Jewel?

[taheya]

Hi Ranya, I have also heard Raqia Hassan refer to a movement as the horse. It is really interesting to hear some dancers break down the movements which probably when they are dancing flow into one!
I have a few Raqia videos and when she demonstrates her choreography it is flowing movements- it does not appear like a string of moves. Yet alot of the dancers she has demonstrating her choreos end up looking like they are doing a succession of moves. The natural, individual reaction to the music is not there, so something is lost almost.

 

[RanyaRenee]

It is really interesting to hear some dancers break down the movements which probably when they are dancing flow into one!
I have a few Raqia videos and when she demonstrates her choreography it is flowing movements- it does not appear like a string of moves. Yet alot of the dancers she has demonstrating her choreos end up looking like they are doing a succession of moves. The natural, individual reaction to the music is not there, so something is lost almost.

You hit the nail on the head, Taheya! I agree that is what is missing from a lot of non-Egyptians' dance, even if they are great technicians. I think it is a conceptual difference in movement vocabulary between a Western approach and a natural Egyptian style that then leads to a slightly but perceptibly different look.

A few years ago I worked intensively with Mahmoud Reda over a few weeks(brilliant, and such a great, patient teacher), and even though I'd studied with him before, this time I focused on just the basic building blocks of his style first. What he started with his troupe was different from the traditional Egyptian approach to dance--he created a set of movement vocabulary in modules of technique, so he could get a standardized look from dancers in his company. So, a particular step-hip combination would have hand patterns that would naturally accompany the feet, making choreography creation easier, in that a company of dancers could get the whole from assembling those pieces. All that juicy individuality of movements that is present in beledi style dance (read: native, non-western-influenced dance) is not so desirable when you want a standard company look. It's so interesting to me to compare these opposing threads in Egyptian dance.... hope this has not veered too much off topic!!!!

 

[jenc]

Yes and in the UK we mostly learn "Egyptian dance" as troupe dancing. Opportunity and desire to solo seems to be rare. So it doesn't seem like what I think of when I think of egyptian dance