Thread: What is Galabeya?

I'll admit to the huuuge gaps in my ME dance education. I think it's time I go back to school...

I actually own several "modern" ones (similar to #13 or #28) and I want to know from those who've studied this and know, culturally and/or historically, what is the story behind galabeya, what types of dance(s) are performed wearing galabeya?

Thanking you in advance for your knowledge and expertise!

Originally Posted by Azhia

I'll admit to the huuuge gaps in my ME dance education. I think it's time I go back to school...

I actually own several "modern" ones (similar to #13 or #28) and I want to know from those who've studied this and know, culturally and/or historically, what is the story behind galabeya, what types of dance(s) are performed wearing galabeya?

Thanking you in advance for your knowledge and expertise!

That's a very "dancer" version of the gelabaya.
I'll try to find that picture of Fifi in her white "trad" one doing her shisha routine.
I would imagine it's take off of the man's everyday version which is really just a long A-line shaped garment made of substantial shirt cotton with a button oppening and stand-up collar. I have one on blue.They are usually grey, grey/brown or blue or white
Every other guy in Egypt wears one.

http://www.bhuz.com/index.php?cmd=/p...uploaded_6104/

Not a good photo but our lovely Egyptologist wearing his on the gelabaya night!

and there's 2 others: one of me and another guest in one . Mine's a Hannan dancer one of course and one of Fifi in a Shisha dance.

Gallabiya is the word for "dress" or "robe". It can be either men's garment or a women's garment. To see what a traditional men's gallabiya looks like, go to this link Folkwear Sewing Patterns: Caravan styles and pick the choice for "Egyptian shirt" and then imagine that shirt taken full-length to the floor. The color I have most often seen men wearing in Egypt is kind of an ecru; basically, the color of unbleached muslin. Other colors I've seen are dark brown, light blue, and light green. Sometimes they are red and white narrow stripes, blue and white, or green and white.

Women's gallabiyas can be bold colors, like red, yellow, turquoise, etc. Women's usually have some kind of embroidery on the yoke and sometimes on the hem. The most traditional I've seen have used soutache embroidery, but you sometimes see cross stitch (or machine embroidery imitation of cross stitch) or machine satin stitch. People sometimes refer to the women's gallabiyas as "baladi dresses". They would be worn for Saidi or baladi folkloric dancing.

What Shira and Latifa said. I want to add that the plain white galabeya that Fifi wears to smoke shisha and dance is a man's galabeya. The point of the dance is that she's wearing a man's garment and sitting (or walking) around smoking the shisha (water pipe) at a cafe, which is something that is pretty much only done by men in Egypt. Her doing it in her nightclub show is her poking fun at the tradition as well as her being a "bad girl", doing traditionaly masculine things in public.

Nice, this is exactly the kind of information I seek. Thanks and keep it coming...

So as far as dance galabeya, more appropriate dance forms would be Saidi or baladi folkloric. I guess it is okay then, having seen Soraya Zayed do it, don a modern/dancer galabeya as part of an Oriental dance show and for the most part perform Oriental dance with some shprinkling of saidi and/or baladi folkloric dancing?

Originally Posted by lizajuk

That's a very "dancer" version of the gelabaya.
I'll try to find that picture of Fifi in her white "trad" one doing her shisha routine.
I would imagine it's take off of the man's everyday version which is really just a long A-line shaped garment made of substantial shirt cotton with a button oppening and stand-up collar. I have one on blue.They are usually grey, grey/brown or blue or white
Every other guy in Egypt wears one.

I think the A-line one is traditional Saidi, while most other guys in Egypt wear a pretty straight-cut one, but maybe the Saidi one is just an exaggerated A-line. Saidi galabiya's are pretty impressive, what with their flaring skirts and sleeves and scarves to match

Galabiya is the Egyptian pronunciation of a very common word throughout the Arabophone countries. For example, North Africans wear jellaba's (djellaba's) with those cute little hoods. Plural: jelbab.

Originally Posted by kamilia

I think the A-line one is traditional Saidi, while most other guys in Egypt wear a pretty straight-cut one, but maybe the Saidi one is just an exaggerated A-line. Saidi galabiya's are pretty impressive, what with their flaring skirts and sleeves and scarves to match.

I think the flared ones are rural rather than urban. That bit is practical as then the "skirt" can be wrapped around the legs for working. Not sure where the sleeves come from - I suspect it is a recent stage adaptation. Anyone got any pre-1950 photos with big sleeves? All images I have of rural women have fitted sleeves.

Originally Posted by kashmir

I think the flared ones are rural rather than urban. That bit is practical as then the "skirt" can be wrapped around the legs for working. Not sure where the sleeves come from - I suspect it is a recent stage adaptation. Anyone got any pre-1950 photos with big sleeves? All images I have of rural women have fitted sleeves.

I was talking about the mens' sleeves, and this is what I saw S3aidi men wearing in Egypt recently. They weren't dressed for stage, although compared to every other Cairo resident, they certainly seemed to be...

Plus, I think the word for "unisex dress thingy" used throughout Arabophonia is jilbab. I might have messed up on what the plural would be for jeleba. But I do remember some Moroccan telling me that the plural of jeleba was jilbab, but then again, I heard a lot of things from this person...What to do?