What is involved in a Middle Eastern Dance?
Shows are between 45 minutes to one hour long. (However famous dancers commanding huge fees may dance for two to three hours). For the one hour show there would normally be a change of costume half way through the routine, the dancer usually having to be changed in the time it takes to play one song. (I rarely managed it).
Speaking for myself, I generally started my routine with a piece of instrumental music lasting about 10 minutes. (Ma'sha'eel was one of my favourites). These intro songs are great for the dancer to give a brief illustration of all her moves as the rhythms and tempos change continuously throughout, and it is for this reason that I would recommend choreography so as to always interpret all the many changes taking place. However it is perfectly acceptable to begin your routine with a favourite song.
After performing three or four more songs (perhaps a selection of very up date songs as well as one or two from 60's and 70's) the dancer would leave the stage to get changed into her next outfit.
The dancer then reappears on stage wearing a straight dress known as a baladi dress or saiidi dress. When dancing in the Gulf, a Khaleegi dress was put on top of the saiidi dress and the dancer would make her entrance performing a Khaleegi dance.
It was compulsory in the Gulf states to perform a Khaleegi dance.Without going into too much detail this is the national dance of the gulf states which is very different from Egyptian (belly dancing). I personally love khaleegy dancing and was delighted to perform this part of the routine. I still always perform it in non Gulf countries as everyone seems to like it.
After performing one or two Khaleegi numbers the dancer would simply remove the khaleegi dress on stage. As the Khaleegi dress is like a kaftan the dancer simply slips out of it to reveal her beautiful Saiidi dress and is ready for the stick dance.
Saiidi Dance (Stick dancing) is Egyptian in origin although the Lebanese love to perform and see this dance performed as well. Although strictly speaking saiidi is of course Egyptian, the Lebanese had their version of Saiidi which we referred to as Lebanese Saiidi. Apart from the Egyptian saiidi music, I often danced to "Lebanese saiidi" as well. Although forbidden in the Gulf, it is usual and acceptable when performing the saiidi to move in between the tables of the customers during this routine. In Gulf countries there were generally two CID police men in the audience making sure the dancer did not stray towards the tables or the audience stray towards the dancer. If either one did it would mean instant removal from the restaurant/night club for both parties.
After completing the saiidi numbers I would then dance to one or two more songs (usually by Oom Kharsoom, more about that later) and then would be ready for the piece de resistance of the dancer's performance - THE DREADED TABLA SOLO.
I say dreaded because after having danced for almost one hour you are expected to save the best 'till last, Tabla solo requiring a great deal of stamina, expertise and experience.
After completing the solo I (the dancer) would thenbe escorted back to her room by one of the staff of the hotel for a well earned rest.
"Oom Kharsoom" - one of Egypt's greatest and most inspirational and best loved singers of all time. So much so that no show was complete without an Oom Kharsoom song - it simply wouldn't do not to have one.
This is where the problems of not being Egyptian arose. Oom Kharsoom sang highly emotive love songs and political songs and naturally it was the lyrics of those songs which the audience related to on a very deep level. We're talking huge depth of feeling and emotions here. How could I dance with feeling and emotion when I did not know what she was saying. Dancing to Oom Kharsoom then became the hardest part of my routine as I simply could not give these songs the respect of feeling which they deserved. The audience expected it and the audience can tell when you don't have it.
The lyrics of contemporary love songs are not really important when those same lyrics have been sung a million times in every country in the world. Fortunately for a non speaking Arabic dancer it is the music which counts and needs no translation.
One of the best ever songs to dance to with the silliest of all lyrics is an old Egyptian song called "Wastika Manga" It mattered not about the silly lyrics only the great rhythm of the music. I still love dancing to this song now. (Just try to ignore the lyrics)
Anyway back to Oom Kharsoom. Her lyrics were certainly not silly and without being able to relate to them I could not dance from the heart. Musicians kindly translated several of her songs for me but I still felt like an impostor as I was only pretending to dance from the heart. When not speaking the language only the music can inspire me to dance from the heart so I did find this part very difficult. Years later, and I now thoroughly enjoy dancing to Oom Kharsoom songs and I believe when you are so attuned to what you are doing, you can show the emotion and debth of feeling in your dance even if you do not understand the lyrics. It is like meditation, you are totally focused, your mind is on what you are doing, you become so involved that you fully understand the music, it takes you there as it is meant to, as it was designed to. It takes time to get to that place... dont ever give up, it's worth the journey. See contemporary Arabic/Turkish music link "what have they done to Oom Kharsoom".