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During the last few 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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