Topic: Feet
Watch this video clip of the famous Egyptian Oriental dancer Mona al Said. Pay close attention to her foot work. Look how delicately she places her feet and how she points her toes. Watch for the patterns of footwork we covered in class, a simple walk, step-together-step forward and backwards, step touch and the sharqi step. Look for other patterns we didn’t discuss in class, identify them and try them out at home.
Watch this video clip of the famous Egyptian Folkloric dancers Farida Fahmy, Mahmoud Reda and the Reda troupe. Notice how their foot work differs from Mona al Said’s foot work and notice where it is similar. Watch for the patterns of footwork we covered in class, pas de bourree, step touch. Look for other patterns we didn’t discuss in class, try one out.
This is a clip from an old movie and the dance they are doing is a very theatricalized version of what I’m guessing is a fallahi dance or farmer’s dance (fallahi = farmer). The women are wearing tulle bi telle (net with hammered metal designs) dresses which are often called assuit dresses (here is a photo of Samia Gamal in an Assuit dress in a movie with Farid el Atrache), called after the region famous for making this kind of material, Assuit, Egypt.