Thread: totally turkish with ruby

has anyone tried ruby's totally turkish. her performances look awesome and fun. and she looks like such a good teacher in her previews.

any personal experiences here?

I bought it and worked with it last spring. I've performed it a few times and altered some tiny parts if it to better suit me.

I found the footwork to be the most challenging because it is FAST. Coming from an Egyptian style background, it was a very good learning experience for me. A respected Turkish Oriental and Turkish Rom dancer told me I'd see some "real" Turkish dancing in Istanbul with her so I think the styling in Ruby's choreography may lean more towards American Cabaret with a heavy Turkish base. ???

Here's a video from a very windy Canada Day performance. Typical me, I did fall out of the choreo a couple times (I'm such an improv dancer) but most of it is the choreography.

HalaJamal's Channel - YouTube

Oh! another very important thing: the actual music cut used in the choreography is hard to get.

I encourage everyone to buy the original CD, however, Benefse has been mega edited. I emailed Ruby for the choreo version and never heard from her. I emailed Michelle in desperation and she sent it to me ASAP. Bless her.

My friend who bought the DVD emailed Michelle recently and Michelle told her to email Ruby. What a tangled web!

For future DVD's with choreographies, I suggest making the music super accessible.

I'm curious about this, too! It looks challenging, but exciting.

thanx for the info. I've always stayed away from turkish dancing because I didn't want to do lots of hopping and stuff.

but I think i might try it out now.

for my next dancing dvd, i'm torn between totally turkish and Asharah's dvd. totally different but still looks cool, lol

Originally Posted by Hala Jamal

<...> I think the styling in Ruby's choreography may lean more towards American Cabaret with a heavy Turkish base. ???

Having studied Turkish for a while and having seen Ruby perform, I would say that her style is not pure old-school Turkish, but rather a more modern approach, influenced by an American bellydance background. She is a very strong dancer, with a lot of athleticism and energy. So, if one is looking for old-school Turkish oriental, that's not exactly what one will find. If one is looking for a more modern, American take, one will love it. I have talked to two friends who are very much into Turkish; one loves the DVD and has started to work with Ruby, the other is not crazy about it. I think the happy conclusion from seeing this variety is - Turkish is alive and kickin' and has many facets, it is not a dead branch of the bellydance tree, and it continues to develop.

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Ruby when she was in NYC (I think last year right when this DVD was coming out) and we did the same choreography, it was my first intro to Ruby and to turkish, and I had a blast.

Hala - I love watching you dance!!!

I have this DVD and I love it! I haven't gotten to really sit down and learn the choreography yet (waiting for the home studio to be done first) but I really like it. Ruby is a great dancer and it gave me a lot of ideas. One thing I am trying to work on it projecting better energy and I felt like this would help me.

I bought the song, Benefse, and have listened to it many times and noticed the original song I purchased seemed a lot longer. It has a particular part that is really drawn out and gets kind of boring to listen or dance to. I have a lot of other songs by the same artist (Hasan Isakkut) and his music has a tendency to get repetitive. I wonder how it was edited and if I could do it myself? I would like to try performing it some day!

Originally Posted by dima

I bought the song, Benefse, and have listened to it many times and noticed the original song I purchased seemed a lot longer. It has a particular part that is really drawn out and gets kind of boring to listen or dance to. I have a lot of other songs by the same artist (Hasan Isakkut) and his music has a tendency to get repetitive. I wonder how it was edited and if I could do it myself? I would like to try performing it some day!

In Turkish music, it is common to have instrumental solo improvisation in the middle of the song, it is what makes this music so exciting and one of the things that makes Turkish dance special. To me, especially a clarinet solo by a great artist is often so much better than the song itself. However, I agree, the improv in the middle of this tune does not strike me as a good example of the virtuosity of Turkish musicians.

You can easily shorten and edit out the improv section with Audacity.

Originally Posted by steffib

In Turkish music, it is common to have instrumental solo improvisation in the middle of the song, it is what makes this music so exciting and one of the things that makes Turkish dance special. To me, especially a clarinet solo by a great artist is often so much better than the song itself. However, I agree, the improv in the middle of this tune does not strike me as a good example of the virtuosity of Turkish musicians.

You can easily shorten and edit out the improv section with Audacity.

Certainly! And I do like a long improv section for listening to. But for dancing to it can sometimes be difficult. It's like a taxim that's 2 minutes long. It's beautiful, but holding an audience with that is going to be very difficult.

I checked out Audacity and will give it a try, thanks for the reference. I've been meaning to find a free music editing program. I have so many pieces of music that need tweaking to use for performance. I have one song that is like 17 minutes long and has a bunch of short versions of different songs. It's great but I can't use it to perform to as one big long piece. However, the different sections are very usable.

okay, thank you all so much for the help. I've seen didem dance and I know I SHOULD like her because denying that shes got skillz is pointless, but I just can't get into her. I don't like her dancing at all.

but I LOVE ruby's performances, lol.

thanx again. I think i might try it out.

The more I see of Ruby the more enchanted I am by her. I have this DVD and it is worth every penny. Fast-paced and challenging. I was looking this morning at her arms DVD and I will probably give in soon and order it.

i didn't even know ruby had a dvd for arms. whats it called?

Originally Posted by Ahava_Melantha

i didn't even know ruby had a dvd for arms. whats it called?

All About Arms with Ruby!

All About Arms with Ruby :: All DVDs :: Cheeky Girls Productions

It looks great! As does Flawless Floorowork:

Flawless Floorwork :: All DVDs :: Cheeky Girls Productions

Originally Posted by Hala Jamal

Oh! another very important thing: the actual music cut used in the choreography is hard to get.

I encourage everyone to buy the original CD, however, Benefse has been mega edited. I emailed Ruby for the choreo version and never heard from her. I emailed Michelle in desperation and she sent it to me ASAP. Bless her.

My friend who bought the DVD emailed Michelle recently and Michelle told her to email Ruby. What a tangled web!

For future DVD's with choreographies, I suggest making the music super accessible.

Sorry I missed your email, I'm usually pretty on it when someone asks me for the edit. Any one who has the DVD and wants the edited version let me know. I always prefer that people buy the CD as well to support Hasan. He's amazing and it is his art that I altered.

Happy Dancing ladies!!

Hi Ruby,
I have your DVD and love it. I downloaded the original music from Amazon or E music (been a while can't remember which) but I would love to have your edited version if you have time to email it. alexandriaraks@bellsouth.net
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Divinebelly

Sorry I missed your email, I'm usually pretty on it when someone asks me for the edit. Any one who has the DVD and wants the edited version let me know. I always prefer that people buy the CD as well to support Hasan. He's amazing and it is his art that I altered.

Happy Dancing ladies!!

So cool to see you dance Hala, you are just lovely!!!!!