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Most folkloric dance in Egypt, as it is done now,owes its origin ultimately to one man, Mahmoud Reda, who formed the Reda troupe with his brother Ali and set about recreating folk dances for the stage. Farida Fahmy, Ali's wife was the principal dancer in the troupe.Sadly a lot of the original styles have been lost or changed beyond recognition like the dance of the Western Desert, the hagellah. Some dances were specifically made up for the stage like the Melaya dance and the fellahin water pot dance (see below).

For more information on Mahmoud Reda and the Reda troupe read this interview with him by Morocco (USA dancer and dance historian)

www.casbahdance.org/RedaInterview.htm

Another fabulous resource is Farida Fahmy's own website which includes this history of the Reda troupe and many archive photographs

Two very different DVDs that show an important side of the history of Egyptian folk dance are Dances of Egypt collected by dance historian Aisha Ali and Reda Troupe Egyptian Folklor.

Dances of Egypt show the folk dances like raks assaya,bambutaya,tahtib how they were still being done in the 1970s in a collection of videos filmed by Aisha Ali on her travels through Egypt.These people are dancers but not stage dancers-so it may give a truer picture of what the dances once looked like. It also includes rare footage of the last dancing Ghawazee dancers the Maazin sisters and shows belly dancers and shaabi singers performing at ordinary Egyptian weddings.

Reda troupe Egyptian Folklore-shows the Reda troupe dancing at the pyramids.They perform among other dances the fellahin waterpot dance, the hagallah and a wonderful extra bonus is a performance of Fifi Abdo (see Egyptian dancers page) who is on top of her form as she dances baladi and stick.

From: Upper Egypt - Luxor area.Photo of man doing stick dance on the Nile Pharon dinner cruise boat

Originally a mans dance. It began as a fighting dance Tahtib. Watch this short documentary shot in Egypt of the non theatrical version of tahtib.Its fascinating stuff unfortunately the commentary is in Arabic. I would love to know what is being said.

The dance has been changed and refined for the stage by Mahmoud Reda.

Watch this video of a man dancing double stick. The steps are typical of how the mans dance is done today

This is interesting watch Tito the self styled king of stick, who has taken stick dancing and added all sorts of tricks. here he is with 4 sticks

A galabeya, there are quite a few modern takes on the galabeya that are very glamourous using stretch fabric and cut out fronts with separate bras. Here is Soraya in one

Trouser suit costumes are becoming very popular alternatives to the galabeya. Here is Randa wearing one

A cane-can be an ordinary walking stick. Alternatives are sequinned canes,gold or silver coloured canes or girly versions of the mans staff - a straight stick with no curly bit.

Reminder photos of how to hold the stick

Hold the stick as picture

To find down and up pressure points
Rest stick on shoulder Close fingers over stick apply pressure to lift stick off shoulder-that bit is your down pressure bit

Let your hand fall open as stick goes down

Use point at the base of the thumb to bring the stick back up. Thats your up pressure point

Twirl from the wrist don’t use a whole arm action-you’ll be exhausted and it will look stiff.

Imagine you are stood with a wall on your twirling side. Keep your stick parallel to the wall

Use the stick as part of you to frame and emphasise movement as well as twirling

Music for Raks assaya has the saedi rhythm so anything with that and here is some of my favourite music for stick.

Ana Said -I am a saidi man-from Oriental Fantasy 11 Enchanted Gardens. A pop version of this is on the CD Mezdeke 5

Hawa ya Hawa-Air oh air-from Yasminas second CD Heya Di Yasmina. Translation in CD notes

Luxor Baladna on various HMC Cds including this one Wings of Isis which is a nice version of it edited so that the mizmar intro is not too long.Contact me for translation-it's in my collection

You can see dancing horses (outside) at events in Egypt. They have a rider on who makes it "dance" to the Saedi music. The hopping step done in saedi dance is supposed to be like a horse. Folkloric troupes/shows sometimes have a sort of "pantomime" horse

Dessie the only performing Egyptian horse in the UK Seen here at Raks Britannia with the Tarab company.

The best instruction DVD for stick I've come across is Rakset Assaya-an introduction to Egyptian saidi technique presented by Nourhan Sharif.

Interesting article at www.gildedserpent.com/art43/gamilaniledance1.htm

A dance of the western desert.Originally done by a solo girl dancer as a kind of coming of age dance or done by professional dancers at weddings. Much changed by Mahmoud Reda.

For descriptions of the original hagallah dance- now lost and sadly it would be hard to recreate this now. This is a letter written by Morocco (USA dancer and historian).

www.bdancer.com/med-guide/culture/hagallah.html

To study the Reda version  read about the background to the haggalah on Farida Fahmy's website 

Watch the Reda version on you tube

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1EHitZ-xo

The Reda Troupe version is very masculine here is a great version Reda Inspired/Choreographed done by two woman.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8EvMjM5IKo

The music used by the Reda troupe was written for their version of the dance and can be found on CD Music for Egyptian Dance, a CD made for USA dancer Sahra Saeeda who danced in Cairo.

Supposedly the dance of the fellahin (county people) as they go to fill their waterpots from the Nile.Made up for the stage by Mahmoud Reda.

The music was written for the Reda troupe and is called  Bahr al Rayig "The (Nile) Water is Quiet" and can be found on another of Sahra Saeeda's CDS.Layali Zaman. The translation of the song is in the CD notes.

Picture from the CD mentioned above showing the costumes used for the dance.

www.gildedserpent.com/art43/gamilaniledance2jug.htm

Watch a video from Nagwa Fouads show. Not the Reda troupe. These are Nagwas dancers.

Literally the title of the dance means windings or coverings and it refers to the large piece of fabric the ladies used to wear to cover up to go outside.You see ladies in the old films wearing them.They are no longer worn. This dance was again made up for stage by Mahmoud Reda and has been adapted by other dancers- Fifi Abdo, Nagwa Fouad, Nadia Hamdi in their own way-sometimes it is flirty, comic or sometimes elegant but always strong. The thing about this dance is that when a dancer puts on a melaya lef she has license to play a part and dance a character-often a beledi one, but this is up to the dancer-one dancer added the chewing of gum during her performance but that was her and does n't mean it has to be done that way. A whole back history legend has been made up about this dance and it is full of misconception. Often associated with Alexandria and thought of as an Alexandrian dance-sometimes it is introduced by men doing the Reda version of the Bambutaya (which was a dance of the fish sellers on the docks) and has become very athletic and almost hornpipe like (which you can hear in the music) or a dance with spoons called Semsamiya. Photo of Farida Fahmy principal dancer in the Reda troupe- I can not imagine any version she danced being anything other than elegant.

It has become a character dance and it is a bit hard to pull it off if your audience does not know the background to it

You can wear a galabeya or a dress. The dresses are usually short with frills. A headscarf with pom poms round. High heeled mules.Picture of a longer version melaya frock. 

A melaya lef which literally means windings and is your respectable cover up so you can go out. Ldies were often showed wearing them in the old films of the 1940s and 50s. They are not worn now. You can buy a melaya lef. It is usually black about 2-3 metres long and trimmed with sequins around the edge and across the middle.

Watch Yasmina of Cairo doing the melaya lef dance after a bambutaya introduction on DVD Farha Tour 2005 www.faridadance.com.

Semsamiya can be seen on DVD Farha Tour 2006 www.faridadance.com

Banet Baharei on CD Wash ya Wash 2. this is a version of the music Yasmina uses on the DVD above.its about the boys trying for the attention of the girls on the beach

Benet Alexandria on CD Rakset Claribel. it means Girls of Alexandria

Eh el Hekaya on CD Wahyatak Habibi. This is such a fun song. The translation is on Outi's website