Thread: basket dance?

While preparing a workshop on balancing, I came across baskets.
Now, is there an authentic basked folklore dance? Where they balance baskets on their heads?
All I remember are tribal groups doing this.

MEISSOUN

The only thing I know about it is I learned a "Folkloric Basket Dance" from a dancer named Mahalia on the Arabian Nites cruise. It was a cute and fun dance - but I can't vouch for its authenticity. I'm not remembering any balancing being involved though...

I checked YouTube again - our trusted source ..g.:
Nothing but Tribal groups... Although some make it quite folky looking. So basked dance is an authentic ATS folklore dance!

MEISSOUN

I haven't encountered any culturally traditional basket dances in my own studies. That's not to say there aren't any, just that I haven't found any so far. The basket dances I've seen have been westerners wanting to add a folkloric flavor to their performances.

In the troupe I belonged to years ago we balanced baskets on our heads in our Tunisian dance, but I wouldn't swear that it was authentic -- it may have been an idea that we came up with on our own, or that we got from someone else we saw doing it.

Did you know that there is such a thing as TeacherTube???

Apparently there is a native American basket dance...
TeacherTube - Alabama-Coushatta Basket Dance
http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/...data&brand=oac

Which bring us back to "American" Tribal Style ..l;,

What about Nubian basket dance?
Nubischer Korbtanz

MEISSOUN

I've seen several Nubian dances that incorporate large, flat baskets. Habiba's troupe uses them very effectively.

Most of the basket dances I've seen, though, are more in the category Shira mentioned: "westerners wanting to add a folkloric flavor to their performances." I learned such a dance in my early student years. It involved Ghawazee coats, harem pants, and steps with names like "the hussy." Definitely "fakelore." ..l;,

Originally Posted by meissoun

What about Nubian basket dance?
Nubischer Korbtanz

MEISSOUN

Ah, good point regarding Nubian. I haven't dug into Nubian deeply enough to know whether the basket usage is indeed indigenous to the dance, or something added by folk troupes to enhance the theatrical effect. It's a good question to think about for the next time I'm talking to someone who would know!

We do a "Bedouin Basket Dance" where we balance baskets on our heads, do floor work while balancing them, etc.

We are not tribal dancers. This is a folkloric dance. However, I don't think it's authentic in the sense that it was a dance commonly done in the ME. I think, rather, that it uses authentic elements of Bedouin costuming and music (mizmar music), but otherwise it isn't an authentic folk dance, but a representation of women carrying baskets to market, often on their heads.

It was choreographed by my instructor, who is not middle-Eastern, although she has travelled in Egypt, and some of her folkloric stuff comes (with permission) from dancers like Denise Enan, who is originally from Egypt and performed with an Egyptian Folkloric troupe at one time. Our version of El Hagallah was choreographed by Denise, for example, but I don't think our basket dance was.

Originally Posted by Shalimah

We do a "Bedouin Basket Dance" where we balance baskets on our heads, do floor work while balancing them, etc.

We are not tribal dancers. This is a folkloric dance. However, I don't think it's authentic in the sense that it was a dance commonly done in the ME. I think, rather, that it uses authentic elements of Bedouin costuming and music (mizmar music), but otherwise it isn't an authentic folk dance, but a representation of women carrying baskets to market, often on their heads.

It was choreographed by my instructor, who is not middle-Eastern, although she has travelled in Egypt, and some of her folkloric stuff comes (with permission) from dancers like Denise Enan, who is originally from Egypt and performed with an Egyptian Folkloric troupe at one time. Our version of El Hagallah was choreographed by Denise, for example, but I don't think our basket dance was.

I've done 4 or 5 full days with Denise on Bedouin dance - not an awful lot I admit - but there was never any suggestion that baskets were used at all. And with the costume floorwork is pretty impossible.

Like Shira, I have never come across any dance from the Middle East that uses baskets. Tunisian uses jugs though.

Some feedback from over at the German forum:

There's a dancer who does Fellahi basket dance. Not much of it is balancing, but she has seen an Egyptian folklore group who had it as part of their show.

So I guess, the balancing can be done as a short part in a folk dance, but mostly you are showing the daily work with it. Extensive balancing is definitely ATS fakelore.

MEISSOUN

Originally Posted by meissoun

Some feedback from over at the German forum:

There's a dancer who does Fellahi basket dance. Not much of it is balancing, but she has seen an Egyptian folklore group who had it as part of their show.

So I guess, the balancing can be done as a short part in a folk dance, but mostly you are showing the daily work with it. Extensive balancing is definitely ATS fakelore.

MEISSOUN

Yes, but the Reda Fellahi basket dance is also fake lore - unless you are happy to accept invented traditions as folklore. Perhaps best put in the same basket as milaya lef.

In one of our Fallahi dances (the Strawberry Dance), we use baskets and balance them for a short period....authentic? Probably more fantasy. Also when we dance Tunisian Bounawara we sometimes use a Tunisian style basket which is kind of like a beach basket.