What does the style..

[Caroline_afifi]

'Modern Cairo' mean to you?

How is it different from other styles and how does it look to you, how would you describe it compared to the style say 15 years ago?

 

[Mosaic]

Have you any videos that show the style? I am not familiar with the term. Would the dancers on the touristy restaurants on the Nile ( like Asmahan) be 'modern Cairo'?
~Mosaic

 

[Caroline_afifi]

Hi Mosaic,

Yes! it is the performance style which is commonly seen in Cairo amongst the more well know dancers.

I will have a look for some exapmles...be right back..

 

[Caroline_afifi]

YouTube - Leila of Cairo belly dance raks sharki performance

YouTube - Masters of Egyptian Choreography Instructional DVD's

YouTube - Randa Kamal Raks Sharki oriental dance performance

found this lovely one of Outi Too!

YouTube - Outi - gana el hawa

YouTube - yasmina of cairo entrance

Enjoy...

 

[Ranya]

For me it defo is Randa, Camelia and Leila from the US, Dina a bit, but for me personally Dina is getting a bit old-fashion since she has been around for some time.
Modern Cairo for me is everything that is danced at the moment there - every dancer has their own style but there clearly are some trends that are shared. It does not matter if the dancer is Egyptian or not to me.
I can't really describe it but the vids Caroline posted show it rather well.

(Oh btw the Randa choreo.... our troupe in Cairo used to have a spanish-flavoured dance on this song, a version played with guitars and having a nice little spanish feel ... I always found it a bit "clowny" and it was hard for me to dance it keeping my face straight but our manager/choreographer was crrraaazyyy about that piece :lol

 

[lizaj]

I think Camelia has a whole "new" look to these others mentioned. Her emphasis on "oriental-arms" and other stylistic diffrences are settting her apart as exploring some other place or is she revisiting?

 

[Caroline_afifi]

For me it defo is Randa, Camelia and Leila from the US, Dina a bit, but for me personally Dina is getting a bit old-fashion since she has been around for some time.

:lol: yes, but having said that, Dina is perhaps the real pioneer of this style dont you think? I sort of get what you mean though.

Modern Cairo for me is everything that is danced at the moment there - every dancer has their own style but there clearly are some trends that are shared. It does not matter if the dancer is Egyptian or not to me.
I can't really describe it but the vids Caroline posted show it rather well.

Yes, it does have a distinct character and feel, whilst being reproduced by each dancer in an individual way.

I am not great at written description so I welcome any additions and observations to this..

The style draws on long lines within the body. There is a low sense of gravity but the style leans towards straight legs and rigidity but in a flowing way.

Having done some training with Camelia this year, I found she leaned more across the traditional Oriental style and the modern Cairo. She was a little more 'wriggly' and earthy and heavy in her style and she was quite something.


YouTube - Camelia of Cairo Belly Dancing on Grand Hyatt Boat in Cairo, Egypt

I think Randa also has an heavy earthy quality about her.

I did really enjoy Outi's clip, it was so simple, elegant and unfussy.

(Oh btw the Randa choreo.... our troupe in Cairo used to have a spanish-flavoured dance on this song, a version played with guitars and having a nice little spanish feel ... I always found it a bit "clowny" and it was hard for me to dance it keeping my face straight but our manager/choreographer was crrraaazyyy about that piece :lol

If the fusion is there then use it. Much of Arab music has flavours and fusions from different regions and countries. The difference is the dance is led by the music.

Here is a classic example by Amr Diab which had everu\yone out swishing their skirts..:lol:

YouTube - Amr Diab - habibi ya noor-el ain

 

[Corylus]

Caroline, Leila is lovely thank you for posting that video, I had never seen her before.

I'm a relatively new learner to belly dance so I may well be wrong but as I understand it modern Cairo is, as Ranya said, what is being danced there at the moment. I think I remember asking a question about modern Cairo over in the music forum.

I have learnt 2 'modern Cairo' based choreographies and both were quite dynamic with spins and strong movements like Randa is doing in that youtube video. Both choreographies actually involved the movement that she does when she sort of 'jolts' to one side as seen at 3.06 to 3.16 in the clip (sorry for poor description, if there is a technical name for that move please let me know! I just think of it as a body slam).

 

[Mosaic]

Thanks Caroline, The style seems to me to be very much show oriented, making themselves very visible and the movements visible, by that I mean making the body lines long & tall which seem to make hip movements and shimmies more noticeable or more clearly defined, arms are used as wide or tall frames and the much more of the dance floor space seems to be used. The Modern Cairo seems to sweep the whole audience as if drawing everyone into the dance.

What I have seen of clips of the older style is less floor space is used and the dance was more 'gooey' and internal, often aimed at one or 2 people in an audience at a time.

How is it different from other styles, I think there is a lot of heart in MC it kind of welcomes you, invites you to enjoy the experience. It's about the dance not so much the dancer, the dancer is expressing a joy in the dance and music. But of course it is a talented & charismatic dancer who can express that, not all can, they become too mechanical and I personally lose interest in watching when i see a perfect but mechanical dancer. That is how I see & feel it.

I'm not sure I have explained that well

 

[Caroline_afifi]

I think it is a very bold and 'outhere' style which works well on stage.
It can be difficult to see a dancer in thse large venues so it definately fills space compared to the older style.

Like I said earlier, I think Dina had her hand in developing this style and Raqia Hassan of course.

I am wondering if the style is a sort of marriage between the Reda Folklore style and the old Oriental with a modern twist.. if this makes sense.
It feels very different in the body from the usual Egyptian style and the transition from one style to the other is quite challenging.

Most dancers who set out for Cairo really have to train hard in this style when they get there.

I think we also need to bare in mind that we are only talking a hand full of dancers here, as the rest of the Egyptian dancers are doing what they have been doing for years and years. Camelia for me is a cross between the two, she is there with the modern style but somehow retains the old style too.
She too teaches in a very 'balletic' way and works on lines in the body and extention.

 

[gisela]

Do you have examples of the "old style" too? Active dancers right now?
Like Liza Laziza, Lucy, Asmahan, Nour etc?
I know these have all their personal style and I don't think they look like each other but these are active dancers that I don't see have that modern cairo style.

 

[lizaj]

Do you have examples of the "old style" too? Active dancers right now?
Like Liza Laziza, Lucy, Asmahan, Nour etc?
I know these have all their personal style and I don't think they look like each other but these are active dancers that I don't see have that modern cairo style.

recently in a class I was taught "Samia style" by Eman Zaki..although of course she no longer performs, her style was lovely and so reminiscent of the Golden Age. I am sure she said her mum taught her and Hoda and that was the style they loved and practised. But she would be a comtemporary of Fifi if I remember correctly.
So yes dancers may dance a style very much their own, follow an old trend or combine it to create something new. Viva la Difference!

Out of interest how would people describe Suheir and Nagwa..or were they both just that Suheir and Nagwa along with Fifi and Lucy.

 

[Caroline_afifi]

Do you have examples of the "old style" too? Active dancers right now?
Like Liza Laziza, Lucy, Asmahan, Nour etc?
I know these have all their personal style and I don't think they look like each other but these are active dancers that I don't see have that modern cairo style.

This is a clip of Nour in Soiree performing Modern Cairo style, I couldnt find many examples of her doing something which was not Modern Cairo..

YouTube - Nour a Cairo bellydance star

This is Liza Laziza

YouTube - Liza Laziza II

Bousy Abdou dancing in 'Egyptian club' style

YouTube - BOUSY ABDOU at King nightclub Cairo