Thread: Teaching Tips for Cane

The other day, I taught cane for the first time. It was a very humbling experience for me, to say the least. I feel very solid in my cane technique. I am most definitely not a master, but I have a good grasp of the basics, and have performed it enough to feel good about showing people those basics. In theory. But in practice, I found that it was difficult to get students to grasp even the most basic concepts of handling the cane - some of them couldn't keep the cane from slipping between their fingers. Others couldn't get their wrist to turn in the correct direction. I felt like I did an OK job of showing and breaking down the correct technique, but I think I could do a lot better. So what are some tricks and ideas you guys use when teaching cane to absolute beginners?

Thanks!

- Leela

I recommend that you get the Raqs Assaya video from Sharif Productions www.egyptianacademy.com

It has great tips and tricks included.

Oh man, I just saw that you are in New York...instead of buying the DVD get in on a private with Nourhan or Yousry. You have one of the worlds best Saiidi dancers and technicians in your own hometown. I'm sure they would give you great guidance and tips. Just let them know that you'd like to work on technical break down of the Saiidi technique and how to develop student's ability on basic Saiidi technique.

I don't know how much Yousry is teaching in NYC these days, but yes, you're right, Nourhan is fantastic too. And my own teacher, Ranya, is a great Saidi dancer. I'm definitely planning on doing some privates with her for it. But I'm not sure I have time between now and the next class, so I thought I'd ask here, too.

David, when, oh when, are you coming to New York?!

- Leela

Originally Posted by david

I recommend that you get the Raqs Assaya video from Sharif Productions www.egyptianacademy.com

It has great tips and tricks included.

Oh man, I just saw that you are in New York...instead of buying the DVD get in on a private with Nourhan or Yousry. You have one of the worlds best Saiidi dancers and technicians in your own hometown. I'm sure they would give you great guidance and tips. Just let them know that you'd like to work on technical break down of the Saiidi technique and how to develop student's ability on basic Saiidi technique.

I 2nd this. Either one of them. Must get students to feel comfortable just holding and handling the cane (and warming up the hands/fingers) in the first place. The DVD contains a lot of valuable warm up and handling techniques before even twirling and whatnot.

i read the title and came on here to post exactly the same: get nourhans cane dvd. i found that some of the cane handling exercises on there are really excellent for students to get a better mastery over the thing...

i always compare it to football practice, they dont actually play football when they train, a lot of it is exercises learning to handle/master/contrall the football, ditto with the cane, dont concentrate just on the twirling , do a lot of holding, framing, tossing, flipping, anything that gets them used to the object, and hopefully fall in love with it

I'd also focus a lot on saidi steps - which can be done with or without the cane, but are essential for that saidi feel.

yes, that's exactly what we do as well. anadil (also on bhuz) teaches our beginnersclasses a one of taster "saidi" class every now and again, way before cane gets introduced. so that when it does, it's not all "new" anymore.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

I'd also focus a lot on saidi steps - which can be done with or without the cane, but are essential for that saidi feel.

Nourhan's cane DVD - oh, someone already said that!

The only real tip I have is to tell beginners NOT to hold the cane with the Grip Of Death - which is the natural thing to do when you first try...

do you put big rubber bands on the *hand holding* ends. that's solves slippages.

tinah

They weren't having slippage problems. One of them didn't understand that she had to keep it in the palm of her hand (as opposed to between her middle fingers half the time). But most of them got the "keep it firmly lodged in the webbing of your thumb" part. It was just the overall mechanics of it that were a little difficult at times, for some more than others.

It's funny, I've been told that I have great Saidi feeling, and that I do it really well. But teaching it, I kept feeling like, "Do I really have the right to be teaching this?!"

- Leela

How cool that you're teaching cane!

Things Faten emphasizes that make a difference:
- Very loose wrists, arms, and shoulders -- warm them up well.
- Elbows close to the body but not jammed into the waist.
- Cane parallel to the body, perpendicular to the floor for all vertical twirling. To achieve this when the cane is on the left side and the right arm is across the body, the right hand should extend past the left arm. (Does this make sense? I find that students are reluctant to really cross the right arm all the way over the body, so the right hand ends up in front of the left upper arm and the cane swings out on a diagonal instead of staying close.)
- Start twirling very slowly and time it: down on one, up on two. I've found that it's much easier to get them synchronized later and at speed if they learn to time it from the very beginning.
- Closed hand on the downward arc, open hand on the upward arc. I didn't learn this way originally -- my hand stayed pretty open most of the time -- but Faten emphasizes it and I think it makes sense. Closed hand on the way down for control, open hand on the way up to let it dry and cool a bit. Less sweaty, easier to hold.
- No death grip on the cane at any time.
- Very upright, open-chested posture. Don't let them slump or bend forward when striking the cane on the floor or doing hip circles -- they should be thinking "strong Saidi woman" at all times, sez Faten.

I'm sure there's more, but I hope that helps! Have fun.

Suz

Thanks, Zana! That helps a lot. Some of it is what I was trying to get across, but of course because it comes from Faten Salama, it's much more clearly stated.

I definitely tried to impress upon them the "strong Saidi woman". When I made them all smile with all teeth, and hold their chests proudly, they all improved instantly. Funny that.

So now we're "Sell your other stuff eligible"-level, officially? Hahahah!

- Leela

Oh, good! I'm glad it helps.

I should state for the record that most of this is me verbalizing what Faten demonstrates -- she would hate for anyone to think she talks that much in class, so I have to take the blame.

We have an ongoing back-and-forth about it, actually: she's all "less talking, more dancing!" and I'm all "but Faten, they need some talking!" and she's all "why? why do they need? OK, but not so much!" *impatient sigh* *fidgetfidgetfidget*

I love working with her.

Originally Posted by david

Oh man, I just saw that you are in New York...instead of buying the DVD get in on a private with Nourhan or Yousry. You have one of the worlds best Saiidi dancers and technicians in your own hometown. I'm sure they would give you great guidance and tips. Just let them know that you'd like to work on technical break down of the Saiidi technique and how to develop student's ability on basic Saiidi technique.

I'd pump for Yousry too. His cane technique is fantastic - and he is an exacting teacher.

Also - use a real cane - not a tiny twig. It is very hard to manipulate a small diameter cane. When learning perhaps lose the shiny foil which makes it slippery. Actually, I use a regular man's cane at all times including performance - although my cane performances tend to be very beledi. And I would not encourage the use of rubber bands on the end.

First of all, give yourself a break, it was the first time you taught it and the first time they learned it. Some things take time to learn. I teach cane quite a bit and I start very slow with the hand movements and will go around the room and stand next to anyone who is having trouble. Sounds to me like you are teaching basics so just stick to those and repeat it til they feel comfortable. Give it time!
Zana gave you a good list of things to teach as far as cane technique. Just want to add that closed hand for me is to bring my fingers in to help guide the cane on the swings. Other than that you need a lot of looseness in your hand and of course your wrist.
Good-luck!!

Perhaps you've already done this, but get the students to practice twirling on their own and go around the room correcting their technique individually. I've found some students are completely unaware of what they're doing when it comes to prop-use! It's like the prop has a life of it's own which they think they can't control. Sometimes they don't realise that they're not following your instructions, until you point it out.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I did - walked around, watched each one, tried to give pointers individually, had them twirl on a very slow count, then did a lot of non-twirling stuff - framing, playing. Demonstrated how many of the movements that can be done with a cane are the same as a lot of other movements we might do in other contexts, but with a different feeling. I think people had fun.

I was taught, and am teaching, that the elbow doesn't bend wildly while twirling. Now, I've seen clips of Fifi dancing with a cane, and bending her elbow, and of course it looks great, because she's Fifi. But still, I prefer to keep my elbow stable. A student asked me why, and I could only speculate. I suspect that it's because I was taught cane by a lot of Reda-influenced people, or people who were in the Reda Troupe, and that if you have a whole group of people dancing with canes, it wouldn't do to have lots of elbows flexing all over the place. It would look chaotic. You'd need them to be stable so that you have some visual unity on stage. Am I right about that? Edited to add, wait a minute - I'm not even sure that Reda cane numbers utilize the stable elbow...oh dear, I seem to have fallen down some sort of nerd rabbit hole of my own devising.

If one happens to be Fifi Abdo, one can bend whatever one pleases.

Another thing I had trouble helping them with, even though I understand it: keeping the cane from going out to the side. Oy. I really need to analyze my own mechanics here before I teach this again.

- Leela

I like to keep the arm tucked because it looks neat...but also, if you get the timing wrong moving the elbow in and out, you can whack yourself with the cane!

Re cane swinging out to the side - I find that usually happens if the student grips the cane too tight while swinging it back and up. The hand needs to be open in order for the cane to stay parallel.

(I can just imagine you standing there, twirling your cane and studying your arm. It's fun analysing yourself, isn't it?)

I am no expert to be sure! BUT when my performance group was working on cane, they had trouble with swinging. I made them all go in the hallways by the wall (didn't want to stay in the studio with mirrors:) I had them swing the canes with their side close to the wall. It really helped! If they did not keep their elbows in they hit the wall! They hd to swing the cane next to the wall.

Originally Posted by kashmir

Also - use a real cane - not a tiny twig. It is very hard to manipulate a small diameter cane. When learning perhaps lose the shiny foil which makes it slippery. Actually, I use a regular man's cane at all times including performance - although my cane performances tend to be very beledi. And I would not encourage the use of rubber bands on the end.

Yea, this is "one of those things" that work differently for different people. I prefer a pretty small diameter (mine's 5/8"), very light cane. I can twirl it like crazy! But Kashmir isn't the first from whom I've heard that small doesn't work for her. As always, YMMV!

I don't like rubber bands on the end either, although I *do* like a well taped grip area about 2 or 3 inches up from the (straight) end.

Oh, those twig things. What the hell are those? I brought in some extra dowels for people who don't have canes. I hate the twigs! They have to train their hands on the right size, or they'll never get it.

- Leela

Zana's points are all excellent.

RE: "Elbows close to the body but not jammed into the waist." - this is so important. I've noticed a tendency with students to develop tyrannosaurus arms when they start learning cane. I always have to tell them "air out your armpit!"

I also want to second what was said earlier about teaching sa'idi steps first. I think working with the cane while stepping comes much more naturally that way.

Originally Posted by Zana

How cool that you're teaching cane!

Things Faten emphasizes that make a difference:
- Very loose wrists, arms, and shoulders -- warm them up well.
- Elbows close to the body but not jammed into the waist.
- Cane parallel to the body, perpendicular to the floor for all vertical twirling. To achieve this when the cane is on the left side and the right arm is across the body, the right hand should extend past the left arm. (Does this make sense? I find that students are reluctant to really cross the right arm all the way over the body, so the right hand ends up in front of the left upper arm and the cane swings out on a diagonal instead of staying close.)
- Start twirling very slowly and time it: down on one, up on two. I've found that it's much easier to get them synchronized later and at speed if they learn to time it from the very beginning.
- Closed hand on the downward arc, open hand on the upward arc. I didn't learn this way originally -- my hand stayed pretty open most of the time -- but Faten emphasizes it and I think it makes sense. Closed hand on the way down for control, open hand on the way up to let it dry and cool a bit. Less sweaty, easier to hold.
- No death grip on the cane at any time.
- Very upright, open-chested posture. Don't let them slump or bend forward when striking the cane on the floor or doing hip circles -- they should be thinking "strong Saidi woman" at all times, sez Faten.

I'm sure there's more, but I hope that helps! Have fun.

Suz

The grip is one of the biggest problems (and take it from a lefty who has to dance with the can in her right hand for group numbers.) If you hold it to tight twirling is difficult. Too loose and it slips out of your hands. I second the idea that they should stand in a hallway and twirl the cane trying their hardest not to hit the wall.

Also emphasise that the cane is not a marching band baton, newbies tend to defer to what they know about stick props and baton is the first thing that comes to mind.

Also have them practice twirling while keeping saidi rhythm with their feet. Like zills, cane is a prop that is best learned while moving.

One thing that might help is telling them that they can let gravity and momentum do a lot of the work ... in a way, you don't exactly twirl the cane, but give it a nudge and let physics take it from there. The main reason people's canes are going out to the side rather than parallel to the body is probably that they're gripping too hard, and they may be gripping too hard because they feel that they really have to be actively twirling at all times, rather than just guiding the cane. (Does that make sense?) (This, by the way, is what I think the problem with trying to twirl the "twigs" is ... they're not big enough to build up the momentum of a serious cane.)

That, and maybe you can just emphasize that it's *okay* if you drop the cane in practice when you're starting out (or heck, even in a performance sometimes ..g.:). Another part of the death grip might be that people are afraid of dropping it and that being embarrassing. To me, honestly, the main problem I see with people learning cane is that they get in the way of themselves. It'll be hard for them if they expect it to be.

I haven't actually taught cane yet, so this is just my own personal philosophy, and I'm a congenital twirler -- so I don't know if or how all this translates to the classroom.

Nisreen, you are a born twirler, it's true. I was just thinking last night about that great Saidi piece you did a couple of years ago.

It really helps to hear peoples' explanations of why the cane goes out to the side - that was never a big problem for me, for some reason, so I never had to figure it out. My problem was lower-body - learning not to hop around like a little bunny, staying grounded.

I was very quick to tell them that canes will fly, and not to worry about it. And of course, to share my embarrassing cane stories, like the time I took Karim Nagi's tahtib class, and was the first one to snap my lightweight practice stick (that he had provided) loudly in half. I had to go out into the woods and get a freaking piece of kindling to twirl.

- Leela

Originally Posted by flimflamgirl

I was very quick to tell them that canes will fly, and not to worry about it. And of course, to share my embarrassing cane stories, like the time I took Karim Nagi's tahtib class, and was the first one to snap my lightweight practice stick (that he had provided) loudly in half. I had to go out into the woods and get a freaking piece of kindling to twirl.

- Leela

He he he, this takes me back to my student days. Everyone avoided being near me in cane class, because I was forever letting it fly. Particularly spectacular when you're twirling it above your head helicopter-style....DUCK!!!

(Oh, and I can tell my students from my own experience, that hitting yourself in the head with a foil cane doesn't hurt...much)

Then there's always the ever-elegant "skirt-hooking" move, which of course goes back to our ancient predecessors and their sacred matriarchal fertility seduction temple dances, which they performed in cave harems. The harem women would compete to see who could lift their skirts the highest, thus catching the eye of the constantly sexed-up cave sultans.

I'm tired.

- Leela

Originally Posted by flimflamgirl

Then there's always the ever-elegant "skirt-hooking" move, which of course goes back to our ancient predecessors and their sacred matriarchal fertility seduction temple dances, which they performed in cave harems. The harem women would compete to see who could lift their skirts the highest, thus catching the eye of the constantly sexed-up cave sultans.

Oh my god - that video isn't out there is it it?

I'm not a teacher but I'd like to add that learning to accent Saidi moves with cane is easier than twirling and can be learned by a whole class at the same time. Also dancing with the cane in hand on your schoulder,or behind the neck and walking around the cane are things I learned before twirling.

I do wish I learned with a thick cane right away. it builds more strength in the hands and it is hard to use bad technique when you use one. Plus you don't have to transition to the bigger one later and relearn it.