Thread: Graceful veil/melaya retrieval

OK, now here's a quandary. The way I was taught to retrieve a discarded veil goes thus:

Walk behind the veil. Place one foot in front of the other, drop to the floor with a straight back (and possibly a shoulder shimmy), grab the veil, stand back up again, preferably without too much pitching forward and back.

Well, I can do that. But a new melaya piece I've been learning, which has picking it up off the floor thusly as a feature, has revealed something horrific to me.

I cannot do this without bending forward and thereby showing ungraceful cleavage.

Seriously. I go down. I am *sitting on my back foot*. I reach down with my front arm and *I cannot reach the veil/melaya* without bending forward. It's physiologically impossible!

Any ideas for alternative graceful, non-bosomy options, for the future? Backbends are out, I can't do them.

From what I've learnt, melaya is 'innocently' provocative in any case and not so 'professional' and 'stylised' as a regular performance...so a bit of boobage may not necessarily be a bad thing? I'm not talking about full frontal down the dress but perhaps if you were to delicately place your hand at the base of your throat as you bent forwards/down?

I remember also seeing Beata Cifuentes and her troupe of girls dancing to sukar bulag...they came out with melaya on then dropped them and went into a dance at the front of the stage then towards the end of the music they went back to their melayas and just bent down and picked them up and slung then over their shoulders and walked off....butts not directly -to- the audience but kind of on the diagonal...(I'd need to have another look at the video t obe 100%). It fitted the 'feel' of the melaya.

Yeah, with melaya it's not so out of place, but in bedleh, with a veil? Trashay. I suppose I could go more sideways?

Turning your bunny dip sideways to the audience works well. You could also reach out with your toes, grab the veil, give it a toss, and catch it in the air...

Retrieving a milaya is very different from retrieving a veil, because of the character of the dance. The beledi women who are the inspiration for this prop dance are strong and a bit in-your-face. Think of Dina's tongue-in-cheek naughtiness when she does her big hip circles....

So you can walk behind the milaya, face the audience, stick your butt out, cover your cleavage with one hand, and pick up the milaya. Just channel Dina for the expression and you'll be fine. ;-)

Fifi showed us something similar in Dallas. She deliberately dropped the cane on the floor in front of her, then took her time about picking it up, sticking her butt out and being sweetly naughty. Everyone loved it! I know Damiena has incorporated this into some restaurant shows.

So channel that bint al-beled character of the milaya dance and be a little naughty!

You can probably tell from my Bhuz name that this particular dance persona is near & dear to my heart. If you want to read more about the beledi character, to incorporate it into your milaya dance, I recommend Early's "Beledi Women of Cairo." The best book on the subject is by Messiri and is out of print ..cr.: but Early quotes her quite a bit.

I was taught to NEVER bend at the waist to pick up a veil, let alone do shoulder shimmies while I'm bent over. My teacher would have marched out and pulled me away by my ear..p::
As far as picking up your veil for melaya there are several ways. You don't always have to bend over at the waist. Bend at the knee and do hip bumps while your "squatting" obviously with your legs pointed diagnoally from the audience and keep your back straight while doing shoulder shimmies than POP up with the music once your veil is in hand or do the same and instead of hip bumps you could do small mayas with chest work. ..g.: still keeping to the character as Liza put it.

Hope these are helpful

Michelle

One of my earliest teachers, Aida al Adawi, taught us to drop the veil when finished dancing with it very close to where we were going to exit the dance floor/stage. When leaving, get a little behind it (if possible), squat or bend at the hips, pick it up quickly and leave. If you want to use it during your finale, pick it up quickly with your booty either directly "aimed" away from the audience or off to the side then dance with it and leave. Makes for a graceful veil retrieval and exit. However, I do like the idea of the hand over the cleavage with a "What are YOU looking at?" facial expression. ..g.:

I agree with bintbeled. Since you can't avoid it, confront it head on and make it a part of the piece. Looking down at the melaya, go down to get it, cover cleavage, look up at audience demurely then back to melaya, pick it up and go. This is a saucy dance, and I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging you have breasts, that everyone else knows you have them, but that they are not coming out to play!

Originally Posted by leylalanty

However, I do like the idea of the hand over the cleavage with a "What are YOU looking at?" facial expression. ..g.:

I do too and would go one step further, covering the cleavage on the way down and then doing a cheeky wagging index finger "no no" on the way up with a big wink! ..g.:

~~Kimahri

I think BintBeled had a great idea - totally in character.

But to be a pain - picking a meleya off the floor???? Th eonly time I know where a meleya would be thrown on the ground would be as a challenge - warning cat fight about to start!

Originally Posted by kashmir

I think BintBeled had a great idea - totally in character.

But to be a pain - picking a meleya off the floor???? Th eonly time I know where a meleya would be thrown on the ground would be as a challenge - warning cat fight about to start!

Zahra Zuhair taught a milaya dance years ago, which I *think* was adapted from one of Raqia's choreographies. It involved the usual milaya tricks and wraps, then the milaya is discarded. And as part of the dance, the dancer makes a big deal about picking it up, shaking it out, then re-wrapping herself. But I love the idea of a cat-fight!! I might put that in the milaya trio dance I'm choreographing for my troupe! ..l;,

Latifa

I can remember Nadia Hamdi saying you don't let go of the Melaya, you keep it with you, on your person the whole time.

Originally Posted by beafarhana

I can remember Nadia Hamdi saying you don't let go of the Melaya, you keep it with you, on your person the whole time.

And Nadia would know. Her milaya dances *really* capture the beledi character. I'm a big fan!

Yes, well, it's someone else's choreo so I have no option but to retrieve in this instance. Or, to retreive in this manner. It's not thrown, it's discarded and picked back up again.

There are some cool ideas here, thanks! I just want to clarify, though, that I am not "bending over at the waist". I am dealing with a specific conformation issue.

Squat down so you're sitting on your heel. Can you touch the floor with your hand with a straight back? Well, aren't you lucky. I can't. My hand hovers about half an inch above the floor. I *have* to tilt my body a little to grasp anything on the floor. It is physically impossible for me to lengthen my arms and I don't wear my nails that long.

Zumarrad, is it possible for you to go down and sit on the other foot? I can do this straight backed with my right foot in front but not my left foot.

*tries* Nope, it's even worse on the other foot!

It's such a *tiny* thing, but it's really annoying me!

Chopsticks?

It is physically impossible for me to lengthen my arms and I don't wear my nails that long.

OMG, I had tears in my eyes from laughing at this. I could just imagine your nails being 6 inches longer to retireve the veil. Can anyone say Elvira. ..l;,

*edit*
WHY, didn't we think of this before? You need a melaya boy, like Mark B. was Fifi's shisha boy. That's the answer to your problems:}

Chopsticks?

BRILLIANT! If only I hadn't cut my hair. I used to put chopsticks in it all the time - I could have whipped them out during the dance.

Perhaps Thai fingers? Mmm - fusion.

It's easy. Simply do the splits!

learn how to flick it up with your toes (kicking your foot behind you) and catch it with your hand. people think it's cool. maybe not with melaya in heels, but it works for veil if you have bare feet.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

BRILLIANT! If only I hadn't cut my hair. I used to put chopsticks in it all the time - I could have whipped them out during the dance.

Perhaps Thai fingers? Mmm - fusion.

ya know, i don't get thai fingers. it's used in a traditional dance of thailand, and i have never ever seen anyone actually do any traditional thai dance in their fusion with thai fingers. i always see belly dance with fancy silver fingernails. i don't get it, really, someone please enlighten me as to why this has become so popular?

I have no idea why people got into using them, but I suspect it's just because they think they look coooool. I don't like them, myself.

If you were to drop your melaya leff on the floor, I would pick it up according to the same technique that you learned when picking up a veil. I would walk behind the veil or right next to do. You don't want to stand in front of the veil because you don't want to give the audience your back. I would do almost a deep plei/curtsy position when bending down to pick it up. You don't want to look like a squat that's why you want to cross your legs as you plei. And just gracefully and delicately pick up it with the hand closest to the veil. You can do gentle shoulder shimmies if you are very bosom-y and don't want to attract too much attention to your cleavage. You can also make some kind of hand/face gesture. Say for example, you pick up the veil with your left hand, you can put your right hand on your right check and nod your head in disdain like "woe is me, what have I done," play it off like a comedy routine. A meleya leff is a really big, heavy and cumbersome veil have you thought about how you will get it back into position so as to not look awkward or look like you are fumbling with your veil?

Originally Posted by ChristinaRizkallah

A meleya leff is a really big, heavy and cumbersome veil have you thought about how you will get it back into position so as to not look awkward or look like you are fumbling with your veil?

The whole point is a meleya leff is not a veil - and wrapping it and unwrapping it on the fly is a big part of the performance ..g.:

I did a routine with Aida Noor, where you had the malaya like a jacket - you opened it, let go so it landed on the floor, then the bend over and whipped it through your legs (it was still touching the floor) to pick it up. I think my head was in the way of my cleavage when I bent over.

BWAH!

Someone, somewhere, is seeing this and sniffing "oh how unclassy. How awful that these belly bunnies are desecrating our sacred dance form instead of studying with Egyptian teachers who can truly pass on the noble art."

I know, I know!

You could take a running leap from across the stage, as if you're going to do Fifi splits, but instead slide in (um, it's a baseball thing) so you're lying down & can grab the veil.

Then have someone close the curtain.

I understand that the meleya is not like a veil, that is true. The meleya leff is heavier and more cumbersome. But its still possible to apply the same veil pick up techniques to the meleya. It can be wrapped and unwrapped several times as part of the performance.

Originally Posted by kashmir

The whole point is a meleya leff is not a veil - and wrapping it and unwrapping it on the fly is a big part of the performance ..g.:

veil: I don't bend from the *waist* to pick up my veil, but I do bend/bow forward from the *hips* to pick it up: at a half or 1/4 angle to the audience, I'll extend one foot in front of me so my foot is near the veil, and keep that leg straight. the other knee bends as I go down, keeping my back super straight and pushing my popo out behind me. if I'm not stretched out, I will have to bend my straight leg a little to reach the floor. I grab the veil, and as I come up from the bow, toss it high in the air up and behind me. then I either do another one-handed toss or two, or I trail it behind me as I dash off stage, or I take the toss into a spin and work the veil open with my other hand.

melaya: I just bend right over and grab it. :) usually at an 1/4 or 1/2 angle to the audience. I saw zahra perform the melaya choreo mentioned above, and when she bent over to grab it, she did it backside full on to the audience and shook it out like a dusty rug. it was HIlarious!