Thread: How to make saidi hops look effortless?

If there is one thing I love even more than good baladi, it's good saidi! I just love cane dance and saidi without cane too.

However, I'm having trouble learning how to dance saidi steps. They're very earthy and springy at the same time and I feel like my bouncing is full of effort and weight, it doesn't have the right feel.

Besides practice, are there some tips how to achieve that effortlessness? I know that it's enough to bounce on the balls of the feet but even so I still feel awkward doing so, maybe connected with my height. (I'm very tall and feel like shorter women just looked better with that sort of energetic bounce.) Any other things I need to keep in mind to get the right feeling?

Any hints would be appreciated

I am tall and I do a good one. The key for me is the lifting of the point of the pelvis (the illiac crest) up and into (toward) the lower ribcage while lifting the heel of the opposite foot. The engaged foot crosses the midline of the body (while pointed). I dont like an overly energetic "bounce" where the head goes up and down as the default movement. I like it to look controled and sassy.

Thanks for that! I didn't mean to imply it can't look great on tall dancers, I'm just used to having less trouble with slow movements because my limbs are so long and more trouble with fast and springy movements because it takes my arms and legs longer to get to the right place

When you talk about the pelvis lifting, is it on the side of the foot that crosses the body or the foot that stays on/closer to the ground? I tried it with the second version and golly, it's hard! Something for me to chew on for sure.

I can't quite explain how I do mine, but I know when I do them I do not actually leave the ground any more unless I am travelling, I feel my lower abs a lot when i do them, and I make a point of lifting the knee rather than lifting the foot. I also like to bring my knee across the median line of the body, but that is more about elegance than anything else (and I totally stole it from Hadia).

The tip that helped me the most was "jump down". This isn't a jump up it's a jump down into the ground.

Jump down..brilliant!

It is the free hip (the one that is unweighted) that lifts up and in. Unlike Zum, I dont use the knee, it stays fairly straight as I lift from the obliques, but I do cross the midline with the pointed foot. The lift on the opposite heel is a prepare for the down (when I put it heavily back on the floor - jump down) on the first heavy doum, and then switch weight to the other side on the 2 heavy doums. Repeat. I tell my students that it sould look easy and not create a sweat. The active obliques are the most engaged part of the body for this step. The heel drop is about 2 inches at most.

to add to the brilliant directions that the women above gave, stay lifted through your upper body, the breastbone raising up, and imagine a string from teh ceiling attached to your ponytail not allowing your head to tilt back or forward.

this helps to keep the bounce light, but proud.

Originally Posted by Zumarrad

(snip)The tip that helped me the most was "jump down". This isn't a jump up it's a jump down into the ground.

Yes!! I say 'bounce down', but same idea. And like Kina said, lifted ribcage/upper body. I would also add soft knees (front back, movement, not a deep bend, and not locked), strong thighs, and a steady head (I like to think of the nose staying steady myself).

I'm tall, too--we tall folk can achieve the bounce down vibe, and achieve it well! Watch lots of examples, play with it (and I do mean play, put on Saiidi music and dance and bounce down around).

1) accent on the down, yes!

2) Shoulders! Add a light shoulder shrug, also with the accent on the down. This creates a light, bouncy look.

Thank you so much! The accent on the down really helps, I just practiced it for a few minutes and it looks and feels so much better already. I concentrated way too much on bouncing up rather than down.

And this same technique of course applies to the other hopping saidi steps too, I think? (Like where you skip back or back and front.) Oooh, how much fun I'll have playing with this!

Originally Posted by Kjesta

Thank you so much! The accent on the down really helps, I just practiced it for a few minutes and it looks and feels so much better already. I concentrated way too much on bouncing up rather than down.

And this same technique of course applies to the other hopping saidi steps too, I think? (Like where you skip back or back and front.) Oooh, how much fun I'll have playing with this!

It's a revelation, isn't it? Zumarrad really nailed it with that one.

It's a revelation that extends through much of Egyptian dance, not just Saidi. In a workshop video where she's teaching a triple-step undulation travelling backward, I remember Raqia Hassan seeming almost frustrated by what her students were doing. She kept saying 'plie, plie' and finally she said 'is very much plie with my belly too' LOL Those Egyptians are always pushing downward, thinking downward...

It's not just Saidi dance. There's a strong, grounded, heavy-in-the-heels down accent in Lebanese dabke, too. Honestly, I wouldn't even worry too much about kicking or hopping until you've got a feeling for the basic groove. If you're forcing that, whatever else you try to do with it will look forced, too. These are the exercises I'd recommend:

Pick a medium-tempo piece of baladi music with a strong Saidi rhythm and just bounce your heels. Maintain your posture, but keep everything loose. Down, down, down, down. Nothing should feel over thought or forced.

Add a small shoulder shrug. When you lift your heels, raise your shoulders slightly. Let your shoulders fall (don't force them down in an obvious way) when you drop your heels. Down, down, down, down--nice and loose.

Go back to keeping your shoulders calm and try adding a tiny knee bend to the heel bounces. The knees often bounce in half time to the heels. Bend the knees just a little (an inch or so) on one heel bounce, and come back up on the next one. Heels are going down, down, down, down. Knees are going down, reset, down, reset. Remember the emphasis is still on the down and everything relaxed and springy. Don't worry if there's a little reverb on the level change--that happens when you're getting into it.

Can you do knees and shoulders together (knees at half time, shoulders at full time)? Try different variations, swaying while you bounce, side to side or front and back. Once you're comfortable with these exercises, you should have a good basis for layering other elements.

Wonderful advice and I never thought about engaging the whole body! I always concentrated on the feet and knees. So glad you asked this question Kjesta, thank you! I wish I had asked this years ago when I was struggling with it. I could never get it right so I try to substitute another move for the hops when they appear in a choreography! Now I plan to try the suggestion and see if I can get it right!

IMHO, everything is in a right posture and a right weight shifting. Be sure that your weight is equally distributed between your feet and you are tucked and your belly is sucked in. all movement have to start from the supportive leg . If you watched Delaila's video (level 1 especially), You will get in what i am saying. The rest is explained very well by Tourbeau

What - no one's mentioned actual weights?

When I was first learning Egyptian folkloric I had a hard time NOT being "cabaret" as we called it, that is, light on the feet. I remember trying to learn Bedouin and Ghawazee, it was hard for me to be "grounded" and earthy - so funny to think about now!

When I'm trying to teach that feeling to my students now, I'll sometimes have them put on ankle weights - those'll pull you right down to earth

I find it's helpful to remember that these "hops" are inspired by the movements of horses, which are weighty animals with a strong connection to the ground. Look at these horses--your legs are like the horse's front legs, but your upper body is more like the rider's in the way you relax into the lifting and dropping action of your legs:



(I'm on a work computer without sound, sorry if the music is obnoxious or anything like that)

Originally Posted by badriya_al_ahmar

I find it's helpful to remember that these "hops" are inspired by the movements of horses, which are weighty animals with a strong connection to the ground. Look at these horses--your legs are like the horse's front legs, but your upper body is more like the rider's in the way you relax into the lifting and dropping action of your legs:



(I'm on a work computer without sound, sorry if the music is obnoxious or anything like that)

arabians are the most beautiful horses on the planet, oh how incredibly gorgeous and fiery they are! love love love

sound (song) was not obnoxious - I can't remember the name but Karim Nagi has used it

Originally Posted by anthea

When I was first learning Egyptian folkloric I had a hard time NOT being "cabaret" as we called it, that is, light on the feet. I remember trying to learn Bedouin and Ghawazee, it was hard for me to be "grounded" and earthy - so funny to think about now!

I had one student who really struggled with folkloric dances - she had trained as a boxer for years and of course her whole MO was to keep her weight up and ready to go in any direction at any time - I imagine tennis players have the same tendency. It took her a long time to get comfortable with "weighting" a move.