Thread: So—how important is it to learn “The Latest Steps from Cairo”?

I’ve seen a couple of workshops in the last year promoted as “So-and-so just got back from Egypt and will be teaching the Latest Steps from Cairo!!!”

I’m not knocking it; everybody likes learning new stuff, right? But I’m just wondering—if I can’t make it to the workshop, am I going to come off in my next performance as horribly out of date? You know, like if you did the Funky Chicken to the latest hip-hop hit?

Which of the “old steps” are now passe? Just how quickly does fashion change in Egyptian dance?

ya know, you can learn step after step.you can teach it too, but if you do not FEEL it, it wont comeout in your dance.
after awhile, i retreated into finding out what my dance was about.i had to define my own vocabulary.
so, i guess my answer is no! i do not feel anything is "outdated" when it comes from your soul.
also, not all steps look good on all dancers.this aint ballet !

Originally Posted by Taj

like if you did the Funky Chicken to the latest hip-hop hit?

pobably not nearly as much in this dance form because the steps have endoured for millenia.

imo stage dance vocabulary has a tremendously longer shelf life then social dancing. thats the great thing about it. tradition and innovation can co-exist in the same piece.

of course we should continue to learn, but i doubt anyone will accuse you of doing the running man at the local hafla if you miss a workshop

I give someone more credit for making up their own steps than for copying Dina's . Dance is supposed to have creativity.

I'm kind of out of the loop in trends, but what would a "latest step" be? I don't think that I'm learning the latest steps, but I feel like I'm getting solid lesson. Then again, I'm at the intermediate level, so maybe everyone else is learning something cool?

Do you need to know the latest slang in order to have a current conversation?

I think it's just a matter of having more tricks up your sleeve, and if you don't have them I doubt anyone would even know they were missing!!

I thought the 'steps' were set in stone.

I think the lastest Steps from Cairo is probably the 'new' way you put them together. (IMO)

I agree with the posts before me.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the "latest steps" would be 'cause, well, I haven't gone to the workshops! I'm so busy trying to learn all the old stuff right now; I won't have time to learn the latest stuff until it too becomes the old stuff.

Gah . . .

Originally Posted by Taj

I won't have time to learn the latest stuff until it too becomes the old stuff.

I love to watch bellydance videos from the 60-s to 90-s,
whenever there´s a workshop in "older style" I can attend to-I´m THERE..g.:

The old steps never get old to me.

A lot of the classes labeled " the latest steps from Cairo" type classes are, in my experience, often teaching old stuff. :) But I mean that as a compliment and in the best sense of the term 'old': classic, back to basic, fundamentals for Middle Eastern dance.

I love it when a teacher can compare what she or he has seen happening in Cairo clubs with what was happening there in another era (40s, 80s...). There is so much diversity between dancers at any time, but there are also clear core movements and trends from different generations. What was vulgar thirty years ago might be common now, and vice versa (ie, the direction or focus of a hip circle). New steps and combos are always fun, but a teacher who can teach them in context as a tool for a dancer to use to share her own personality and voice? Golden!

The short answer? No Taj, you won't look all funky chicken if you miss them. It is mostly good marketing!

Heh. Well, my OP was a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but I did get to wondering about "fashion" in Egyptian dance. Say, for example, the basic shimmy has apparently changed from the hip-rock type to the straighter-leg type. And the hip circle direction--another change.

In the all-too-short workshop I took with Denise Enan last May, she taught beledi as it was danced in the "old quarter" of Cairo (in the 60s? I think) and it was fun and salty and gorgeous but alas, she said, nobody dances like that anymore.

It's the way the steps are used. I went in Dec and learned the "new" version of steps and it has totally renewed my interest/dance style. To me its more of where your weight is and changing where it is doing the same step. I know it sounds funny. Music also changes.
The new music is not the same as classics such as Oum, so should we be dancing the same? Hip hop dancers today don't dance the same as they did in the late 80's early 90's because the music has changed. Evolution?

Latest steps? Seriously? Sorry, but it kind of makes me chuckle. Like the GP has any clue that I am doing the same old steps or the latest steps. Also, what exactly is a "latest step"? Is there some sort of whole new movement vocabulary in Egyptian style? Am I dancing the equivalent of an orange plaid polyester pant suit?

Originally Posted by Taj

Heh. Well, my OP was a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but I did get to wondering about "fashion" in Egyptian dance. Say, for example, the basic shimmy has apparently changed from the hip-rock type to the straighter-leg type. And the hip circle direction--another change.

In the all-too-short workshop I took with Denise Enan last May, she taught beledi as it was danced in the "old quarter" of Cairo (in the 60s? I think) and it was fun and salty and gorgeous but alas, she said, nobody dances like that anymore.

Hip circle direction?

Where is the workshop ???? I demand you tell me !!!! I want to sign up.

Originally Posted by stardancer

Am I dancing the equivalent of an orange plaid polyester pant suit?

With a shag hair cut, to boot!

I am planning to attend a similar workshop in Dallas in January. I'm curious as to what I'll be learning and how much I'll like it. Of course, I'm also going to the Raqia Hassan workshop in Dallas in November, so I'll be all up to date after that, lol - no more polyester bedleh for me!

Originally Posted by tamrahennatx

Hip circle direction?

Yeah, this came up awhile back in the Urban Legends thread. Starting a hip circle forward is considered vulgar these days, though the opposite was true a generation ago.

Originally Posted by Taj

Yeah, this came up awhile back in the Urban Legends thread. Starting a hip circle forward is considered vulgar these days, though the opposite was true a generation ago.

I start mine on the side. ..g.:

Originally Posted by tamrahennatx

I start mine on the side. ..g.:

It would seem to be the safest option!

Would a promo get your attention if it said "Same old crap from Cairo" instead of latest steps? Its marketing like Moncia said.
Theory being that people would rather spend their money on something they havent spent it on before.
The music does change as does the fashion of the dance.
There is truth to the fact that dance evolves. IMO, its great to have a strong balance, know what you like and where your personal dance comes from but get out there and get to know what is current so you dont get stuck in a time warp.This also helps make you more well rounded as a teacher/performer /judge as you will not so easily dismiss the more modern just because you dont understand or dont recognize it because it isnt from your particular era of dance.

Originally Posted by Monica

A lot of the classes labeled " the latest steps from Cairo" type classes are, in my experience, often teaching old stuff. :)

I took one of these workshops recently from an instructor I've taken with a few times before, and with the exception of one new move (which to be fair was really awesome and mind bending for me), it was mostly old material I'd experienced before.

The instructor may have had to unexpectedly switch gears in their original intent, though. There were a lot of beginner level students in the workshop, to my eye.

Originally Posted by laura 2

I took one of these workshops recently from an instructor I've taken with a few times before, and with the exception of one new move (which to be fair was really awesome and mind bending for me), it was mostly old material I'd experienced before.

The instructor may have had to unexpectedly switch gears in their original intent, though. There were a lot of beginner level students in the workshop, to my eye.

I was in the same workshop. What I *did* like was that the instructor told us which Cairo dancer the step or combo came from. I always find it nice to get a little background. Like Galatea said, it wasn't all "new" stuff per se, but I found myself looking again at perhaps new ways to combine moves or different things to do with them. As luck would have it, one of these new Cairo steps turned out to be perfect for my tribal fusion stuff. I also think the instructor's original intent may have gone over some heads, but everyone sure was dancing their a$$es off!!..g.:

As far as marketing goes though, I didn't really take the workshop because of its title. I took it because I love the instructor and always get a lot out of the workshops, as a dancer and a teacher. If this person offered a workshop on proper execution of the "hokey pokey" I'd probably be there, trying to glean some new knowledge of the subtleties of putting my right foot in and taking my right foot out.

"Would a promo get your attention if it said "Same old crap from Cairo" instead of latest steps? Its marketing like Moncia said."

Same old crap! Sign me up! ..l;,

I would totally love a same old crap workshop.

I thought the 'steps' were set in stone.

Given that nobody can agree what "the steps" actually are and how they should be done, that's obviously not true.

[QUOTE=patrisha;256022]Would a promo get your attention if it said "Same old crap from Cairo" instead of latest steps? QUOTE]


..l;,

Patrisha-YES!It surely would!ROTFL!

As long as you trust that the instructor does know what s/he is talking about , is there anything wrong in wanting to develop your dance?

Originally Posted by lizajuk

As long as you trust that the instructor does know what s/he is talking about , is there anything wrong in wanting to develop your dance?

Nothing wrong in wanting to develop your dance . . . lately I've been trying to figure out in what direction I want to develop it. I have taken tooooooo many "oriental" workshops using pop songs, so even though I have fun with them, I am struggling to find where I really want to go . . and this is after 25 years! So I am not sure that I am wanting any more "latest steps from Cairo" . . . although I sure do like the one where Randa "fill in the blank", lol, which looks so cute on her!!! ..g.:

I think it was a Shareen el Safy workshop in which she talked a bit about how the top Egyptian dancers spend a good amount of effort in developing new, interesting, hard-to-copy steps to distinguish themselves from their rivals.

We've certainly talked a lot around here about fusion and the evolution of the dance. For me, sharing the innovation from the top dancers is a good thing - it's an evolution of the dance that absolutely heartens me. It shows that it is possible for the dance to evolve within the traditional bounderies of the dance itself instead of bringing outside elements into the dance to make it interesting.

That said, I don't think the classic interpretation of steps are ever out-of-date, but they would be less unique.

Interesting topic!

love to watch bellydance videos from the 60-s to 90-s,
whenever there´s a workshop in "older style" I can attend to-I´m THERE

The old steps never get old to me.
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**** hmmmm, OK *******
perhaps the "old" is new to the young ones.since this is an "ethnic" dance, you can not stray far.same w/ music.the new sounds like the old, just re mixed .the roots will always be the same.