So Lorna of Cairo recently blogged about how she’s really enjoying dancing saidi right now (and forgot to mention that her costume looks amazing; I want to see bigger pictures of it!), which sent me off Gleaning The Tubes for a plethora of saidi videos. Because I have an almost unhealthy obsession with saidi.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, saidi was/is originally a folk dance from Upper Egypt, but has been lumped into/hijacked by bellydance. It’s also known as “raqs assaya” or stick dance, when performed with a cane/stick (dur), and there’s a men’s duet version called tahtib that simulates a fight. The women’s form is, of course, more refined and less warlike; I’ve also heard that the saidi step (the lifted legs and kicks) is mimicking a ‘dancing’ horse.

So, we’ve combined pole-arms, horses, and dance. If you know me whatsoever, I think you can see where my obsession with saidi comes from. So, on that note, I present to you: SAIDI SPAM!

As Lorna’s post was the instigator, her video is first! The first half of her dance at a wedding is a saidi number with two male back-up dancers. I particularly like how she “borrows” a cane from the audience. Cheeky and awesome, as always!

I just discovered this video today of a Lebanese dancer named Rindala (though this might be proof that I’m rubbish at telling styles: I would have pegged her as Turkish style if it weren’t for the cane!). Her energy, speed, and skill is inspirational!

For a complete contrast, Yasmina of Cairo (with four male dancers) produces a far sweeter and sedate dance. Also, this video alone makes me want to jump onto a plane to Egypt RIGHT NOW.

I have to include Elspeth Swishandhips in this spam! I was lucky enough to see this performance live, and it was amazing; the video doesn’t do it half justice. Every clap and cheer was more than deserved!

Penultimately is the great Fifi Abdo, who really needs no elaboration. However, I noticed with a bit of glee that she seems to be playing to the women in the audience.

Finally, sans stick, is Aziza. On YouTube this had a bit of criticism for not being earthy enough, but I really like the softness of it. If this is a ‘horse dance’, well, I’ve known horses that move like each of these women (that’s a compliment, fyi!). Anyway, when a horse is really dancing, they’re not earthy: they practically float!

Here, to drive that point home, have a video of a dancing horse:

That’s some of the most beautiful dancing I’ll ever see.

Tags: bellydance,folk dance,saidi
Categories: dance
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Oh man, am I looking forward to April! The semester ends this week, which means in April I will be free from classes, from marking, from extra reading. It means I can actually spend most of my days doing research! I am ridiculously excited about this, and plan on spending several good days in libraries, reading to my heart’s (and brain’s) content, faffing about doing some free-writing, producing another chapter, and getting PROPER sleep while doing it all! Yes!

Other fabulous reasons that I’m excited for April include that that my weekly country dance time will be full-on social dancing instead of classes. It’s also Script Frenzy, NaNoWriMo’s sister project, which I am going to partake in very casually. I have a goal, though, and I’m hoping to fulfill it. But the emphasis is on casual. I need a month of chillness, and will not guilt myself if I don’t finish.

Also, near the end of April / beginning of May, some of my bellydance sisters are getting together for what we’re calling a mini-hafla: a close group of folks and uber-supportive ultra-chill environment where people can have a wee boogie, try out new solos, or give their first try at an improv or choreo.

April also means that I’m not too far from heading home for summer. It won’t be a proper holiday, as I need to do research, reading, and writing while I’m home. Plus, I plan on picking up my dance sword (SQUEE!!) and practicing on my parents’ lawn. And making my mum my yoga-buddy, as she’s recently discovered yoga and quite likes it!

However, what does April really mean? It means reprioritizing. I have far too much going on in my life, and though some responsibilities will be over (forever—thank goodness!), there’s ones waiting for me in September, when the new academic year begins. Certain things I simply CAN’T give up, like my academics (duh), my teaching (duh times 2), other academic duties (they need doing and I need the experience), and bellydance (one of the few things that’s keeping me sane—and anyway, I’m fully addicted at this point). Other things won’t be given up because they’re not time-sucks. For example, knitting/crochet/drawing all fill up empty bits of time instead of taking it over, as long as I don’t commit to any large projects with deadlines—and at this point, I refuse to. I’ll finish my mum’s nativity, and after that it’s slow going only. But there’s other things that I’m committed to that are time-sucks and that I’m just not feeling that passionate about, and haven’t been feeling it for a while. So, I’ll be sorting through life-bits in April—putting the better and different parts of things on “shuffle”, as it were—and figuring out where importance truly lies.

Summer’s for reprioritizing. In summer, we shall see. By autumn, we shall know.

Tags: academic,bellydance,folk dance,life,NaNoWriMo,Script Frenzy
Categories: Academia, Arts
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So my last two weekends have been FULL of dancing. The first was the InterVarsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF) in Durham, which was quite fun. Social folk dancing = ridiculous amounts of fun. Folk dances that are meant to be watched, on the other hand, are ridiculous amounts of funny—and that’s why you have to love them. They’re too silly not too!

I spent most of that weekend going to music workshops, such as sea shanties with the Young Uns and Welsh songs , but I also discovered two (new-to-me) folk dances: molly and rapper.

The above group Gog Magog (dancing starts at 1:09) were also the ones who taught the workshop on molly dancing. Molly is supposed to be danced ridiculously seriously and militaristically, as it is a full-out piss-take on morris dancing and the like. It is the straightman comedian of folk dancing, and it is ridiculously fun. Particularly when you get to shout.

A video of rapper can be viewed here; it’s the best I’ve found so far but embedding is disabled.

Somehow I ended up doing two rapper workshops, which seeing as I didn’t even know what rapper was until I saw a dem on our first night was mildly surprising. It’s one of the sword dances of England, and I have to say, highly enjoyable. There’s a major sense of fulfillment when your side (the name for a troupe) performs a figure well, and major comraderie. This sense of “chill awesomeness” (technical term!) continues, apparently, in proper rapper performances: A PUB CRAWL. Seriously. Proper rapper performances are pub crawls—popping into pubs, performing, partaking of a pint, pleading for a penny, and proceeding onward.

The whole weekend, however, was worth it simply for the contra dancing. Contra is actually from the US, but I think it’s mostly an everywhere-but-the-West-Coast thing (which is why I didn’t discover it until I left!). And I LOVE CONTRA. It’s like a high-octane version of Scottish country dancing (which is saying something in itself) with more progression and faster spins. And I LOVE spinning. I’ve yet to find a video that properly displays contra, so you’re just going to have to go find a group to dance it with. Trust me, you’ll love it.

Another highlight of the weekend was the disco ceilidh. Yes, disco ceilidh. My friend Yolande and I developed a disco version of the Gay Gordons (a staple of ceilidh dancing). and that was awesome.

However, as much fun as IVFDF was, I feel like I’m getting to be too much of an Old Lady to go to all-weekend folk dance stuff. Not insomuch as I’m too old (there’s people decades older than me attending!) or because I didn’t have a good time—I did. But I don’t like dashing from place to place, I don’t like limited access to sleeping venues (or showers!!), and I don’t like getting back from something at 2am. Going to bed at 2am, yes, but being out until 2am. On the other hand, if the whole weekend were bellydance… let’s just say I’m annoyed that I won’t be attending Raqs Brittania.

Which leads us to this last weekend: the University Dance Show! I have little to say about this, other than that there is much love to the people who came to see us. There was a consensus amongst the folk I talked to, at least, that ours was one of the top performances. Eventually I hope to post video of the performance, but until then:

Run away, Egyptian dancer! Run away before the scary tribalista eats you!!!

Tags: bellydance,festival,folk dance,tribal fusion
Categories: dance
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