Tips on teaching Berber/turkish walk

[~Diana~]

I have a dance that I am going to have berber/turkish (depends on who you talk to what they call it) walking in. Now I can do it, but I'm wondering if anyone here has experience teaching it to other people? I will have to teach it to my troupe members but I want to make sure I teach it correctly because sometimes the way I learn something does not make sense to anyone else LOL!

Also, any good exercises they can do besides lunges, squats, that will help them work up the leg and abdominal conditioning needed for this?

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

I'm pretty sure Anaheed's dvd on Classic Cabaret Floorwork breaks this movement down. You could check that out as a reference. Also Delilah teaches it on her video with floorwork, but IIRC, I think Anaheed's explanation made more sense.

Have them stretch the hip flexors too -- like, using hurdler's stretch. At least that's what Ansuya told us. It's a cool move that I personally can't do justice to, so good luck!

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Why do some call the walk Berber, and some call it Turkish walk? :think: I ask because we do a dance my teacher calls Berber, and the traveling step we use throughout the routine makes me feel like a horse! @______@;; It's still loads of fun, though, I love it.

Should I ask this in a topic of its own? :think: I'm just hoping the step we are doing is correct. If my posts need to be moved into its own topic, could the mods please do that for me? Thank you in advance!

 

[Shanazel]

Double post cured, Farasha. This is a fine place for discussing all turkish/berber walk questions.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Thank you, Shan! I wish we had a video clip of our troupe doing our Berber number, that way you could hear the music we use, and see the movements and steps. It's a fun number, with us pretending to pick apples, moving in groups, then lines, and doing a move my teacher calls "Boobs On Parade." Yeah. Boobs On Parade. >.> Anyway, the underlying footwork throughout pretty much the whole dance is a kind of step-change step-change step-change, with one foot being on ball while the other is flat. Easily wears a person out, but it's fun. Hope my description makes sense.

I'll see if maybe I can find the music on YouTube, brb...

Okay, hope this works from my iPhone:



Same song, same music, but the words seem different from the version we use. Same artist, though (Houria Aichi).

 

[~Diana~]

I to wondered that farasha. Let me see if I can get a video of the movement in case people don't know what I am talking about. I also have no idea where this movement came from or in what style it originated. I first seen it used with tribal fusion dancers.

ONE: Kneeling position, arms out to the side, weight on left knee.
TWO: Slowly slide right foot forward on ball of foot, as you raise right knee.
Pause when foot is alongside left knee.
THREE: Slowly lower right knee forward to floor without moving right foot.
FOUR: As right knee touches floor, roll toes under so that top of foot rests on floor.
Weight should now be on right knee.
FIVE: Slowly slide left foot forward on ball of foot as you raise left knee.
Pause when foot is alongside right knee.
SIX: Slowly lower left knee forward to the floor without moving left foot.
SEVEN: As knee touched floor, roll toes under so the top of foot rests on floor.
Weight should now be in left knee.

Practice until entire step is one smooth continuous movement.

NOpe no luck for videos but in my research i also came across people calling it the 'slave walk' and 'desert crawl'

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

I don't think it actually has anything to do with Berber dance. Or if it does, it might have been a men's dance movement that got incorporated into the AmCab syllabus.

You see this movement a lot nowadays with sword dancers -- they balance the sword and then do this across the floor.

 

[Shanazel]

For some reason I woke up this morning with a vague memory of being told the movement originated with dances done in tents that were too low to stand up in. No idea of the veracity of the statement.

My knees gave up on this one twenty years ago.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I to wondered that farasha. Let me see if I can get a video of the movement in case people don't know what I am talking about. I also have no idea where this movement came from or in what style it originated. I first seen it used with tribal fusion dancers.



NOpe no luck for videos but in my research i also came across people calling it the 'slave walk' and 'desert crawl'

oO!!! That sounds hard!!! @______@;;;

 

[Kashmir]

I also have no idea where this movement came from or in what style it originated. I first seen it used with tribal fusion dancers.

No idea if it has any folkloric roots, but I first saw it in the 1990s long before tribal fusion was created (or at least hit NZ). Definitely part of an orientale performance.

 

[SidraK]

The Berber walk is one move that I just couldn't get until I had a teacher down beside me "walking" me through the movement. I love the look of it, but it really doesn't seem to be in fashion around here for inclusion in choreography.

You may want to advise students who have shaky knees to wear knee pads, at least for practicing.

Also, once the class has the move down, it's a really fun class break to hold Berber walk races across the room! Extra points for sword balancing at the same time.

 

[Shanazel]

No idea if it has any folkloric roots, but I first saw it in the 1990s long before tribal fusion was created (or at least hit NZ). Definitely part of an orientale performance.

The earliest I recall seeing it in performance is 1978. Was done in the context of cabaret floorwork- two long flowing berber steps with the third step getting the dancer back to her feet. Very difficult, very pretty. I want to say Sushila of Ft. Collins did it but I really don't recall.