Thread: "songs everybellydancer should know"

hey

this is the title of, yes, a cd, but also a class serieus i try to teach every now and then

this term we covered

- tahtil shebak
- enta omri
- zay el hawa
- tamra henna
- leylet hob
- baladi accordeion (from shik shak shok)

last time i did this series (two years ago) i had

- tahtil shebak
- zeina
- alf leyla wa leyla
- bahlan beek
- batwanis beek

for each song i do a mix of talking about the style/singer/composer/other cultural background/lyrics (sometimes in detail, following along with the text, sometimes more general),
we can work on technique/style specific elements
sometimes i have some combinations, a little bit of choreo
i try to give them handouts with more background reading/the lyrics/links to good examples on youtube; etc

two years ago i concentrated on instruments/rhytm/song structure more, this time it was a little bit more about style and expression.

i also use it as a way to talk about the music in general and specific elements there in (mawaal, question/answer, rhytm/beat/melody) etc etc

anyway, i find it fun to do, and a way to mix things up a bit, and to try to give students a lot of information without it becoming a lecture ;-)

anyone else does similar things? what songs do you cover?
what i felt was missing from my list was a saidi song, will need to throw that in next time.

I think it is a great idea. I am personally doing that for myself. I am trying to go through a lot of usual suspect songs and make sure i know the names of them and try to find the meaning if it has lyrics. But the wholistic method you are doing is excellent i think. It is not incredibly common.

I did this last year, but I focussed on three songs only. In the 10 week course I did 3 weeks on each song, with one primary version, but also bringing in alternative versions, including more modern interpretations of these classics, a lot on analysing the structure, a bit of history, discussion of the singer/composer. The final week (#10) was a video night, and I showed different interpretations of our three songs, amongst other footage.

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

what i felt was missing from my list was a saidi song, will need to throw that in next time.

Ana Sa'aidi?
Howa Ya Howa?

yes, i also do the alternative versions! students never seem to realise that there are so many versions of the same song!

I do something similar every session or so in my Level 2 class. I've done several of the ones indicated above, and also "Aziza".

This sounds sweet. I'm envious of your students.

It was fun indeed!!
I never danced to a Baladi song before! But it was soooooo much fun that I bought the Ranya Renee Baladi DVD!!
But the course was fun, also the part where you made us improvise to parts of the song and then use the movements you showed us. I learned a lot, especially that there are songs where less is more!

Only one of the teachers I've taken classes with did that (Gia al Qamar), I loved it and miss it. Wish more teachers did that to get their students more acquainted with the music.
Your students are indeed lucky.

Not necessarily for beginners, but for more advanced dancers I think it's important to now how to structure a routine. Some songs are better suited as openers, such as Sit El Hosen, some are great for the middle, such as Gana'l Howa. Some do double duty, like Sawah. Some are filler/specialty songs like Lissa Fakir. Then of course the saidi's, the beledi's, the taxims, basic drum solos.

*happy rave* i LOVED this class! really, it rocked so much :D i love how it covered styles, repertoire, history and other background info that's so important, and giving us real concrete examples to work with. next time you offer it i will definitely take it again!

I love the idea! Might borrow it ;)

ETA: At the moment we are working on 'ten belly dancers every belly dancer should know', which is great fun as well

i took a class like this last summer, ah ya Zein is one i remember that isn't on the list yet. each week was a different song with several versions of it. it was meant not to be in depth about each of them but to get us started.
right now our class is focusing on the topic Norma mentioned, the 5 part Am Cab routine, each week so far has been a different part: opening, veil, floorwork. drum solo and finale are to follow, im not sure how it will finish, since there are 5 parts that we're working on and the class is 7 or 8 weeks long ^_^
i love topical class sessions ^_^

Originally Posted by Khalida

I love the idea! Might borrow it ;)

ETA: At the moment we are working on 'ten belly dancers every belly dancer should know', which is great fun as well

Ooooooh, sounds fun too!!

Originally Posted by raqFariha

i took a class like this last summer, ah ya Zein is one i remember that isn't on the list yet. each week was a different song with several versions of it. it was meant not to be in depth about each of them but to get us started.
right now our class is focusing on the topic Norma mentioned, the 5 part Am Cab routine, each week so far has been a different part: opening, veil, floorwork. drum solo and finale are to follow, im not sure how it will finish, since there are 5 parts that we're working on and the class is 7 or 8 weeks long ^_^
i love topical class sessions ^_^

Tomorrow is review, we're each going to do a practice 'performance' of the entrance, veil and then floor work. Not sure if we're doing the large space/small space thing again. Then we move on to the drum solo and finale. I think the last week we're doing the whole thing with the monopoly money tips and potentially audience participation.

back on topic:

We also did Mishaal, Hizzi ya Nawaim and Aziza

i like this idea. i add quite a lot of info on "how to choreograph/interpret" into this class, but some on "how to put songs togethers", in what order, etc etc, is usefull too.

i noticed that indeed, when i've send out advanced students on their first gigs, the song order is something they often dont know yet

Originally Posted by norma

Not necessarily for beginners, but for more advanced dancers I think it's important to now how to structure a routine. Some songs are better suited as openers, such as Sit El Hosen, some are great for the middle, such as Gana'l Howa. Some do double duty, like Sawah. Some are filler/specialty songs like Lissa Fakir. Then of course the saidi's, the beledi's, the taxims, basic drum solos.

raks video night! if i can pull it off, will cover that!

Originally Posted by ZoeDeKooning

Ooooooh, sounds fun too!!

Glindella, what are the monopoli money tips???

You know, this could also be an excellent topic for workshops... I would totally subscribe for it.

Maybe something for RAKS? ;o))

the ten songs arent really something for raks, i think... takes tooo much hours...

but we're trying to get something sorted as a video night!!!

i think it works better as classes (with week in between classs), and smaller groups

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

raks video night! if i can pull it off, will cover that!

oooh that sounds like so much fun! ..g.:

yes yes to the video night!!

This is SUCH a great idea! I am trying to teach myself to recognise all these songs - next step willl be all the background I can find!

Originally Posted by Khalida

yes yes to the video night!!

sounds like fun!!!!

Originally Posted by Glindella

Tomorrow is review, we're each going to do a practice 'performance' of the entrance, veil and then floor work. Not sure if we're doing the large space/small space thing again. Then we move on to the drum solo and finale. I think the last week we're doing the whole thing with the monopoly money tips and potentially audience participation.

back on topic:

We also did Mishaal, Hizzi ya Nawaim and Aziza

thanks!

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

Glindella, what are the monopoli money tips???

Nothing actually useful ..l;, Basically to practice accepting tips using monopoly money instead of real money.

We've been working on 5 part routines and it's a small class (3-4 depending on the day) so we've been taking turns 'performing' for each other. The fake money is just something for fun

Originally Posted by Glindella

Nothing actually useful ..l;, Basically to practice accepting tips using monopoly money instead of real money.

We've been working on 5 part routines and it's a small class (3-4 depending on the day) so we've been taking turns 'performing' for each other. The fake money is just something for fun

it's useful for me.... i needs to practice audience interaction :P

I love this idea and I wish I had the still fairly perfunctory knowledge of songs I have now/the resources/the will to use it when I had captive audiences, ie classes. The problem I have found is that many past-beginner dancers are simply not interested in these songs. It's almost like you need to impose it upon them when they are new, on a simple level (a couple of posters here actually inspired me to realise you could do that). I wasn't taught a lot about individual songs when I was first learning, and that was simply down to a lack of music and readily available information about songs. My teacher didn't think to choreograph a few classics for us because a) she thought they were too complex for classes b) the versions she had were all too long c) she wanted us to gain strong technique first and d) some of the really lovely stuff that she had she understandably wanted to use for her own performance work - and my teacher didn't like the idea of teachers dancing with students because it made keeping an eye on the performance very difficult and also, if the teacher danced a lot of the time all eyes were on the teacher not the students. She felt the students needed dances of their own and I agree.

I've found now that people *only* want to learn a song if they are going to dance a choreography at the end of it, and *only* if they like the song etc. I consider myself lucky because I didn't have a lot of class choice in the beginning, meaning I *had* to dance to the songs my teacher chose, and some of them I didn't like because I wasn't used to the music. Now I do like that music, but it took time.