Thread: saidi dress and beledi dress, what's the difference?

it seems like these two terms are interchangable, but maybe i'm not seeing a crucial difference...

Both are blanket terms, although Saidi, to me, is a little more specific. Beledi can be anything from a form fitting, uber blinged out Cab. dress to a galabaya with a hip scarf. Saidi leans more towards the galabaya end.So those terms in and of themselves are misleading.

Yes, I know, I just added to the confusion. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

not confusing, what you said sorta makes sense. its seems 'saidi dress' is used for a more specific style than beledi. beledi's can be flared, like a trumpet skirt. saidi dresses USUALLY have a straight skirt with side slits, and sleeves of some kind. is that right?

I think of this as a typical Saidi dress.

And this as one end of a beledi dress. So, yes, your assessment is pretty much on.

{{{HUGS}}}

That's pretty much my understanding, too. The two styles have a lot of overlap. A folkloric dress, galabeya, or caftan could be either. A modern, form-fitting, stylized long dress out of Lycra could be either. An elegant evening gown or "naked dress" is sometimes called a "beledi dress," but rarely a "Saidi dress," although once in a great while you will see this style with the long, flapped, Ghawazee sleeves, and you might be able to call that dress either name. Sometimes you will hear a particular type of stylized folkloric dress with bell sleeves and crescent embellishments called a "Hagallah dress," but this also gets called "beledi dress" and "Saidi dress," too. Pretty much the only distinction that people reliably make is that the costumes that look like Western evening gowns don't usually get called "Saidi" or "Hagallah."

this reminds me of those logic writings we did in highschool, with premises and conclusions ..l;,

Hi!

Balady is the main name and saidi is a part of balady. It belongs to it like shamadan, eg.
Dancers wear dresses, not cabaret costumes, when they dance balady - as for saidi, too, then.
Those dresses can vary a lot nowadays: From Samia-Gamal-style over Fifi-Abdou-style dresses to blingy lycra-dresses with mesh.
When someone just wants to show a "classical" raqs al assaya, dresses might often be like the ones, Tahia Carioca or Samia Gamal liked wearing.

I`m on Holidays, now but when I get home, I will post pics of those dancers in the sort of dress I mean.

Love, Sahira.

the galbeya is for men's style beledi, which is danced with a cane and so it's confusing. i'd think it could also be used to do tateeb, but im not sure about the "rules" on girls doing tateeb.

"saidii is beledi, the beledi of the said, but not all beledi is saidii"(from Ranya's DVD) since beledi is the dance of everyday people presented on stage, without the ballet influence, it's whatever sparkly version of "everyday people's cloths" would be. you could probably wear jeans and do a beledi but it seems to be a sassed up version of older garb.
saidii is the same deal, but i think it's usually more of a folkloric presentation.

Originally Posted by raqFariha

"saidii is beledi, the beledi of the said, but not all beledi is saidii"

lol i had to read that like 3 times before i got it! but yeah, i think i understand know why people are using those terms somewhat interchangeably.

double post. sorry

Originally Posted by emtink

lol i had to read that like 3 times before i got it! but yeah, i think i understand know why people are using those terms somewhat interchangeably.

hahah, if i'd punctuated it correctly it probably would have been easier. sorry ^_^
"saidii is beledi (the beledi of the said): but not all beledi is saidii" it's like the square is a rectangle thing. (one of the only things i understood during math class ^_~)

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

I think of this as a typical Saidi dress.

And this as one end of a beledi dress. So, yes, your assessment is pretty much on.

{{{HUGS}}}

I have both of those particular costumes in differnt colours and I call the first a gelabeya and use it mostly for folkloric including Saidi and I call the latter a Cabaret dress, used for Raqs Sharki which might include beledi.

Originally Posted by lizajuk

I call the latter a Cabaret dress, used for Raqs Sharki which might include beledi.

hm, i have the same reaction. and i think its because uber-bling looks wrong for beledi, like its too fancy.

Hi again!

Here is a pic of Samia Gamal wearing the mentioned dress.
It's from a film with famous actor Farid el Atrashe. As you can see, it's a scene with tahtib (they use the canes that are not bent at the end and are mostly made of bamboo, today):



Love, Sahira.

Originally Posted by lizajuk

I have both of those particular costumes in differnt colours and I call the first a gelabeya and use it mostly for folkloric including Saidi and I call the latter a Cabaret dress, used for Raqs Sharki which might include beledi.

yheah, just because the belly is covered doesn't make it beledi. if you're dancing it as part of a cabaret show you can wear whatever you're already in. imo if you're doing a single song presentation for a cultural festival it would be better to go more folkey.

i thought this was a galabeya? i thought it was a men's garment that professional dancers can wear even if they're girls? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hd7_zmimJM&feature=related]YouTube - ‪Fifi Abdou - Belly Dance‬‎[/ame]

Originally Posted by raqFariha

i thought this was a galabeya? i thought it was a men's garment that professional dancers can wear even if they're girls?

Actually, I think Fifi's may be more of dishdasha than a galabeya, but the terms seem to be kind of sloppy and dependent on the region. If you look at Islamic clothing vendors, sometimes women's dresses are "galabeya" and other times they are "jilbab," and men's are "thobe" or "galabeya." This vendor Islamic Clothing Glossary uses this definition:

"Q: Jilbab
A: The usage of the term Jilbab or Jilbaab or Jelbab refers to any long and loose-fit coat or garment worn by some Muslim women. They believe that this definition of jilbab fulfills the Quranic demand for a Hijaab. In Egypt the jilbab is known as Galabeya and worn by men and women. The Galabeya is similar to the Abaya, more decorative tunic that would be worn for home and festive occasions."

From Wikipedia:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thawb]Thawb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame], [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galabeya]Jellabiya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


I think the important thing about Fifi's outfit is that not only does it have a very folkloric quality to it, but it's also channeling this vibe--a woman's theatrical costume that turns a man's clothing into something provocative.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

And this as one end of a beledi dress. So, yes, your assessment is pretty much on.

I wouldn't call this one a baladi dress at all. I would call it an evening gown style of dress.

To me, in order for a dress to be considered a baladi dress, it would need to look folkloric, even if it has some paillettes or sequins to bling it up a bit.

For what it's worth, Egyptian costume makers refer to a folkloric-looking dress as a gallabiya, and they refer to the evening gown style of dresses as bedleh. Ie, to them the evening gowns are just as bedleh-ish as a bra/belt/skirt set.

I do agree, though, that a Saidi dress would be a subset of what we call a baladi dress.

Examples of baladi dresses, to my way of thinking, would include:

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