Best Egyptian Style Instructional videos?

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
So for authentic Egyptian style, who do we like?

1. You all know I love Shareen el Safy, so I'll vote for her instructionals in a heartbeat.

2. Although I haven't yet bought it, I know our own A'isha has an instructional out!

3. I like Habiba's Quickstart and Gawaher set -- Quickstart is the beginner and Gawaher is the intermediate/advanced, with a choreography.

4. Raqia Hassan's technique vids.

5. Mona Said's workshop vid from the ICMED. LOVE this -- it's just demonstrations, but it's SUPER helpful for understanding true Egyptian style.

6. Faten Salama's vids. Anyone have a favorite?

7. Faten Munger's (5 parts now? I think)

8. Nashwa (2 dvds now and a performance show. I love her style.)

9. Little Egypt workshop vids. (I love em, lots of people hate em)

10. Zahra Zuhair's videos (I like her homemade ones better than the IAMED one)


Who else are your faves, and have you run across Egyptian style instructionals that really AREN'T ?? (Billed as Egyptian, but more Western?)

What do we think of Beata and Horacio's Oriental Fantasy videos?
What do we think of Serena Ramzy's "Visual Melodies" ?
 

sedoniaraqs

New member
I guess to be honest, I learn more about Egyptian dance from watching and analyzing performances.

A'isha's instructional video is very good but very basic in level. Shareens vids are great for the dancer with basic technique under her belt but you already know that. (I will say I was disappointed in her "exploring the drum solo" video).

Those are the only Egyptian instructionals I own. Oh, Mona Said's workshop from 1997 is good but very unorthodox in terms of what we expect as "instruction". I at one time had Hilary Thacher's intermediate level video and I didn't like it.

Sedonia
 

sstacy123

New member
As a early beginner you don't think too much about style (at least I didn't) and it seems to be the Egyptian style teachers DVDs aren't as visible as the others...I dunno...I'm just now getting the interest to pursue the Egyptian style DVDs...(you inspired to get Shareen but it is backordered :mad:) So I can't answer yet.:(
 

teela

New member
I agree with alot of who you mentioned. I don't have Faten Munger or Nashwa but it gives me a lovely start. I enjoy Yasmina Ramzey alot and I believe she is egyptian style isn't she? Her Nightclub one is awesome because it helps you understand more about rhythms and dancing to live music
I thought I was the only one who liked the little egypt videos. I have a bunch of them, some I like more than others but I get something from all of them.
I also like watching the performance DVD's to see more about how it all goes together.
 
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Tammy

New member
My favorites are some of the same ones you listed:

1. Shareen El Safy
2. Raqia Hassan
3. Yasmina Ramzy
4. Faten Salama
5. Aida Nour (my all time favorite), used one of her Little Egypt workshop videos today
6. Freiz (little egypt workshop videos)
7. Randa Kamel (little egypt worksop videos)
8. Farida Fahmy (little egypt workshop videos, great if you are into Reda style, a lot of nice footwork)
9. Lubna Emam (workshop videos)
10. Mona El Said (workshop videos)
11. Dr. Mo Geddawy (workshop videos)
12. Keti Sharif
 
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Tammy

New member
Hi Aziyade,
I'm really interested in the Faten Munger videos. Can you tell me a little about them, like what you liked about the videos? I would like to take some privates lessons from her next Spring or Summer, if I can.
Thanks!
Tammy
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
My favorites are some of the same ones you listed:
6. Freiz (little egypt workshop videos)
7. Randa Kamel (little egypt worksop videos)

I don't have any from Freiz or Randa -- are there specific ones you recommend, or were there just there for one year?

12. Keti Sharif

I'm told Keti isn't REALLY Egyptian. I like her advanced A-Z dvd, but alas have never seen her really perform. Would you argue she's a valid Egyptian style dancer?
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
Hi Aziyade,
I'm really interested in the Faten Munger videos. Can you tell me a little about them, like what you liked about the videos? I would like to take some privates lessons from her next Spring or Summer, if I can.
Thanks!
Tammy

Faten's videos are homemade, and on some of them (especially the Flamenco ones) the sounds SUCKS! Her cane dance (I think it's volume 2 or 4) is really cute, though. I haven't watched those in a long time, but I love to watch her dance. Ill rewatch the Middle Eastern videos I have and see what I think -- I meant to do this a long time ago, I'm sorry!!
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
I thought I was the only one who liked the little egypt videos. I have a bunch of them, some I like more than others but I get something from all of them.
I also like watching the performance DVD's to see more about how it all goes together.

I know -- a lot of people don't like them because you can't hear what the instructor is saying, but I can easily follow the bouncing butt, and I've learned a lot from them.

I love the LE performance vids too -- I just got 3 more, and I'm addicted! I just wish sometimes you could get performance vids where the dancer just wears a leotard and tights so you can really see what's going on. :)
 

teela

New member
Just when I thought I could slow down on purchasing DVD/videos, I found the Stars of Egypt set, all 7 volumes, on ebay for about $100 so I blew my budget and bought them. Then ended up buying a few more from Sausan Academy. I realize all are performance but I still see them as instructional because we tend to wach and learn and imitate what we see.
Was watching Raqia's latest (volume 9) and I noticed she spoke about who she got what from and such. Also after doing some of the instructional parts in this video, I realized that you can do the figure 8 with hip twist move in a variety of ways. I've seen it one way on this video while I've seen it other ways on other videos. The big difference is in where the weight is and where you put the hip twist and which hip gets twisted. I realized that as I slept.
 

PriscillaAdum

New member
I LOVE Tamra Henna's (L.A) new Egyptian style instructional DVD from IAMED.
And Zahra Suhair's Egyptian style DVD is just as good IMO.
I have Shareen El Safy's Alf Leila Wa Leila choreography video, and while I do enjoy listening to all her excellent explanations and the details and tidbits she provides...she's just not my favorite dancer, performance-wise.

Regards
Priscilla
 

Tammy

New member
Hi Aziyade,
Thanks for the info. on Faten Munger!!!

Randa & Freiz:
I have all the Randa Kamel videos, I would say I like the Miami Friday workshop the best.
I have Freiz's Oriental Workshop DVD & Ghawazee / Zill DVD. I like both, but in the Ghawazee video (the sound goes out for about 20 minutes, which is kind of fustrating).

Keti Sharif:
I'm not an expert, but I would have to say, to me she is definately is Egyptian style. It might not reflect that in her A-Z DVD? I have almost all the DVDs or viewed her videos in the past (before selling a couple, the beginner's & a choreo. video), I don't have Ket's astrology dvd (no thanks!) & fitness dvds. If you get her five volume set, you see a lot of performances by her. She covers a lot on about Egyptain styling/ music, etc...,.on the 5 volume set, that you don't see on the A-Z videos. After all she lives in Egypt (use to be part time, but I think it might be almost full time now???) and performed in Egypt for some years now.
Just my 2 cents.
 
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Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
Keti Sharif:
I'm not an expert, but I would have to say, to me she is definately is Egyptian style. It might not reflect that in her A-Z DVD? I have almost all the DVDs or viewed her videos in the past (before selling a couple, the beginner's & a choreo. video), I don't have Ket's astrology dvd (no thanks!) & fitness dvds. If you get her five volume set, you see a lot of performances by her. She covers a lot on about Egyptain styling/ music, etc...,.on the 5 volume set, that you don't see on the A-Z videos. After all she lives in Egypt (use to be part time, but I think it might be almost full time now???) and performed in Egypt for some years now.
Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the suggestions!

ON Keti being not Egyptian enough -- I mean, I adore her, but we have people here who don't think many of the people I adore are REAL Egyptian style, so I tend to preface my opinions as such.

FWIW, I'm thinking about doing her fitness training program. I think it might be an interesting thing to approach my gym with. They keep bugging me to teach some kind of bellyrobics, and I think this would be better, or at least easier to do in a group fitness class.

BTW -- I forgot you were a Hoosier too! That makes 3 active Hoosier posters, and a couple of lurkers. Taking over the boards, one cornfield at a time! LOL
 

Tammy

New member
Thanks for the reply Aziyade. Didn't want to spark any contaversy (spelling?) on Keti's style. I'm also a fan of Keti (especially her teaching style), too bad her Texas workshop was cancelled, I would like to take a workshop or 2 by her.

I'm orginally from Ohio (left 16 years ago), I thought Ohio had a lot of cornfields, but not after moving here this past summer. Fields and fields of corn and soybeans. So ready to move back to the South ;).

Thanks for the suggestions!

ON Keti being not Egyptian enough -- I mean, I adore her, but we have people here who don't think many of the people I adore are REAL Egyptian style, so I tend to preface my opinions as such.

FWIW, I'm thinking about doing her fitness training program. I think it might be an interesting thing to approach my gym with. They keep bugging me to teach some kind of bellyrobics, and I think this would be better, or at least easier to do in a group fitness class.

BTW -- I forgot you were a Hoosier too! That makes 3 active Hoosier posters, and a couple of lurkers. Taking over the boards, one cornfield at a time! LOL
 

Tammy

New member
Those are excellent choices as well. Watched the Tamra Henna's DVD the other night. Very good video!

I LOVE Tamra Henna's (L.A) new Egyptian style instructional DVD from IAMED.
And Zahra Suhair's Egyptian style DVD is just as good IMO.
I have Shareen El Safy's Alf Leila Wa Leila choreography video, and while I do enjoy listening to all her excellent explanations and the details and tidbits she provides...she's just not my favorite dancer, performance-wise.

Regards
Priscilla
 

Tammy

New member
PS: My favorite "Faten Salama" video is the Faten Salama~ Melaya Leff video. I also like 2 of her latests videos 2006 & 2007.
 

samsied

New member
Visual Melodies

Has anyone seen Visual Melodies? I'd like to open a dialogue on that.

I have "Visual Melodies" and have mixed feelings about it. I bought it after attending a weekend of workshops with Hossam and Serena Ramzy where one workshop involved teaching a choreography from this dvd. I loved learning this choreography as it did teach me a lot about musical interpretation even though I would never perform someone else's choreography unless it was a planned group performance. When I wantched this dvd for the first time, I enjoyed the 3 performances but felt disapointed. I think it was a great idea--3 performances with a detailed breakdown of the choreography and how it follows the music. I like the 3 camera angles as well. It just isn't enough--something was missing for me.

I think this dvd may have been better received if it contained a spoken introduction or some commentary on the approach to musical interpretation. A proactive user of the dvd can get that by reading Hossam Ramzy's articles on musical interpretation and using the dvd performances as examples.

Saying that, I had to put this dvd away for a couple years as I bought it while living abroad and did not have an all-region dvd player. I recently got all all-region player and took it off the shelf and re-watched it. For whatever reason, I appreciate it much more now than I did previously. I was actually thinking of studying the breakdowns for each song and trying to adapt the musical guidelines to myself just as an exercise to hopefully develop better musical interpretation.

From reading others reviews of this dvd, it seems to have inspired a lot of mixed responses. My guess is people are not really sure how to use the dvd as 3 performances is short for a performance dvd and there isn't any obvious teaching in it to make an instructional dvd.
 
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