Thread: tahtib

I recently took a fabulous arabic folk dance intensive with Karim Nagi in which he taught us ladies some super fun technique for the Tahtib. Now the tahtib is traditionally a men's dance, but some dancers and I would like to create a tahtib choreography for an upcoming show. We'd likely paint our sticks some festive color and wear bright, colorful pants under plain black galabeyas and add a colorful headscarf. This way we would be presenting a feminized version of this dance w/out going over the top girly.
My question: is it just a total faux pas to even dance this as women?
What do you think?

socially? not sure, but the 'feminized' version has been done overseas.........and it's done ALOT here!

i'm learning it as well, given basics by ava fleming, but was told could get instruction from mohammed shahin when he's in the area by an egyptian teacher, so if she didn't balk, and he'll teach, i don't foresee a problem......

considering cane is kind of a girlier version of it, it may be looked at funny by arabic folk, but it may not be a faux pas...................

more egyptian-purist bhuzzers may know (i'm certainly not purist :D)

Yeah--I'm thinking the key is to place the dance in context with program notes that say something about the dance being a men's dance but that we've adapted it into a playful feminine version--different from raqs assaya.

Originally Posted by nayastrance

My question: is it just a total faux pas to even dance this as women?
What do you think?

Well, as a male dancer who does "everything", including skirtwork - I say GO FOR IT!

I've done it several times, for Americans and Arabs, a something between the male and female versions and every time its gone over very well. Double assaya!

I've also taken Karim's workshop and used a lot of his moves, as well as some I learned from others (youtube and a former dance associate). I mix my assaya liberally though, a little o' tahtib, a little ladies saidi assaya, a little lebanese ladies assaya, a little baladi ladies assaya, the only thing I don't do is any top hat and cane Fred astaire or burlesque type cane. I keep it Middle Eastern.

But I say do it! I'd post a video of me on you tube for you to see, but I haven't got my copies back yet from the 2 shows I was taped doing it in.

I'd have to double check to be sure, but I *think* Aisha Ali's Dances of Egypt shows the Banat Maazin sisters doing tahtib. They do some regular cane too, but I am pretty sure that they also do a lightly mocking version of the men's dance.

Originally Posted by badriya_al_ahmar

I'd have to double check to be sure, but I *think* Aisha Ali's Dances of Egypt shows the Banat Maazin sisters doing tahtib. They do some regular cane too, but I am pretty sure that they also do a lightly mocking version of the men's dance.

Sahra said that because the Banat Mazin live in the Saidi region, the Saidi audiences would often hand them their assayas to dance with. The sisters didn't want to dance with the stick, but because they are paid to perform they'd find ways to use them (i.e. putting them from belly to belly) but then still do their Ghawazee steps.

I've seen much of Aisha's footage, but I haven't seen Ghawazee actually performing anything resembling tahtib.

Saidi women reportedly dance much differently than what we think of as Saidi dance, because "good" women don't dance in public...only indoors (where there is no room for a stick). But since the female "cane" dance is a direct spoof on the male stick martial art, I don't think there's anything wrong with performing something that's even closer to the original.

Sahra version of Raqs Assaya is very close to tahtib.

{{{HUGS}}}

Last Friday we had a theatre show (musical type) and we (me and Ira Amal) did a Saidi and included 2 parts of Tahteb.
Well the 2 first lines was full of the arab countries in Greece ambassadors, and all the Egyptians started screaming when we started the Tahteb part.
All were speaking about it after so yep they liked it..

Go for it in the right place, song etc.

maria aya Greece :)