Thread: WDNY Egyptian DVDs with Ranya Renee

Hi all,

I just wanted to pass on that I emailed Ranya Renee asking when her Egyptian technique DVDs would be out, since I'd seen them on the upcoming releases page of the World Dance New York site for months with no release date.

She emailed me back with a very detailed and gracious reply. Evidently the filming was delayed due to a knee injury. The filming is almost done now, and two of the three are being edited. She said the Modern Oriental and maybe the Beledi one should be out by March and later a Classical Oriental one. She said the editing takes a while because they're so densely packed with material.

Anyway, now I've heard from her in person, I'm even more excited for these DVDs to come out.

Bummer! I was looking forward to these being released next month. Oh, well, I shouldn't spend any more money right now anyway.

Thanks for posting--I was unaware of the delay.

Hi there!!
thanks for asking her :)
has she given any details on what will be on them, more specifically? i m dying of curiosity!!
it s so cool they are making 3 dvds now.. in early 2008, there was only one baladi, one oriental dvd planned!!
I d love more details...

I really didn't get any more details as to the content. If I email her back and learn more, I'll let you all know.

They might be out earlier. She said the first one between December and March.

fingers crossed they can go on my Christmas list!!!!!

Yeah I hope so too.. please do keep us all posted!

Hi all!

Now that my dvds are finally coming out soon, I'm going to try to be less shy about posting on forums like Bhuz...!
I just posted something on a recent beledi progression thread "Baladi dvds" started by jencUK about the content of the upcoming beledi dvds.

Shira (of dot.net fame) had asked me today about when everything is coming out, and why it's been such a wait, so this is what I wrote:
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The first two titles, Modern Oriental and Beledi, are being edited now, and should be ready by January. There is so much material on them, I hope folks will find them worth the wait! The Beledi one is so packed that it will be a 2-dvd set. The next DVD, Classical Oriental, will likely be ready in early spring. I will have DVDs available for pre-order on my website Bellydance New York City - Ranya and company in another month or so.

(E-mail me at ranya@ranya.net if you wish to be alerted when this happens. I'm on Facebook too. )

The reason for the delays: I insisted on taking another trip to Egypt last fall to do research before filming the dvds. Then, in December 2007, about 3 weeks before we were going to begin filming the DVDs, I partially tore the medial collateral ligament in my right knee. Needless to say, not such great timing. But through my physical therapy and recovery I learned a tremendous amount, which certainly informed my teaching in the DVDs. It's so easy to take the body for granted when one is dancing all the time. So though I'm not happy about the delay, but I am happy that I was able to have this injury and healing experience before doing the project. I wanted to be at my best before scheduling the filming, so we didn't actually start filming until late July, and didn't finish that round until end of August. These things take a bit of time to turn around.

The video clip that is up on YouTube of me dancing to "Taht il-Shibbak" in a show (search for Ranya Renee and you'll find it) was actually filmed when I was still pretty injured, at end of January. If you look carefully you'll see that I am only shimmying on my left--uninjured--leg. I'm a good actress, so most people wouldn't guess that I was limiting my vocabulary for the occasion... :-) Actually, I kind of like how it came out, which just goes to show how helpful imposing a limit on oneself can be. I don't hope to get injured again, but there is always a way to take lemons and make lemonade.
-------
And, I would add, I'm very grateful to all the dancers who've been supporting me with your anticipation over these dvds and your generous words about my work... it helped me through some rough times earlier this year when i was suffering from all the delays related to my knee situation and just hoping to get my work a little more out into the world! :-D I hope I can give you all some cool new stuff to work with in developing your dance.

So, many thanks, and happy dancing to you all!

xo
Ranya Renee
NYC
Bellydance New York City - Ranya and company

hello ranya!
thanks so much for the reply :)
I am glad your knee healed well, and it is amazing to see you are so positive about getting through the injury!
Trully inspiring,
all the best
dina

Originally Posted by ranyarenee

The video clip that is up on YouTube of me dancing to "Taht il-Shibbak" in a show (search for Ranya Renee and you'll find it) was actually filmed when I was still pretty injured, at end of January. If you look carefully you'll see that I am only shimmying on my left--uninjured--leg. I'm a good actress, so most people wouldn't guess that I was limiting my vocabulary for the occasion...

I had to laugh when I read this in your note to me yesterday! You see, when I was in Egypt in June I sprained my foot in a fall one afternoon. I went back to my room , iced it for an hour, and took a nap, because I'd made plans to go to the nightclub El Leil to see Saad al-Sogheir that night, and I wasn't going to let the simple matter of a sprained foot stop me! (By the way, Saad never showed up, but there was lots of other fabulous music.)

Anyway, once we got to the nightclub around midnight I ordered an ice bucket and was icing my foot under the table in pulse icing. (30 minutes icing, 60 minutes off the ice). I went there resolved to be kind to my foot, meaning I would stay seated at the table and NOT get up to dance. Well, that lasted for about the length of ONE band. By the end of the evening, I had been up to the dance floor MANY times boogying away! I just couldn't sit there and let Leyla Lanty and Saqra have ALL the fun!

Hi, can't wait until these come out. I just recently saw Ranya's clip on you tube, dancing to Taht il-Shibbak and was totally blown away, I got the same goose bumps as when I first saw Fifi dance, Ranya is FANTASIC!!!..g.:

daisy witch please please post the youtube link :)

:-)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7YG7i2WmK4]YouTube - Bellydancer Ranya Renee of NYC: Raks Beledi "Tahtil Shibbak[/ame]

I need to learn how to stand in one place and yet do that many small and intricate movements with my body. That's amazing.

I do way too much running around.

She is flawless. That Youtube vid really inspired me. I look forward to seeing more of her.

Oh
My
Gawd


I have a new personal hero.

She is amazing! Thank you for sharing this!!!!

Simply stunning

jawdrop!!!
amazing!!!
trully egyptian style (I think, I m not), cant wait for the dvds!!!

cant stop watching it ranya youre just amazing!

I just took a musicality workshop with Ranya and so many girls left inspired, checking terms on their blackberries. Can't wait to see her perform again on Nov 23rd!

I'm sure I'll be getting the dvds, but all of these labels are confusing.

What make something baladi, modern or classical oriental? Costuming, I guess for one. Could you use the terms Egyptian, Modern Egyptian, Classical Egyptian for these dvds? Or is that something else entirely?

Originally Posted by dancerose

I'm sure I'll be getting the dvds, but all of these labels are confusing.

What make something baladi, modern or classical oriental? Costuming, I guess for one. Could you use the terms Egyptian, Modern Egyptian, Classical Egyptian for these dvds? Or is that something else entirely?

Dancerose these are indeed different worlds..
Baladi is the folkloric "country life" kind of Egyptian dance, oftentimes done in those cute striped dresses. Of course these costums and the dance itself represent a "glamoured up" version of folkloric dances already.

Still, it is a different world from the show bellydance known as "Orientale" in the US. Orientale is a bit like an "Egyptian Hollywood" kind of a dance, a performing art style fostered by knowledge in other classical dances and well in itself all glamour and show (think Golden Era of Egyptian cinema).
It does have a very very VERY distinct look.
Baladi is 100% arab, orientale influenced by Western dances (or inspired by), Western styles of music (it is no wonder Abdel Wahab and Abdel Halim often used non arab melody lines, especially Russian).

Think Egyptian country girl vs Soheir Zaki.

Thanks for your explanation. It helps a bit since I don't have any dvds of the classic dancers. I hope she discusses a nice bit of that on her dvds, because I would like to be able to "see" these differences.

Hi all,
Thanks very much for your kind words!

The beledi dvd is going to cover the taqsim beledi progression (most often heard with accordion doing the taqsim), with some info about Egyptian technique, what gives it an "Egyptian look". It's pretty dense, it will be over 5 hours worth of material in a 2-dvd set.

There is not really a clear line of difference between classical oriental style and modern oriental style--you can see some of the same moves used in both--but as i see it, there is a difference in the way the music is treated in movement. Music has changed substantially over the years--think about the increasing prominence of keyboards and drum machine tracks--and this affects the dance. In addition there has been more Western influence on the dance since the black and white movie era (and even then, there was Western influence). So these things affect the movements and the interpretaion of the movements. I think increased focus on choreographed moves and combos could illustrate another difference between modern style and the older style. So in the dvds I'm addressing some of these issues, not as a means of rigidly delineating differences, but to open up dancers' ways of looking at these things and ways to approach their own dancing. The classical oriental dvd will include practice demos with Arab musicians I work with in the video, each discussing and demonstrating their instrument, and me demonstrating ways of interpreting the instruments. There will also be a choreography to a very classic old piece, which I am still working on! :-)

We are still in the editing process for Modern Oriental and The Beledi, so please bear with us... sorry that the dvds won't be ready by Xmas :-( but if you want to pre-order, I'll have that option on my website before Xmas at least. :-)

I thank everyone who has emailed me so far about it--i'm keeping your emails and will reply when i have a chance! I'm in the middle of preparing dancers for our annual big show here in New York City, so it's a busy time.

Feel free to email me at ranya@ranya.net if you'd like me to let you know personally when i have pre-order info on the dvds. I'll keep your emails on file and let you know when we have some more details!

happy dancing...
rr

Hi everybody, got an email from Ranya today to say that the pre-order for the Dvd's will be up on her site in the next week and that the first one, the Baladi set will be out in February. Cannot wait ..g.:

I got one too. The countdown begins.

Originally Posted by dancerose

Thanks for your explanation. It helps a bit since I don't have any dvds of the classic dancers. I hope she discusses a nice bit of that on her dvds, because I would like to be able to "see" these differences.

Hi there!

I overlooked your comment!
If I were you, I d absolutely get a lovely dvd widely available called "The Legends of Bellydance"!
And if you do not spend you might want to check:

YouTube - sbarack's Channel
YouTube - Kanal von gypsy8522
YouTube - Kanal von baadrobot

they all have many classic dances!

Hi Dina,

I see you everywhere, LOL! And you are so kind to list those links for me.

Originally Posted by dancerose

Hi Dina,

I see you everywhere, LOL! And you are so kind to list those links for me.

Hi again dancerose -
ya I keep replying to threads recently. I must say I m no pro at all and keep forgetting to mention that
I'm nothing but an "informed observer"
Hope my answers are of some use, a different perspective maybe!

I just read Ranya s response; hi Ranya, if you see this thanks so much for answering! - very interesting to hear what the dvds are going to treat.
I get the impression the Modern Orientale might deal with pop culture - Shaabi music and such things, could this be accurate?
And Classic is probably going to deal with the "old feeling" and more orchestral Egyptian music?
I m curious anyway especially for the baladi!!!!!

I also got an e-mail from Ranya and I really look forward to the DVDs.

Greetings dancers! I'm pleased to report that my website has been updates with (among other things) pre-ordering for my new instructional DVDs coming out in early and mid 2009! The DVDs are looking great so far--Neon and company do a very professional job!! Trailers will be available soon for the first two!
For all pre-orders direct from my website (Bellydance New York City - Ranya Renee & Company - Belly Dance Classes and Peformances) , you'll receive some exciting bonuses:
1) a FREE performance dvd included with your pre-order purchase of 2 or 3 instructional videos ($25 value)
and
2) a FREE teleconference with me for ANY instructional dvd you purchase from my website ($50 value).
This will be a small group phone meeting (10 people max per conference, with several time slots to choose from), held in the spring, after you've gotten started working with the dvds! Participants will be able to ask questions about any aspect of the dvds, focusing on movement issues, music interpretation and understanding, cultural background, and practicing tips. I want you to be able to get great use out of these dvds, and look forward to speaking with you about them! If we have enough interest, I will be happy to offer the teleconferences in French, Spanish, German, Italian, or Japanese as well. :-)

Let me know if you have any questions about ordering...and be sure to give feedback on the new website redesign! My designer Stacey has been working hard on it! :-)

Best wishes to all for the holidays!!!

Ranya Renee
New York City