
 
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