Thread: My choreography to 'El Fen'

Hi

A while back, on the old board I'm sure there was a discussion about this piece because someone was trying to choreograph it?

I finally have a video of my interpretation. My main theme was 'what would Randa do?!' LOL. Not really, but i want to include more expansive dramatic movements and the best way to get them into your body is put them in a choreo. My hands/arms at the beginning are no where near as controlled and nice as I wanted and there a few dodgy moments that miss the mark, but overall it didn't make me want to curl up and die the way most vids do when you first get them!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPj3zTfT7LU

I think that is the link, YouTube was being a bit odd with me

Zaf

I don't really have any constructive ideas or suggestions, I just wanted to congratulate you. I really enjoyed your performance, I think your movements and costuming are beautiful! You should be proud.

Natalie

That was very nice!

MEISSOUN

Gorgeous! Lovely expressive choreography and performance - well done!

C x

Hey Zafirah! It was me who'd done the El Fen Choreo - it is so neat to see your interpretation. We did big juicy hip circles at the same time, heel drops and shimmies when the kanoun kicks in, and hit a few of the same accents but otherwise it's a completely different interpretation of the song.

Beautiful!

Very nice, thank you for posting!

Love the song, and love what you did with it!

I've been working on my own choreo to it, and it's fun to see that you and I put Arabesques in at the same spots! But as Adishakti said, aside from that our interpretations are quite different.

Nice presentation and you look marvelous. very lovely cossie.

I can't access you tube at work, but if this is the choreo you did that I saw recently in the lilac costume, I'd like to say that everyones jaws dropped during the dance, and I almost didn't think it was the same dance when I saw it on the DVD. I bumped into someone in the loo who said to me, gosh, aren't you glad you didn't have to follow THAT!

It's amazing how much recording things takes away from them. I mean, you see a shimmy, then you move to get a better angle duing the show - on the video, you have a mono view which hides things at times.

Loved the floating feeling the dance had, and you look WOW !! and very elegant.
Maria Aya

Hi

Thanks for the nice comments here and on youtube. . .and from some people i really respect as well. I'm a real attention whore today aren't i?!! I'm very happy with my choreography, there are just few bits of the execution part i think i could work on.

I'm glad people get my choreography. I got the feeling that most random punters didn't/wouldn't so I wanted to share with fellow dancers. I deliberately decided that all the main tune parts should all be arabesquey and i needed to think up a way to vary the arms/intensity etc to add variety and reflect the build ups in the music. and then contrast with very simple Qanoon bit which is pretty much just shimmying on the spot and some random dramatic stillness.

Caroline - Yes it is the hafla you mention. Yep DVD isn't great medium (especially a fairly 'home made' hafla one) but hey. I think in real life you could see the amount of muscle control, strength and effort going into the moves wheras on DVd its just 'oh she swooshed her leg'.

Zaf

Yay! That was very lovely. ,r:;

So elegant and graceful! I really enjoyed watching it.

I like it! You have nice arms. That's a really fun song. I'll have to go find it... ; )

Could. I. Sound. More. Choppy?

Originally Posted by je_ateek

I like it! You have nice arms. That's a really fun song. I'll have to go find it... ; )

Could. I. Sound. More. Choppy?

LOL. Why, no. Chandler. ..l;,

Ok, here it goes.

After all these other ones, I'm going to be the nasty person .

You made great dance. You have great power and a lot of nice stuff. So over all very good!

There were a couple things I would say to you, if I were your teacher. If I saw this live, there could be something else, but the youtube is very small.

As for technique:
When you make your arabesques, don't lift you leg, from your leg. Instead hold your tights together. Lift from your buttocks. In front arabesque lift from your lower tummy. Even if you lift your leg from side or make arc (?) with your leg, have the feeling of your tights being together and use those muscles.

Edited to add: As for the arabesques, really lift your hands from your back. in 2:35 when you travel backwards, it looks like you are just throwing your hands away - not very nice. Make the movement from your back muscles.

As for music:

I would include more variations of the 8s and circles and other soft movements. Variations as in speed and size. Really use all the layering there is in the music. That's really important in Egyptian style.

Oh I really would want to see this live and get my hands on you. You have so much good, so it really would be nice to push you forward.

Originally Posted by outi

Ok, here it goes.

After all these other ones, I'm going to be the nasty person .

You made great dance. You have great power and a lot of nice stuff. So over all very good!

There were a couple things I would say to you, if I were your teacher. If I saw this live, there could be something else, but the youtube is very small.

As for technique:
When you make your arabesques, don't lift you leg, from your leg. Instead hold your tights together. Lift from your buttocks. In front arabesque lift from your lower tummy. Even if you lift your leg from side or make arc (?) with your leg, have the feeling of your tights being together and use those muscles.

Edited to add: As for the arabesques, really lift your hands from your back. in 2:35 when you travel backwards, it looks like you are just throwing your hands away - not very nice. Make the movement from your back muscles.

As for music:

I would include more variations of the 8s and circles and other soft movements. Variations as in speed and size. Really use all the layering there is in the music. That's really important in Egyptian style.

Oh I really would want to see this live and get my hands on you. You have so much good, so it really would be nice to push you forward.

Hi Outi, thanks for your input. My arms in the bit at 2:35 is one of the bits that makes me cringe so I am well aware that bit needs more work!

It's interesting what you say about the arabesques, I can see in the video what you mean. Funny I am constantly picking these same things up in students (arabesques are not driven by throwing your leg about, support the arms from the back). The set of arabesques where my leg is really high, that was on purpose but i can still see something in my posture in the other ones that is not quite right, I will experiment with your suggestions, its a nice wake up call because I thought I was using my lower abs and glutes more than most (but still not quite enough).

Other things I am aware of - my stupid flappy first hand movement - i did flamenco for a bit, there is no excuse for that bit being so lame! Sometimes I stop too much when i change direction or combination.

Anyway

I'd love to have someone pick me apart live . . .it seems to be hard for me to find someone . . even harder to find someone who can pick apart my musical interpretation (there a few people i can 'look up to' for this) . . .so if I'm ever in Cairo again (won't be for at least a year) I will definitely look you up.

Z

Originally Posted by outi

Ok, here it goes.


As for technique:
When you make your arabesques, don't lift you leg, from your leg. Instead hold your tights together. Lift from your buttocks. In front arabesque lift from your lower tummy. Even if you lift your leg from side or make arc (?) with your leg, have the feeling of your tights being together and use those muscles.

Edited to add: As for the arabesques, really lift your hands from your back. in 2:35 when you travel backwards, it looks like you are just throwing your hands away - not very nice. Make the movement from your back muscles.

I really, really loved the clip. But I was actually going to make the same comment as Outi - watch the lifted leg on those arabesques! But other than that, it was GREAT!!

What do you mean by "holding your tights together?" I have trouble with this kind of thing too. Thanks!

I love it! I favorited it on youtube.

Originally Posted by je_ateek

What do you mean by "holding your tights together?" I have trouble with this kind of thing too. Thanks!

I'm guessing that Outi meant to say thighs. Crazy English spelling.

It's always hard to know on bhuz who wants criticism and who doesn't and who will take it from everyone or just some.

Outi - your comments were great to read because there was something bugging me about the arabesques but I couldn't articulate more than thinking they looked stiff or forced but beats me how to fix something like that. I thought it was more of a hesitation than anything body mechanics wise. Hard to see on video what's going on. (sorry Zaf, open door becomes gaping hole! but it's all just nit-picking b/c it's a delightful performance)

Hi everyone,

When we are talking the arabesques that need work are you talking about all of them or

a) ones at about 1:36
b) about 2:34
c) the ones about 3.00 which aren't really arabesques more some sort of Dina inspired thing?

I would say the ones in a) are my 'normal' arabesques although, yes my leg isn't as controlled as I would like but in the heat of performance things are never quite as good as they are when I practice.

The ones in b) are deliberately different and the leg is deliberately lifted quite high and the arms as dramatic and expansive as possible as the music steps up a notch. This is more bourne out of me finding out the things my body is capable of since I really started working on my muscles at the gym and the NYC ballet workout and not necessarily an attempt at a move I've seen anyone else do. It's good to have things of your own ;-). I actually intended there to be a slight pause in these as there is in the music a . .um sort of accent at the end of the phrase and i intended the peak of the extension of all limbs to hit this accent, this is probably what is making those ones look stiff. This is fun being able to dissect it like this.

Now my ones in a) do they look stiff too?, or do they just need to be a tad more controlled and driven from the core?

Z

I thought overall the leg out and around (whether arabesque, to the side or to the back) movements looked a stiff, but Zafirah, I never thought it looked like a control issue. You're a strong dancer and that is evident.

It could be that there are simply a lot of leg kick out things so they invite scrutiny, particularly in the skirt style which gives the leg a featured role.

Watching again - I can see what Outi is saying about where to drive the movement from. I guess that's similar to driving an arm movement from the shoulder/back muscles as opposed to the arm itself.

It's a nice choreography and if I can watch youtube stuff a few times all the way through, I know I enjoy it. ..g.:

I'm working hard on arabesques myself at the moment, so Outi's advice is really helpful, I'm going to work on it myself.

Zaf, I hesitate to give advice 'cuz overall I'm not a better dancer than you! But I find I get a better hand movement if I try to hold my fingers relatively still in relation to my arm and focus on circling *the wrist itself* around that midline. (it's sort of the opposite/inverse of a flamenco gesture where the fingers are circling around the wrist).

It's easier to see what I mean if you plant your longest (usually middle) fingertip against a wall or surface, then try to circle the wrist around the midline. That's the exercise I give my students. Then step away from the wall and see if you can continue the circling while the fingers hole relatively still in space. Hands very soft, except the center two fingers, which are firmly extended.

****, Lauren, when was this a requirement? I must have missed the memo...g.:

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Zaf, I hesitate to give advice 'cuz overall I'm not a better dancer than you!
.

Originally Posted by danidance

****, Lauren, when was this a requirement? I must have missed the memo...g.:

LOL! Not a requirement, but I figure if I don't acknowledge it, the act of giving advice might come off as 'dancier-than-thou', y'know?

.w.:
Proposed formula:
advice

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I figure if I don't acknowledge it, the act of giving advice might come off as 'dancier-than-thou', y'know?

Aiwa!
I thought it was stunning!

I still have trouble with arabesques. The way my gorgeous teacher taught me was to face a wall, plant your palms on it, and stand back a little, so that your elbows are soft. Now, try to lift your leg behind you and around to the side while keeping the hips LEVEL and completely parallel to the wall. Leg needs to be turned out, ballet style. Toes pointed, obviously. This was good exercise to pinpoint the muscles I needed to engage when doing arabesques.