Aziza Sa'id's FAQ - Dance Styles

Miramar: This dance comes from Saudi Arabia. It is sometimes called a hair dance because the hair is worn long and loose and is swung from side to side and tossed in circles and figure 8's. The emphasis in movement is in the delicate footwork and in the upper body.

Sherezzah Bint al-Waha: This dance comes from the Persian Gulf region (not Saiidi, which is Egyptian). Khaleegy is the Arabic term for the Gulf. If you can ever get to a class taught by Kay Hardy Campbell, do it--she specializes in this style (having lived in Saudi Arabia for many years). Also Cassandra and Jihan Jamal. We perform this in a freestyle way every year at Oasis Dance Camp, so you could probably pick it up there if you wanted to come. I've seen Zarifa Sa'id's troupe in Gainesville, FL performing it. Oh, also there's quite a few pictures of this style at the Oasis Dance Camp web site, (check out the Henna Party links).

Leyla Lanty: Keep in mind that khalige refers to all of the gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, and geographically Iran. Consequently khalige (also spelled khaliji, khaligi, etc.) costume is really a large number of costumes.

Meisssoun: The dance comes from the Arabic gulf region, the khaleej. It is therefore often called khaleeji. But there is not just this dance in the region. The locals in the Emirates call it raks na'ashat to distinguish the women's dance from the various men's dances. In Kuwait it's also called Samra/Samri. They also dance it in Saudi Arabia, that's why some people call it Saudi too. But as far as I understand, it is "imported" there. There a variety of dance forms in the Khaleej - most of them performed by men (some with a variety of weapons). It's much more than a "hair dance". There is a basic "limping" step and variations on moving the thobe (dress) and the hands. One thing I noticed is that many dancers, especially those with short hair, move their heads too much, which can hurt your neck. Imagine having thick, heavy, long hair down to your hips. This will give you the right move. I like this dance, it's not too difficult and lots of fun, especially when you are a big group - it's not solo dance anyway. Recently I held a workshop for raks na'ashat where I put the emphasis on the "party" feeling - I've never seen a workshop with so many smiling faces!

What you can see in the clubs: I guess most of the girls present in a disco are not locals, they copy what they see from others - so when the DJ plays a Khaleeji song, the men AND the women dance the men's style...! And only a few times did I see a woman tossing her hair.

Sherezzah Bint al-Waha: The costume is the large thobe (thobe nashal)... which, interestingly, isn't worn for anything except this dance. Here in the South Florida area, the best place to get these dresses is from Jewel of India Imports, who the last I knew had an email of jewelind@gate.net.

Miramar: the thobe is the correct costume to wear. I think it looks best over an evening dress (short or long). This is what the women in Saudi do - they go to their parties (women's parties) and carry their thobes with them - put them on over their dresses and dance.

Aziza: The thobe al nassar is the costume you wear when performing it.

Kashmir: I also have a pattern for making a thobe on http://www.raqs.co.nz/ in the "How to" section.

Leyla Lanty: Keep in mind that khalige refers to all of the gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the emirates, Yemen, Iraq, and geographically Iran. Consequently khalige (also spelled khaliji, khaligi, etc.) costume is really a large number of costumes

Sherezzah Bint al-Waha: There's a particular rhythm, commonly called Saudi or Khaleegy, used for this dance. (It's not the ONLY rhythm used, but it's common.) For specific tunes, you could try almost anything by Mohammed Abdu--he's a popular Gulf performer. One song people often do Khaleegy to (here in the US anyway) is popularly called "Leyla Leyla" but I think the real name is "Aba'ad". There's a nice version I like on one of Basil Mobayyed's CDs -- #2, I think.

Farhana Masri: My favorite music for this dance is Wah Wah..a good version of this is on the Raks Beledi CD from Berlin, Germany, I believe. I do believe Setrak Sarkissian has a version of leyla, the gulf dance music on one of his releases. Some really beautiful gulf music is on the Adam Basma cd also.

Shanna King: I have a video of Egypt Nights with Fifi dancing to it. The song in question is Aba'ad by Mohammed Abdo. Commonly known as "Leyla Leyla".

Shira: According to the liner notes of a cassette tape by Ya Salaam, the composer was a Kuwaiti named Yousif Mehana. A Khaleegy (Gulf) vocalist named Mohammed Abdou recorded a 20-minute version of it, which I believe is the version that originally became popular. Pop by the "Lyrics" menu of my web site at http://www.shira.net/lyrics.htm and look for "Aba'ad" under the category for Arabic songs. I've got the full translation there, thanks to fellow med-dance list member Tahseen Alkoudsi.

Niran Al-Ubaidi: Yes, Mohammed Abdu is a popular Saudi artist. But there are literally thousands of artists from the Arabian Gulf Area, so there is no reason to limit yourself to his music. As the host of "The Voice of Arabia", one of the country's only Arabic radio programs, it is my job to be an "expert" in Arabic music. I have access to all the music of the 22 countries of the Arab World. If you would like more information about music from the Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudia Arabia, UAE, etc.) or you want to chat about Arabic music in general, you can contact me. Also, the men's and women's dance styles of the Arabian Gulf Area are some of my hard-to-find specialties. I recently taught a seminar on this topic in Chicago, and included in my class notes a very comprehensive list of Gulf artists. http://www.lionofbablyon.com

Sherezzah Bint al-Waha: As for videos, I believe Saut Wa Soora has one of more videos focusing on Gulf dances... and Horacio and Beata did a very cool one with their troupe in one of their earlier videos (I'm not sure which offhand, but probably among 1-3, so not available now unless it's in their "Best of...") Other than that, some of the show videos might have it... for example, I think it might be on one or more of Zarifa's show videos.

Miramar: Eva Cernik has a nice performance on one of her videos.

Aziza: Contact Auntie Rocky. She's choreographed a great Saudi dance which I learned during her weeklong a few years ago (I wish I was going this summer!) and it is on video.

Kashmir: Amera of Sydney has a teaching video which has Khaleegy on it plus a clip of her performing in the Dubai (I think). Amera danced "over there" for many years.

Shanna King: I have a video of Egypt Nights with Fifi dancing to Aba'ad.