Thread: Video Clips of Greek Bellydance?

I've just gotten a gig at a restaurant that doesn't normally have dancers, but is doing a special event for their anniversary (I'm so excited too because its one of my favourite restaurants!). Anyways, they would like the style of dance to be Greek, but my style is very much Egyptian. Lucky for me I have quite a bit of time to do some homework....

sooooo.....

does anyone know of any good clips of Greek bellydance? I tried Youtube, but mostly what came up was people dancing at parties, or Greek bellydancers doing Raqs Sharqi. Or any dancers that you would recommend that I could google or perhaps purchase a dvd of?

*bump*:zillgallop:

I wish I could help - I really want to know more about the Greek style too. A couple fo years ago I was on one of the Greek isles and got some fabulous footage of a local folk troupe. I went to the event to see the belly dancing but the dancer didn't arrive (don't think they really ahd one actually). So guess who ended up doing that bit?!

I have a few good Greek tracks so I'll upload them onto Bhuz and you can see what you think.

Kathy

here's what i found doing a quick search but for some of these i cant tell if its american dancers or actual greeks :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gykgb7PGYAA - this im guessing is an american dancer, and the song has some turkish lyrics in it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci2iYFswwX0 - this looks like a typical variety show , non proffessionals but greeks dancing

another party, non proffessionals dancing tsiftetelli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ungMk...elated&search=

theyre not good technically, but i think u get a taste for the difference in style...

lets see what else i find...

oooh
this ones good
i cant be sure but i have a feeling these girls are greek :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGdbc...elated&search=

theyre either in greece or at a greek event

Greek-Rom tsiftetelli performed in thesoloniki: this one has more empahis on music than dancing tho:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03wxxIXml4Y


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNEtg...elated&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY_cT...elated&search=
(dancing to turkish music...but , what the hey il list it anyway!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeTRNlN6i0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M3QFL3pPk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM0Q1KCwAxI

not greek style, but dancing at mykonos (the party island of greece lol) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq35v...elated&search=

ooh i think she might be greek. shes dancing to miserlou and her dance name (or maybe real last name) is samos which is a greek island that i can see from my bedroom window near kusadasi :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9sv2Jy2TRg

and this just cus her voice rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99Le...elated&search=

Originally Posted by aasiyah

ooh i think she might be greek. shes dancing to miserlou and her dance name (or maybe real last name) is samos which is a greek island that i can see from my bedroom window near kusadasi :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9sv2Jy2TRg

yeh I think she's Greek too. And the Miserlou is sung in Greek.

Aasiyah, any idea who the vocalist is? Really lovely!

check out the groups section. there is a greek tsifteteli group and maria aya has posted a ton of clips of greek tsifteteli-bellydance.
hope that helps!
-Amartia

also are you going for a more traditional greek piece or modern?
modern vocalist suggestions: anna vissi, angela dimitriou, despina vandi....
they also have some older things that are great.

I used to dance in Greek clubs for years. I don't know of any good clips.

I don't know what area you are in but if you are near Chicago, my friend Shadiah will be performing a Greek style belly dance routine for a workshop concert.

http://www.bellydanceralexandria.com/mohamed_shahin.htm

Originally Posted by aasiyah

and this just cus her voice rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99Le...elated&search=

Thanks for all the clips! I still haven't gotten through them all, I was working through them over the weekend. But really helpful.

Originally Posted by latriamou

check out the groups section. there is a greek tsifteteli group and maria aya has posted a ton of clips of greek tsifteteli-bellydance.
hope that helps!
-Amartia

..l;, I didn't know that! I'm going to head over there next! Thanks!

As for more traditional or modern... I'm not sure yet. They dancer who helped me get this gig (she's also dancing that night) is going to send me some music examples, so I'll get an idea of what the restaurant is looking for then.

Definitely not in the Chicago area, which makes me sad because I would love to see that show! ,f::

Okay, after watching most of the clips, I can see that Greek bellydance is obviously different from Egyptian. But how? What I've noticed is a lot of snakey arms, and little fast shoulder shimmies. Actual dancers seemed to do a lot of big hip drops/twists, and big 3D hip circles, while the ladies who were just at the parties seemed to do a lot more subtle hip movements, with small soft figure 8s and 3D hip circles, and a lot of soft arm and hand movements.

What am I missing then? What would you say the difference between an Egyptian styled bellydancer and a Greek styled bellydancer?

I guess thats more than one question....,r:;

Hello,
The question you pose is excellent. If I were to answer you, I would not be able to articulate the differences as well as these ladies who I admire: Artemis Mourat, Piper (MD, Rhea's daughter), and Rhea of Greece. These ladies know and have lived the Greek dance culture. Artemis can be found at serpentine.org and Piper and Rhea can be found at Daughters of Rhea.
~Helena

I haven't had a chance to watch the videos posted yet but from my experience the main difference is the music. Greek belly dance has it's own unique sound with the bouzoukee, bass guitar, keyboard, and trap drums. The music is very fast. Lots of shimmies and spins. Then you intersperse that with rhumba for veil or slow tsftitelli for slow undulations and floorwork. So the fast is fast, and the slow is usually really slow. Most Greek style belly dancers use veil, cymbals and do floorwork. Also many Greek routines feature a bouzoukee solo where the dancer stands in one place and just shimmies like crazy.

ur welcome for the clips guys!

and personally i think the difference you are seeing is that in social dance atmospheres (which alot of those clips were) people try to make movements smaller and less..."proffessional danceresque" than when they are performing. i notice this alot when i go to parties (im really lucky to be very mixed and have a very mixed best friend) that are middle eastern/east euro. i think you can compare this to say, club dancing vs hiphop/breakdancing. ussually at clubs, people dont do the craziest moves they can, just because its not the best atmosphere to show them off, theres no room, and theres no need for it...


so thats why i find the movements smaller..

but the music obviously makes a huge diff.

alana her name is GIWTA NEGKA, if you search under that name on youtube ull find lots of clips of her.

I had the chance to watch all the clips and this one is I think most representative although the dancer isn't very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M3QFL3pPk
Also the clip of the dancer doing veil work to Miserlou -very Greeklike.

Actually my favorite was the one of the girls at the belly dance competition. They had the style more than anyone else. Standing in place and shimmy like crazy.

Thanks Aasiyah! ..g.: Any idea where I could find this version? I just did a search and it just brings up Youtube clips.

Thanks so much for the info!

Originally Posted by aasiyah

alana her name is GIWTA NEGKA, if you search under that name on youtube ull find lots of clips of her.

sorry alana i wanst able to find anything either. she might have just sampled the song in that one performance and not have recorded it.

Hi there:)
Just got back from Egypt and I'm very happy with the interest on greek tsifteteli !!
I'm teaching traditional greek tsifteteli from the era 1920 to 1960 so I can help with comments on the video-clips and informations.

First of all, traditionaly there is no such thing as greek tsifteteli routine, this is an invension of the second generation greeks at States that took it from AmCab. Meaning, that veils, swords, floor (in the sense you know) kymbals, zills etc are not used.
For show or not show its out of the question if you wanna do the right thing.
Shimmy is NOT existing in greek tsifteteli, only showlder and chest shimmy.
Big back bends is a must.
The hands are lyrical and we have specific movements.
Hip circles, in a circle are used alot, and a step like front/back with 8 at the hip, also other teqnics, around 100 total.
On specific songs we can play small glasses at fingers as zills.
We have from ultra slow versions of songs (and dance) to crazy fast.

Now about the video clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gykgb7PGYAA

This is Olympia, she is not american, she is greek (actualy I have sponsored her workshops in Athens) living at Austria, her dance is 100% tsifteteli, medium speed, era 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci2iYFswwX0

This is from greek tv how greek girls dance today (tsifteteli tend to be forgoten :( )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGdbc...elated&search=
these girls are greek bellydancers that dont know how to bellydance and mix some tsifteteli with bellydance movements and make a vomiting result for both dances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNEtg...elated&search=
Athina is a wonderfull dancer and friend, but here she is dancing the americanized version of chifteteli-amcab

to be continued (problem with net)

Continued

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeTRNlN6i0
greek syrto and bellydance
The greek term is Syrtotsiftetelia, where we dance in line and at the chorus we break for tsifteteli and continue after (very correct video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M3QFL3pPk
not greek bellydance, just a bad bellydance that doesnt know exactly bellydance and keep movements from tsifteteli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM0Q1KCwAxI
the bellydance contest is ofcourse out of Greece but yes you can see original movements, special as they are not professionals and dancing in one place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq35v...elated&search=
This is Soraya one of the best bellydancers in Greece, greek-egyptian and she is fab, this is too short to watch her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9sv2Jy2TRg
Lydia is greek rooted and she is greek brazilian living at Brazil, her dance is wonderfull but its not greek tsifteteli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99Le...elated&search=
and yes Yiota's voice rocks, but also the 2 girls are dancing one of the best slow tsifteteli's

to be continued

Continuing

Chryssanthi Sahar living at Germany but greek origine dance here a great tsifteteli as we feel it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVi-Brs2A6I

And here Katerina Papadopoulou dance one of the very old styles of greek tsifteteli.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4Aq0A-fCM

And there is also one video of me (well 2) from Planet Egypt January 2007, where I performed at Darbuka 2 styles of chifteteli, the 1930 era and the 1960 (and still waiting for the videos grrr)

Maria Aya (hope I helped)
p.s. I'm very good friend with Rhea and know her daughter Piper, both of them have a good essence in greek tsifteteli, but they still keep the AmCab style.

p.s. I'll be back at London on November doing again greek chifteteli and other styles

Hi Maria! I'm used to tsifteteli referring to a specific rhythm, as in the second link of your last post. The first link I do not recognize as that same rhythm, so does tsifteteli in Greek refer to the dance only, not the rhythm?

Yowza! All the video clips! I don't wanna study for my exam anymore, I just want to watch video clips. Once my exam is over (Friday) I'll go through all of these. Thanks for posting them!

hi MariaAya, i was waiting for your imput on this thread! thanks for the info :)

Dear Villa, chifteteli is 2 things, one is the rythm, that exist in turkish and arabic and greek music, and the dance is another thing.
Its not necesery the dance to have only chifteteli rythm, but its common mostly at old old songs.
And i have to say that i'm very happy so many people are interested at greek tsifteteli ..g.:

Maria Aya

"Syrtotsiftetelia!??!?!"

Where do you find these things Maria!!!!!!!

3rifily mou !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Palios oros tou rembetikou, or in english old term coming from rembetic era
Google Syrtotsiftetelia and you will see songs

Maria Aya..g.: