Thread: Question about snake arms

Are snake arms mostly a Western thing, or do dancers from the Middle East do them to? I don't recall seeing them on videos Ive watched of dancers like Fifi Abdu or Dina. I did see a very brief arm ripple in a Samia Gamal clip where she was bending over Farid but aside from that I dont think I remember seeing any Egyptian dancers doing them. Or do I just need to watch different dancers?

Shareen el Safy taught an arm undulation where your hands basically don't move, and the motion comes from the rolling of the shoulder and the slight lift in the elbow. She said this was the Egyptian way of doing "snake arms." This statement is consistent with what I've seen of Egyptian dance from the 80s-90s and with what little I've seen of Dina and Leila and Randa.

Originally Posted by aziyade

Shareen el Safy taught an arm undulation where your hands basically don't move, and the motion comes from the rolling of the shoulder and the slight lift in the elbow. She said this was the Egyptian way of doing "snake arms." This statement is consistent with what I've seen of Egyptian dance from the 80s-90s and with what little I've seen of Dina and Leila and Randa.

I haven't seen Shareen el Safy teach snake arms, but the words you used to describe it sound like what Samia Gamal does in that clip with Farid.

Are there any dancers from the Middle East who do a lot of snake-arm stuff? I just wonder cos it seems every beginner instructional video I've ever seen teaches them, but I just don't see dancers from the Middle East using them on my videos.

Is it more that snake arms are a way of movng arms to music briefly, more like transition move than a Western full on move?

I have not seen ME dancers do snake arms without a shoulder roll - ie the ultra-isolated multi-armed Hindu god style - or do more than a couple at a time. It tends to be part of a transition - usually with a weight change ie weight right through the foot, resisting with leg, hip shift as weight transfers, rib shift as shoulder rolls and arm extends with an undulation then repeat on the other side - and maybe once more.

Egyptian dancers do them small and with their arms in a very relaxed position (like they are hugging a giant beach ball), the movement comes from the shoulder, and the elbows and wrists do not move much over a couple inches up or down as the movement ripples down the arm.

The larger versions can be helpful in building arm coordination, but I always tell my students that giant "snake arms" are not traditional.

As an aside, I really hate the term "snake arms" and don't use it except to mention what they may hear others call it. It just sounds so hokey and orientalist.

sounds so hokey and orientalist

I agree..camels? That one too! It just takes so long to say full body undulation - top to bottom.

Some of the really old and rather silly Turkish dance compilations feature the dancers doing what I'd have to call "snake arms" but the Egyptians I've seen would do more what I would call an "arm undulation" -- which is what the other posters describe.

I'm not sure it's like a "transition" move -- but it's my observation that the Egyptians don't complete "isolate" body parts like Americans have done. So when they actually dance, the whole body responds to whatever part they're focusing on at that moment. That includes the shoulders, and especially if the movement is a traveling movement, or if the energy seems to "hang" in the air for a moment, the arms will respond as well. (That probably made no sense.)

I think Americans do "snake arms" as a deliberate movement, as not as a movement that flows with the rest of the body's movements. That sound right, ya'll? :)

That's what I meant