Thread: Cairo figure 8's ?

anyone can explain what is "Cairo figure 8's"?
I took a workshop with Astryd Farah de Michele and she mentioned Cairo figure 8's... but I missed this point, and now try to figure out what kind of movement is it and how it differs from regular figure 8....

Originally Posted by maria_s

anyone can explain what is "Cairo figure 8's"?
I took a workshop with Astryd Farah de Michele and she mentioned Cairo figure 8's... but I missed this point, and now try to figure out what kind of movement is it and how it differs from regular figure 8....

:) Astryd is awesome isn't she?

I took a workshop with her too.

A "Cairo 8" is kind of a vertical figure 8 with a twist...ooh this is going to be hard to explain. I tend to think of it as a combination of a vertical and horizontal figure 8.

The movement starts like your going to do a vertical 8 (or a taxsim, or a fish, whatever it is that you call it) so you scoop your hip out and up, but as you bring it up, you want to kind of twist it to the front. then bring the hip back down from the up and foward position.

I know...not helpful...if I could show you while I explained it, it would make more sense I think...

Ah! Love this move, you and Saundra came in the second half for the choreography so you missed all the explanations of the moves in the choreography. For me, it's like a regular forward 8 but bring your forward hip up and into your tummy then you do a tiny fig. 8 or a tiny twist. Do the same on the other hip, kinda the same way Yasmin explained it. I count it out as 1 and a, 2 and a.

So, would it be like a vertical 8 with a little pelvic undulation, Yasmin?

I see... thanks for explanations, Yasmin...it helps but not completely:) I just checked Astryd's youtube clips and did not find this move there...

Jasani, I regret now I did not come to the first part of workshop:) Astryd is great!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

So, would it be like a vertical 8 with a little pelvic undulation, Yasmin?

well, yes and no, more like a vert. 8 with a twist.

I guess Shayna is still cleaning up the video of the workshop. I was told by another workshop participant that a video of the choreography would be sent out, but in the meantime you can watch this you tube clip.

[ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=TRg8KbW0vPQ"]YouTube - Mirabai - Hayati - 2007[/ame]

Ah, I see! Thank you.

That clip was nice! I get it now too!

Yeah...sorry about the explaination...you should have seen me at work though...I'd type, stand up, do the move twice, sit down, type again...then stand up and do the move again...then I'd change my mind about what I'd typed! lol

Originally Posted by Lauren_

So, would it be like a vertical 8 with a little pelvic undulation, Yasmin?

Horizontal 8 combined with a verticle 8 and when you pull in to center you are adding another tiny 8 along the spine. If you are familiar with the dangling 8 done by Mahmoud Reda where the eight is verticle and being made by the unweighted hip? Standing leg bears all the weight and the free hip scoops back-up-and-around-down through center, and then scoops forward and up, and back down through center. Diana made me work on this when I took a private from her, said it was very important that the hip dangles and there is no tension in the leg and no contact with the foot on the floor. Astryd described the center accent for the Cairo 8 as being this same 8...since everything is connected, the little scoop up and in is what shows as the accent and the back half of the eight is part of the horizontal/verticle combining of the eight. Diana also had me work (a lot!) on using the same dangling 8 as the accent for the jewel step. It makes a great variation. Whew! I hope this makes sense to someone and doesn't confuse the issue more...

Originally Posted by banatsusan

Horizontal 8 combined with a verticle 8 and when you pull in to center you are adding another tiny 8 along the spine. If you are familiar with the dangling 8 done by Mahmoud Reda where the eight is verticle and being made by the unweighted hip? Standing leg bears all the weight and the free hip scoops back-up-and-around-down through center, and then scoops forward and up, and back down through center. Diana made me work on this when I took a private from her, said it was very important that the hip dangles and there is no tension in the leg and no contact with the foot on the floor. Astryd described the center accent for the Cairo 8 as being this same 8...since everything is connected, the little scoop up and in is what shows as the accent and the back half of the eight is part of the horizontal/verticle combining of the eight. Diana also had me work (a lot!) on using the same dangling 8 as the accent for the jewel step. It makes a great variation. Whew! I hope this makes sense to someone and doesn't confuse the issue more...

I'm confused more now ..l;, I thought I kind of got it from the previous explanations, but now I'm not sure at all that I understood it correctly ..cr.:

Are you talking about the movement done at 0:19 in the clip?

Sounds like it is what is also called an eliptical figure eight.

{{{HUGS}}}

Yes..please help identify based on the time of the clip. I have a hard enough time with right vs. left so the explanation above was like taking the test "if this gear is moving in this direction...the 16th gear down is moving in which direction?" White noise in the head insues....

Originally Posted by ssipes

Are you talking about the movement done at 0:19 in the clip?

Yes that's the one.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

Sounds like it is what is also called an eliptical figure eight.

{{{HUGS}}}

That's exactly what I used to call it before Astryd started calling it a Cairo 8, although I'd never done the accent in the center like this before. I also learned a version of it from Cassandra which we called the Arabic/Egyptian back walk and we added an 8 in the chest over the eliptical figure 8 in the hips.

Originally Posted by banatsusan

Yes that's the one.

I just call it the Egyptian figure 8, because all the Egyptian dancers do it and it is the most commonly used of all the figure 8's. It is one of the "meat and potatoes" moves in Egyptian oriental movement vocabulary.

It is also a complex movement that is very difficult to describe in words. I teach it in stages or layers. Beginners learn the basic hip movement and the weight shift (which is very awkward and counterintuitive to most people at first).

However, it is generally layered with an undulation of the torso in which the chest pulses upward on the 1st and 3rd downbeats of the music (as the hip is twisted back and moving forward), and drops down when the hip drops down forward in the center of the body (at which time there is a tiny psoas tuck that can be done to really polish it off, but that's the advanced level).

It's done big and lose in Reda style folkloric dance, in which the flore of the foot during the weight change can get big enough to be used to propel you around in a 90 or even 180 degree turn.

Originally Posted by ssipes

I just call it the Egyptian figure 8, because all the Egyptian dancers do it and it is the most commonly used of all the figure 8's. It is one of the "meat and potatoes" moves in Egyptian oriental movement vocabulary.

It is also a complex movement that is very difficult to describe in words. I teach it in stages or layers. Beginners learn the basic hip movement and the weight shift (which is very awkward and counterintuitive to most people at first).

However, it is generally layered with an undulation of the torso in which the chest pulses upward on the 1st and 3rd downbeats of the music (as the hip is twisted back and moving forward), and drops down when the hip drops down forward in the center of the body (at which time there is a tiny psoas tuck that can be done to really polish it off, but that's the advanced level).

It's done big and lose in Reda style folkloric dance, in which the flore of the foot during the weight change can get big enough to be used to propel you around in a 90 or even 180 degree turn.

Yes, we're talking about the same thing...with Cassandra we did a figure 8 with the chest rather than the pulses up on 1 & 3 and the undulation-that's the "arabic" part of her Arabic/Egyptian backwalk. What Astryd was teaching was not a tiny psoas tuck but a tiny figure 8 and there was no involvement of the chest. Strictly the hips and when I was doing it with her we weren't moving back with it.

Originally Posted by yasmindiab

Yeah...sorry about the explaination...you should have seen me at work though...I'd type, stand up, do the move twice, sit down, type again...then stand up and do the move again...then I'd change my mind about what I'd typed! lol

Hehehe! I assume you work alone. My dream job, where I could get away with doing a belly dance move here and there without getting in trouble for lack of productivity or concentration on my work or being called weird or distracting to others.

"But, really, it makes me happy and happy workers are more productive!"..l;,

Wish someone on YouTube had a little instructional video on this.

Wish someone here taught it.

Hm, ok the way Mohamed Shahin explained it was to start by stepping backwards with an egyptian camel on each step. Once you get the rhythm you can begin the twist, and its done like this:

As you step back with right foot & camel, you simultaneously bring the left hip forward & up in a scooping motion (you can turn the ankle out according to Mohamed Shahin) then pull/camel back to centre before repeating on the other side. Once you get the hang of it walking backwards you can then practice it in place.

Wow, this IS hard to explain in words, isn't it?!

Is this the same movement that Rayna teaches on her Baladi dvds as a variation of the jewel?

Edited: well, now that I think about it, her move is pretty much still directly at the side, no forward and back . . .

I've heard it also referred to as an Egyptian twist. I'm sure this doesn't help much though!

Dang it! The video clip is gone? Looks like at one time I understood what movement we were talking about, but not any more!

Wait -- this was the clip?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRg8KbW0vPQ]YouTube - Mirabai - Hayati - 2007[/ame]

It sure looks like a Jewel variation to me.

A vertical jewel! Kewel.

(a little "ah ha!" moment) I've heard the term "jewel" before too, but didn't understand what it was referring to.

So..in working on these in drill class, I "invented" a variation and I shall call it the "Anala 8" It is a forward 8 on the right hip -with a belly tuck on the in- followed with a clockwise omi (done twice) "stir" in the center - shift weight right and repeat on left hip but make the omi stir counter clockwise. Do I have rights on this nomenclature..or has somebody beat me to it???!!! ;-)

MMMMMmmmmm. the Anala Stirred 8. Yummy!

And its first variation, the Bond 8. Same as the Anala, but shaken, not stirred.
(forward 8 on R hip, pull into center, then I'm on my toes and shimmy down to flat-footed. Repeat other side.)