Thread: Meleya Leff??

Hello,
I've been dancing for awhile now, but being exposed to Bhuz has opened me up to new information that I would like to learn more about.
I was wondering if anyone could give me a brief explanation of what a Meleya Leff is. Also, if anyone has resource so I could learn more about this dance I would be very grateful. Thank you!

Nesbit

It is a dance developed my Mahmoud Reda. It is a stage tableau that tells a story about young ladies from Cairo or Alexandria flirty wtih fishermen using their heavy melaya modesty veil.

Like this:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoMR6SXcAUE]YouTube - Sahra Saeeda - Melaya Laff[/ame]

Thank you that was wonderful...
visual examples usually work best with me :) and now I have another belly dancer to research.

Sahra was wonderful! Thank-you for posting the link.

The only time you can be chomping on gum while dancing ;)

Originally Posted by cheerybelly

The only time you can be chomping on gum while dancing ;)

I, too, am learning about Melaya Leff. Can anyone explain why, in some stage performances, you see the dancer chewing gum??

A melaya is a large sheet of fabric (over 3m long) the women of Alexandria used to wear as a modesty wrap when in public (most common in the 19th and early 20th century, but some baladi women still wear them). Since the women were expected to be so covered, you can imagine the creativity they may have used to gain the attention of the sailors while they were out to market (Alexandria is a port city). They could wrap the melaya nice and tight to show their curves and strut their stuff, "accidentally" expose a shoulder every so often, etc.

It's not really folklore, but rather a character portrayal turned into a dance by Fifi Abdou and Mahmoud Reda.

There are a number of things that are commonly done in the character portrayal, but I'm sure what's right and what's wrong could be argued depending upon where a dancer has done her research. Mine is admittedly limited to a handful of workshops and videos, and I've not done much reading on the women of Alexandria to be able to say what I know is in fact, correct.

However, if you really wanted to get the character portrayal bang-on, you could to do some research on the clothing and music of the time, versus studying staged dance representations.... but that isn't always as easy as it seems.
That said, here are some common traits of the "dance", and since it isn't folklore, is open to individual interpretation.

- generally done to beledi music
- usually the dancer wears a knee-length, bright colored dress with ruffles on the hem and one shoulder
- a melaya is always black
- usually the dancer wears little slip on heels called "ship ship" which are usually kicked off part way through the dance.
-dancer often wears a triangular headwrap w/brightly colored pom poms called a "mandil".
- dancer wears a crocheted face veil called a bur'a.
- dancer often carries a woven basket to mimic her visit at the market.

Originally Posted by Andalee914

I, too, am learning about Melaya Leff. Can anyone explain why, in some stage performances, you see the dancer chewing gum??

It is my understanding that gum is considered rather vulgar in Egypt, and the original depiction of Reda's Alexandrian or Cairene girl was of a sort of loose-ish, unmannered bumpkin flirting with men inappropriately. The gum goes with the character (perhaps added in later - I don't think gum was in the original), as does a dress that shows a knee, flashy colors/embellishment, and ruffles (which would be considered an extraneous use of fabric and therefore showy and immodest).

Originally Posted by nasila

It is my understanding that gum is considered rather vulgar in Egypt, and the original depiction of Reda's Alexandrian or Cairene girl was of a sort of loose-ish, unmannered bumpkin flirting with men inappropriately. The gum goes with the character (perhaps added in later - I don't think gum was in the original), as does a dress that shows a knee, flashy colors/embellishment, and ruffles (which would be considered an extraneous use of fabric and therefore showy and immodest).

Thanks, Nasila! ,r:;

Some things I learned in the past few days from Sahra at the JTE 1 & 2 workshops (other JTE students, please correct me if I am wrong here):

-Sahra emphasized that the meleya is the modesty garment. So you are doing a dance with a meleya, not actually doing a Meleya Leff dance (since such an actual dance doesn't exist). It is a chance to take on a persona on stage. You are a good girl who covers up when she goes out, but takes the opportunity to be a bit flirty.

-The girls would be chewing a substance similar to what is used to make incense. It keeps the breath fresh. It is not to be confused with a street-walker persona who often chews gum.

I will check my notes for more info . . .

Originally Posted by kiyaana

-The girls would be chewing a substance similar to what is used to make incense. It keeps the breath fresh. It is not to be confused with a street-walker persona who often chews gum.

Interesting...Sahra said that she herself has used chewing gum on occasion while doing this dance (even stretched it way out of her mouth and put it back in). I didn't know about the incense-y stuff.

The melaya is the fabric garment and leff/luff is referring to how it's wrapped, right?

Oh, yeah - I'm sure gum is a substitute.

Yes, you're right that it's just the meleya part that's actually the garment. I should probably edit my other post.

Originally Posted by nasila

Interesting...Sahra said that she herself has used chewing gum on occasion while doing this dance (even stretched it way out of her mouth and put it back in). I didn't know about the incense-y stuff.

The melaya is the fabric garment and leff/luff is referring to how it's wrapped, right?

Originally Posted by kiyaana

Yes, you're right that it's just the meleya part that's actually the garment.

Thanks to you and Nasila for stressing this. It bugs me to no end when people talk about using their "luff" for "melaya" (in fact I think it might even be described that way on Dahlal's web site). ARGH

Nisaa

Originally Posted by nasila

Interesting...Sahra said that she herself has used chewing gum on occasion while doing this dance (even stretched it way out of her mouth and put it back in).

And I have Nadia Hamdi on video doing exactly the same thing.

I love Melaya. I've heard it termed as folkloric dancing and never heard about the basket part, everything else though. So I learned something new too! I've heard it termed as "Eskandarani" as well. Is that correct?

BDF

Some dancers chew gum but you don't necessarily have to. I borrowed a very old Mahmoud Reda video from my teacher that you can't even buy it's that old...Anyways, it has Reda troupe performances and a group dance of women dancing with a melaya but they're not chewing gum.

Bellydancefanatic, I've also heard it described as Eskandarani.

Originally Posted by akashablue

Some dancers chew gum but you don't necessarily have to. I borrowed a very old Mahmoud Reda video from my teacher that you can't even buy it's that old...Anyways, it has Reda troupe performances and a group dance of women dancing with a melaya but they're not chewing gum.

I believe Shira did an interview with Reda himself, who said gum chewing was not part of his original tableaux, and he was not a huge fan of the addition.

Maybe it's just me, but I find the contrast between having a modesty veil and wearing a hoochie-mama dress very jarring and weird. Hide the face but out come the boobs, arms and legs? Educate me...

Originally Posted by Halima-Dances

Maybe it's just me, but I find the contrast between having a modesty veil and wearing a hoochie-mama dress very jarring and weird. Hide the face but out come the boobs, arms and legs? Educate me...

There are a few excerpts in Reveal and Conceal that lead me to believe that the meleya is more of an immodest modesty wrap anyway...kind of like the jacket a young girl would put on to appease her dad before she left the house in her tube top and daisy dukes. A truly pious woman would be much more covered.

I believe Eskandarani is simply a reference to Alexandria.

Originally Posted by Halima-Dances

Maybe it's just me, but I find the contrast between having a modesty veil and wearing a hoochie-mama dress very jarring and weird. Hide the face but out come the boobs, arms and legs? Educate me...

To quote Adishakti:

Originally Posted by Adishakti

Since the women were expected to be so covered, you can imagine the creativity they may have used to gain the attention of the sailors while they were out to market (Alexandria is a port city). They could wrap the melaya nice and tight to show their curves and strut their stuff, "accidentally" expose a shoulder every so often, etc.

Nasila is spot on too.

Originally Posted by nasila

I believe Eskandarani is simply a reference to Alexandria.

Eskandarani is the name used for Alexandria in Arabic. However, it also refers to the fisherman dances from Alexandria.

As for Melaya Leff - there are two "rivaling" scenes in Egypt - Alexandria and Cairo. I dont really know if it's just healthy competition or they actually dont like each other - but from my understanding there is a difference in the urban cultures, accents and somewhat in stylization of dance styles of the two cities... I often hear the term "Cairo Melaya" and "Alexandrian"... I guess it refers more to the difference in character. Whereas Cairo would be the big urban city with big buildings and craziness, Alexandria is a costal city with sailors and a more laidback feel.

I guess you could see it is:
- Balady girl in the big city amazed at all the cool stuff
VS
- girl trying to get attention from the sailors

DaVid

Originally Posted by david

As for Melaya Leff - there are two "rivaling" scenes in Egypt - Alexandria and Cairo. I dont really know if it's just healthy competition or they actually dont like each other - but from my understanding there is a difference in the urban cultures, accents and somewhat in stylization of dance styles of the two cities... I often hear the term "Cairo Melaya" and "Alexandrian"... I guess it refers more to the difference in character. Whereas Cairo would be the big urban city with big buildings and craziness, Alexandria is a costal city with sailors and a more laidback feel.

I was talking to another dancer about this recently (atareen, are you there?)! Yes, there is a different kind of Meleya I've seen where the dancer wears a form fitting galabeya as opposed to the short ruffled dress and ship ship. There seems to be very little peekabo/unwrapping, lots of meleya flinging, and it seems to be more often than not done to pop music. The Meleya choreographies I've seen by Aida Nour (in person) and Raqia Hassan (on video) seem to be more this "Cairo" type.

Would you concurr, daVid? Or am I hallucinating again?

so how did you ladies learn about this, from your instructors? cause i never heard my instructor even mention this in the 2 years i've been with her and i'm wondering if it's because it can be deemed inappropriate in some places (b/c of the flirtiness)?
would this be considered more of a "traditional" kind of dance or is it more "made up"?

Originally Posted by zfejzic

so how did you ladies learn about this, from your instructors? cause i never heard my instructor even mention this in the 2 years i've been with her and i'm wondering if it's because it can be deemed inappropriate in some places (b/c of the flirtiness)?
would this be considered more of a "traditional" kind of dance or is it more "made up"?

It's really NOT a dance, it's a character study. It's "traditional" in the sense that it portrays a culturally-specific character. I think mostly dancers who are fairly steeped in Egyptian style are the ones who would know about melaya leff. If your instructor is from a different style, it wouldn't have much relevance.

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

It's really NOT a dance, it's a character study. It's "traditional" in the sense that it portrays a culturally-specific character. I think mostly dancers who are fairly steeped in Egyptian style are the ones who would know about melaya leff. If your instructor is from a different style, it wouldn't have much relevance.

it seems like it's hard to teach. her style is rooted in egyptian but being that i've only joined troupe last season and have been in technique class w/her that involves older women who are there for more fitness and to perform for the showcase, i can see y she wouldn't mention it to begin with.

i'll ask her about it tonight tho, i'm curious to hear what she'll say

Originally Posted by zfejzic

it seems like it's hard to teach. her style is rooted in egyptian but being that i've only joined troupe last season and have been in technique class w/her that involves older women who are there for more fitness and to perform for the showcase, i can see y she wouldn't mention it to begin with.

i'll ask her about it tonight tho, i'm curious to hear what she'll say

Yeah, it just might not have come up in the context of your class. I teach Egyptian style, and I've only brought up melaya on a handful of occasions, because by and large most students (except a handful of the really hard-core) aren't that interested in something quite this esoteric.

This is why it's great for the hard-core nerds to have resources like Bhuz!

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

Yeah, it just might not have come up in the context of your class. I teach Egyptian style, and I've only brought up melaya on a handful of occasions, because by and large most students (except a handful of the really hard-core) aren't that interested in something quite this esoteric.

This is why it's great for the hard-core nerds to have resources like Bhuz!

yess bhuz has taught me a lot :) very glad i'm a bhuzzer :)

Originally Posted by laura 2

I was talking to another dancer about this recently (atareen, are you there?)! Yes, there is a different kind of Meleya I've seen where the dancer wears a form fitting galabeya as opposed to the short ruffled dress and ship ship. There seems to be very little peekabo/unwrapping, lots of meleya flinging, and it seems to be more often than not done to pop music. The Meleya choreographies I've seen by Aida Nour (in person) and Raqia Hassan (on video) seem to be more this "Cairo" type.

Would you concurr, daVid? Or am I hallucinating again?

Same with my instructor. Faten Salama wears a galabeya, so she's more of the Cairo style. I didn't understand this until I looked more into it. Interesting.

BDF

Originally Posted by laura 2

I was talking to another dancer about this recently (atareen, are you there?)! Yes, there is a different kind of Meleya I've seen where the dancer wears a form fitting galabeya as opposed to the short ruffled dress and ship ship. ...

The costume (galabeya vs. short dress) isn't necessarily a Cairo vs. Alexandra thing. There are simply a couple of different ways you can dress for melaya leff, depending on the characterization you want, etc. The short, ruffled dress was introduced by Reda and, as I understand, was meant to be representative of the idea of a young woman dressed in her finery or youthful, trendier clothing underneath the wrap. It's not representative of a folk costume from Alexandria or anything of the sort.

(In this spirit, ladies in my troupe wore contemporary holiday party dresses and modern hair ornaments under their melaya for a recent "modern melaya leff" performance. There was also a "man" character in the piece complete with cell phone/camera phone. Still, the dance style was the same and the point came across the same.;-)

The galabaya, on the otherhand, would generally seem more representative of the country/balady girl in the city--regardless of which city that may be. It's more similar to the shape/style of more traditional clothing...though in the case of the costumes Laura2 describes, admitedly, muuuuuch tighter and flashier. (So I guess maybe some of the youthful, flirtatious, trying to be modern quality is still coming through in those.:-)