Cane Dance
- Thread starter GypsyStacey
- Start date
jenc
New member
Very, very nice!
Farasha Hanem
New member
I know this is an old thread, but I'm doing some research, and noticed some of the videos in the thread have been lost. I'm doing an experiment to see if I can get some of these clips working again:
Oh, blargh, never mind... -_-
Oh, blargh, never mind... -_-
Last edited by a moderator:
Farasha Hanem
New member
Why on earth are they doing that? >:0 Granted, I haven't been on YouTube from my laptop for a long time until today (and even then, I didn't stay long), but that's ridiculous! >:/
Jane, I'm sorry I couldn't fix your YouTube link in my reply. I hate that some of the vids in this thread are now inaccessible.
Jane, I'm sorry I couldn't fix your YouTube link in my reply. I hate that some of the vids in this thread are now inaccessible.
Farasha Hanem
New member
Thank you, thank you, Gisela! You're not only a supermod, you're a superHERO!!!
You're not only a supermod, you're a superHERO!!! 
bomu samba
New member
Thanks Gisela, there are some great clips on this thread!
Tarik Sultan
New member
Also keep in mind that at times videos may become inaccessable because the original poster has taken them down. Sometimes they are forced to due to copyright complaints etc.
Tarik Sultan
New member
I know this is a bit old, but as the thread was revived and the question never really answered I'll take a stab at it.
There is no "history" to it persay. It wasn't invented at any particular time that we can document like say the Candelabram dance, (Shamadan). At its heart, it is a folk dance and folk dances arise out of the experiences and environments of the everyday people.
People in Egypt, particularly men, have always carried staffs or sticks, as weapons or just accessories, (acessories that could be used as weapons if need be). It was and still is very common in many parts of Africa and the Near East. When people dance, they will often use everyday objects to highlight their movement, or show off skill etc. For example, they will balance classes, jugs or various objects.
In Egypt, there is a game that is often confused with cane dancing called takhtiyb. Takhtyb is NOT a dance. It is a martial art game that is done with musical accomaniment in the back ground. If there are not 2 players, there is no Takhtiyb. Its not something you can do by yourself. Look at it this way. It takes two people to box.
Raks al Assaya is Cane Dance. It is done by one person and the cane is used to highlight the movements. When the men do it they will often incorporate different sparing positions / blows, used when stick fighting. The women may do so as well. When it is done for real by both sexes, there is hipworks involved, however, if they feel like it, they may not use any hipwork at all and just hop and skip about using the cane to frame the body.
With the advent of the theater folk themed dance companies like the Reda Troupe a more acrobatic style was developed for the men on stage in which the hip work was deliberately left out, for reasons I won't go into here. Okay screw it, because the artistic elites were uptight at the thought of men moving their hips on stage in public, there I said it! In real life, there are no such artificial boundaries.
As the stick is a common part of Egyptian folklife, you will find people all over Egypt dancing with it, not just in Upper Egypt and no just in rural areas. People in rural Lower Egypt will dance with it as well as people in Urban areas. They really don't put things in neat boxes the way we do. Its only on stage when they are doing folk themed tablux that they will make distinctins to a degree.
In this clip I shot in Egypt you will see my friend Osman dancing with the cane and using the full movement vocabulary[video=youtube;rom9yco-CW4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rom9yco-CW4[/video]
Tarik Sultan
New member
Here's a clip from Cairo:
[video=youtube;mDZHO_BZJrY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDZHO_BZJrY[/video]
You can see he is using smoother hip movements, mostly figure 8's, but the cane is used to frame the body.
So to wrap it up, basically what determines what is done is #1: the complexity of the music, #2: the style of the music and #3: lastly, the skill of the individual dancer. I'd throw in some Fifi Abdu clips but I can only do one video per post the way the forum is set up now.
[video=youtube;mDZHO_BZJrY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDZHO_BZJrY[/video]
You can see he is using smoother hip movements, mostly figure 8's, but the cane is used to frame the body.
So to wrap it up, basically what determines what is done is #1: the complexity of the music, #2: the style of the music and #3: lastly, the skill of the individual dancer. I'd throw in some Fifi Abdu clips but I can only do one video per post the way the forum is set up now.
Farasha Hanem
New member
Thank you so much for the info, Tarik! Is Stacy still active on the forum? I hope she sees this.
Is Stacy still active on the forum? I hope she sees this.
Jeanne
Member
There's actually several different styles. In Egypt there is sa`iidi, beledi and ghawazee. You might also want to consider Reda a fourth style
...
Lebanese cane tends to be much faster with lots of spins. Unlike Egyptian cane the grip seems to be in the whole hand
Khaleegy canes are smaller and are manipulated between the fingers. They are only used intermittently.
OK, I know this post is from quite a while back and I don't know if the poster will see my question, but -- khaleeji cane? For real? I'm familiar with all the other cane styels and cane dancing in general is one of my "things," and I've learned a bit of khaleeji style from a few different teachers, but I've honestly never heard of cane in khaleeji. Do you know of any video clip examples? Or where I can find out more about it?
Kashmir
New member
This one we got from Carolyn Evanoff who has been in Cairo for about 10 years (??) back in 2009. She was showing us the more modern versions of Khaleegi that are now popular (seems it is only Western belly dances who still do the old fashioned stuff with thobes etc). I think the cane, which was short and very thin, started off as a man's prop but is now accepted used by women. When I tried looking for Khaleegi and cane on Youtube all I got was some misinformed dancer doing sa`iidi with khaleegi music - quite different! There's a music video showing some men using it - Kaml Alzein Arabic UAE Song- ???? ??? ??????? ???? ????? - YouTube
Tanglefoot
New member
I agree with Tarik the cane is a weapon albeit a basic weapon but it will do the job when needed where it was most people in society at one time carried a stick at least for defence, where the more formiddable quarter staff is not dissimilar from Tahtib, where there are similar other names throughout the world and used in a similar manner.
Where maybe it is Assaya developed from the skills that were developed with the cane, where well, I'm learning it at the moment and some of the movements are not dissimilar from using the stick as a sword, where I have learned to use a sword through past involvement in battle re-enactment, where it was in North Africa not all swords were curved, in fact earlier swords were straight like European designs and still were in some regions even when the curved design was popular, which was designed for mounted use.
But as said I'm learning it at the moment were it strikes me the movement is not just defensive but also occupational as in say a labourer with a shovel or a boatman with a pole, but I keep getting told it's a masculine dance were so far I have not managed to launch it nor take out the dance studio lighting even where my cane is my sister's old cane which was acquired in Egypt, a much thicker and heavier bamboo cane than the usual dance canes with a less hooked end. Although I have to do some work on it as I recovered it from my mother's garden where it was stuck in the ground supporting a plant as my sisters gave up with this style of dancing in favour of Lindy hop of which she teaches.
Where maybe it is Assaya developed from the skills that were developed with the cane, where well, I'm learning it at the moment and some of the movements are not dissimilar from using the stick as a sword, where I have learned to use a sword through past involvement in battle re-enactment, where it was in North Africa not all swords were curved, in fact earlier swords were straight like European designs and still were in some regions even when the curved design was popular, which was designed for mounted use.
But as said I'm learning it at the moment were it strikes me the movement is not just defensive but also occupational as in say a labourer with a shovel or a boatman with a pole, but I keep getting told it's a masculine dance were so far I have not managed to launch it nor take out the dance studio lighting even where my cane is my sister's old cane which was acquired in Egypt, a much thicker and heavier bamboo cane than the usual dance canes with a less hooked end. Although I have to do some work on it as I recovered it from my mother's garden where it was stuck in the ground supporting a plant as my sisters gave up with this style of dancing in favour of Lindy hop of which she teaches.