Faten Salama workshop and show
May. 20th, 2007 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonWell, obviously Saturday was a bit of a challenge for me, but I pulled myself together in the morning and went to the Faten Salama workshop and show. In a way, it was easier to go knowing that Ronan was no longer feeling any pain than it would have been to go with him still in the hospital.
Anyway, the workshop was fantastic. Faten Salama's teaching style was more or less follow the bouncing butt, with some breakdown of combos but zero breakdown of individual movements. People were expected to know the basic movement vocabulary and to quickly be able to put movements together. Fortunately, I'm in a place where I can do that now, but I could see that Faten Salama was getting a bit annoyed with people who couldn't watch a series of movements and then correctly imitate that series. Though I think some people were just not paying close enough attention, which in turn annoyed me. She was very open to questions, so I don't think she was too intimidating for people who wanted to ask. (insert side rant here about why on earth do people spend good money for a workshop if they aren't going to buckle down, get to work and learn!) Though I know there was some difficulty with people understanding her; during the khaleegi section one woman whispered to me, "Did she say this was Turkish?" Er, no.
All that is beside the point though, the point being that there was a fabulous wealth of information about Reda-style folkloric dance for the stage presented. The morning topic was meleya, obviously making me very happy. Lots of sassy stuff and good tips on manipulating the meleya. I was a little afraid of putting somebody's eyes out with the pailette-covered edges of my meleya (most people were using veils) but luckily Faten Salama broke the class into two sections so that we could run through it with a little more room and I was able to really dance it without worrying about injuring others. The afternoon session covered haggallah and khaleegi. Haggallah is a particular Bedouin dance from I believe the border area of Egypt and Libya. Unlike most Arabic cultures, the women pick their spouses in a public dance ceremony (of course, they may be picking exactly who they are told to pick, but at least there's some appearance of choice). The men line up and sing songs about how they should be chosen, and the women dance, the eligible young women picking men out of the line. There's a very particular shimmy that many of the haggallah movements are based on; I was already familiar with that since it is a standard raqs sharqi movement as well but it was great to feel how it goes with the original music. Plus we learned several other movements, including some really fun footwork. Then came the khaleegi section. Khaleegi is a style of dance done in the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, etc. The hallmarks of the dance are a large decorated overdress and a lot of hair tossing, and also a specific kind of shoulder shimmying. Again, all great stuff. My neck and shoulders are definitely feeling the aftereffects of all the hair tossing but I'm so glad to have learned this material. I'm not usually much of a note-taker, but when I got home I typed up everything I could remember. I also found this video on YouTube that features short clips of Faten Salama performing the meleya and khaleegi dances that we did with her, so that will help, even just to remember the feel of how the dances go. I just happen to have both haggallah and khaleegi drum solos that I've been working on, so I'm ready to run with it!
Then the show. I was on first, which was good because I could then watch everybody else. I felt like my performance was ok--I'm better with Hassan Ya Khouli each time I perform to it, but I still don't feel that I'm really doing it justice. I think this will be one that I come back to regularly. People told me that I looked serene and elegant which is not exactly how I felt on the inside but I'm glad it seemed that way on the outside. All the other performers were high quality, but Najmat's drum solo with her live drummer just amazed me. Watching her, I felt so lucky and privileged to be taking classes with her. She is national class if not world class in my opinion and more people should know about her. Faten Salama finished the show and was a real delight to watch. I realized that this was the first time I've seen someone doing real Egyptian style in person rather than on video and it was very enlightening. Yes, there is a lot of movement repetition, but each time it's exactly what the music calls for. And you can see the difference in passion when someone really knows what a song is about, even when that version doesn't have words. There was an aliveness to her dancing that went beyond technique and showmanship. She was a joy to behold.
The woman who went on right after me performed to a different version of the same song as I did--oops! It was different enough though that even she didn't realize it was the same (Johara confirmed for me that it was the same song though so it wasn't just my imagination). I think I've got that big masmoudi intro permanently embedded in my psyche from working on it so much.
All in all, it was an inspirational day that will stick with me for a long time. I don't feel like I lost out at all by not going to Fifi Abdo in Dallas this weekend--well, I do a bit, but I'm sure it was a mob scene and that probably I got better instruction in similar things from an experienced teacher in Faten Salama.
Anyway, the workshop was fantastic. Faten Salama's teaching style was more or less follow the bouncing butt, with some breakdown of combos but zero breakdown of individual movements. People were expected to know the basic movement vocabulary and to quickly be able to put movements together. Fortunately, I'm in a place where I can do that now, but I could see that Faten Salama was getting a bit annoyed with people who couldn't watch a series of movements and then correctly imitate that series. Though I think some people were just not paying close enough attention, which in turn annoyed me. She was very open to questions, so I don't think she was too intimidating for people who wanted to ask. (insert side rant here about why on earth do people spend good money for a workshop if they aren't going to buckle down, get to work and learn!) Though I know there was some difficulty with people understanding her; during the khaleegi section one woman whispered to me, "Did she say this was Turkish?" Er, no.
All that is beside the point though, the point being that there was a fabulous wealth of information about Reda-style folkloric dance for the stage presented. The morning topic was meleya, obviously making me very happy. Lots of sassy stuff and good tips on manipulating the meleya. I was a little afraid of putting somebody's eyes out with the pailette-covered edges of my meleya (most people were using veils) but luckily Faten Salama broke the class into two sections so that we could run through it with a little more room and I was able to really dance it without worrying about injuring others. The afternoon session covered haggallah and khaleegi. Haggallah is a particular Bedouin dance from I believe the border area of Egypt and Libya. Unlike most Arabic cultures, the women pick their spouses in a public dance ceremony (of course, they may be picking exactly who they are told to pick, but at least there's some appearance of choice). The men line up and sing songs about how they should be chosen, and the women dance, the eligible young women picking men out of the line. There's a very particular shimmy that many of the haggallah movements are based on; I was already familiar with that since it is a standard raqs sharqi movement as well but it was great to feel how it goes with the original music. Plus we learned several other movements, including some really fun footwork. Then came the khaleegi section. Khaleegi is a style of dance done in the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, etc. The hallmarks of the dance are a large decorated overdress and a lot of hair tossing, and also a specific kind of shoulder shimmying. Again, all great stuff. My neck and shoulders are definitely feeling the aftereffects of all the hair tossing but I'm so glad to have learned this material. I'm not usually much of a note-taker, but when I got home I typed up everything I could remember. I also found this video on YouTube that features short clips of Faten Salama performing the meleya and khaleegi dances that we did with her, so that will help, even just to remember the feel of how the dances go. I just happen to have both haggallah and khaleegi drum solos that I've been working on, so I'm ready to run with it!
Then the show. I was on first, which was good because I could then watch everybody else. I felt like my performance was ok--I'm better with Hassan Ya Khouli each time I perform to it, but I still don't feel that I'm really doing it justice. I think this will be one that I come back to regularly. People told me that I looked serene and elegant which is not exactly how I felt on the inside but I'm glad it seemed that way on the outside. All the other performers were high quality, but Najmat's drum solo with her live drummer just amazed me. Watching her, I felt so lucky and privileged to be taking classes with her. She is national class if not world class in my opinion and more people should know about her. Faten Salama finished the show and was a real delight to watch. I realized that this was the first time I've seen someone doing real Egyptian style in person rather than on video and it was very enlightening. Yes, there is a lot of movement repetition, but each time it's exactly what the music calls for. And you can see the difference in passion when someone really knows what a song is about, even when that version doesn't have words. There was an aliveness to her dancing that went beyond technique and showmanship. She was a joy to behold.
The woman who went on right after me performed to a different version of the same song as I did--oops! It was different enough though that even she didn't realize it was the same (Johara confirmed for me that it was the same song though so it wasn't just my imagination). I think I've got that big masmoudi intro permanently embedded in my psyche from working on it so much.
All in all, it was an inspirational day that will stick with me for a long time. I don't feel like I lost out at all by not going to Fifi Abdo in Dallas this weekend--well, I do a bit, but I'm sure it was a mob scene and that probably I got better instruction in similar things from an experienced teacher in Faten Salama.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-20 11:26 pm (UTC)I think the entire group of people who were unsure of movement vocabulary were on my side of the room. I kept getting bumped into, although it might just be that I take up too much room.
Sadly, I don't remember who was on after you, but if she danced to the same song, it was unrocgnizable. You looked lovely and, I'll agree, serene :-). I've told you that's my favorite bedlah on you.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 04:21 pm (UTC)I got seriously annoyed at the dancers who persisted in hogging the front row when Faten kept switching the rows. They made movements as if they were going to the back, but showed right back up at the front again. Maybe they don't realize that if you show up in a plum unitard, with plum pants over it with giant coins on your ass, you might stick in someone's memory?