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Dance like the big stars
During the past years I have started to analyse
the dance styles of the big star dancers in the Middle East and
to offer my knowledge about the subject in workshops that are quite
popular. Recently I have been asked to tell about my motivation
and philosophy for these classes, so I this is what I would like
to do in the following article.
What can we learn from the stars?
We always learn a certain dance style through imitation.
Even if we dance"
freestyle" in a club, we are unconsciously or consciously
influenced by what we see our friends dancing stars on MTV doing.
Our first inspirations for Oriental dance are usually our techers who show and
explain the movements – which is a big advantage of course, because that
way we can ask them if we don’t understand something or they can correct
us to improve our movements.
When studying the star dancers we mostly depend
on videos because even the dancers in Egypt or Lebanon who are
still active only come to the West rarely to teach. We copy their
dance moves from what we see on the screen.
It takes some experience to properly analyze the
execution of a movement, where in the body it is starting etc.
And camera angles are not always useful – in fact it’s
often quite frustrating if the camera is on the dancer’
s face while she is doing a hip shimmy... There’s also a
certain danger that one might copy bad habits (many dancers are
very one-sided) or mannersisms that will look rather strange on
one-self.
Basically the intention is not to become an exact
copy of a certain dancer but to extend one’s own repertoire.
How to analyze
For me the most important thing to get the style
of a dancer are the arm and hand movements. Because through these
we express our personality. One can recognize most dancers even
on bad photos by the way they hold their arms.
After this I study its use of hip and torso movements, steps and turns, use of
stage space, how she dances accents rsp. taqsims, facial expression, which accessoires
she uses and how, and everything else that belongs to a dance performance. This
is of course quite time consuming; I often watch the same few minutes of dance
a dozens times in order to analyze certain moves and cominations.
It is also very useful to know the social background
of a dancer. What kind of family is she from, how does she live,
what is her artistic vision, etc....
Instruction
For classes I arrange a varied selection of
typical movements of the respective dancer. Then I drill
them with the students, so that their bodies get accustomed
with the new movements. Sometimes I also teach a choreography,
that way the movements are automatically repeated many times.
Usually one notices quite soon after some
practice, which movements of a certain dancer are appropriate
for oneself – and will then incorporate them in the
own repertoire - while others will not fit that well and
therefore will be avoided
Past workshops:
- Technique of Amani, Nagwa Fuad, Suheir Zaki - ZeoT, Zurich/Studio
Isis, Berne
- Choreography Naima Akef, "Tamra Henna" - ZeoT,
Zurich
- Technique of Nagwa Fuad - Fantasia Festival, London
- Choreography Asena, "Wardah" - Studio Nadia
Tzimos, Graz
- Technique of Amani - Studio Samar, Munich
- Technique of Nagwa Fuad + choreography Dina, "Tahtill
Shibbak" - Ciçek Pasaj, Montréal
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MEISSOUN in the style of Amani
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Star styles on stage
From time to time I present dance numbers on
stage that are held completely in the style of a certain
dancers – along with music and costuming.This is always
a special challenge for me and preparations include that
I will watch this dancer’s videos again for hours to
get into their mood. It certainly helps that I have a talent
for acting that I can use for those dances.
These dance numbers are always choreographed,
because if I would improvise, would be automatically „myself“ again.
Sometimes I combine the movements from the repertoire of
the respective dancer freely, sometimes I follow well-known
interpretations of the music by the dancer herself, e.g.
Tamra Henna, that was performed by Naima Akef in the film
of the same name, or Tahtill Shibbak, one of the favourite
songs of Dina, that she uses in nearly all of her shows.
Past appearances
- Suheir Zaki, "Ya Amarti" - Expedition 02, ZeoT,
Zurich
- Amani, "Amani Al Hobb" - Bazar Oriental, Berlin/Studiofest
Samar, Munich
- Dina, "Tahtill Shibbak" - Show Ciçek
Pasaj, Montréal
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MEISSOUN in the style of Dina |
What is typical for which dancer?
- Dina – a lot of tension in the whole body as
well as in arms and legs, many movements led by the torso
muscles, interesting accents, a lot of expression
- Amani - travelling turns, soft flowing arms, a lot of
dynamic, high heel shoes
- Suheir Zaki - turns led by the shoulder, many arm positions
in the right angle, the "Suheir Zaki Step" of
course : -)
- Asena - elegant walk, reserved attitude, wide Arm movements
More to follow |
MEISSOUN in the style of Suheir Zaki |
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