Serendipity Workshop

 

Assaya (Saidi Stick) Dance Workshop & Showback

Saturday 14.00 - 16.00

Saidi remains one of the most beloved folkloric styles in both Egypt and international belly dance communities. The dance can be performed in a traditional troupe style, as a solo cabaret piece, or even fused with shaabi music, Saidi continues to evolve while keeping its roots in joyful expression and cultural pride.

As dancers we need to start by feeling the rhythm, practicing earthy movement, and letting Saidi’s joyful attitude come through in our expression.  We will learn some basic steps and stick patterns with the Assaya, we will touch on some of the tahtib fighting moves and how to incorporate them into our dance, in addition some concentration on the folkloric style of the very famous family of traditional performers, the Banat Mazin, of the Ghwazzee, more so  than the cabaret Raks Sharqi or Raks El Assaya style where more technique of stick work is required.

Saidi isn’t just about technique but about character, charm, and connection. We will have fun exploring these, working together in pairs and in small groups.

At the evening haflah we'll showcase what was learned in this workshop alongside Asif's Saidi drummers.

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Open to  all

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A little history..

The Saidi dance is from Upper Egypt, the Saidi people are upper Egyptian farmers. Usually a Saidi dance is lively, energetic and earthy. The dancer uses one or two sticks, originally made of bamboo. Saidi is a strong and earthy rhythm; hence, the movements associated with it must also be strong, very well-grounded, with a proud posture and movements pointing to the earth.

The traditional male dance is called Tahtib and it is a martial art, accompanied by music, in which the two fighters use a stick, called Assaya, to hit and fence each other’s hits.

Tahtib as a martial art must have ancient roots as images of men fighting with sticks have been found depicted on ancient Egyptian stones.

Later, (from the 1960s and 70s) Tahtib was adapted for the stage by Mahmoud Reda, an Egyptian dancer, and choreographer who travelled across Egypt observing traditional dances, which inspired his choreographies that were adaptations of these dances for the stage.

Women incorporated the stick as a belly dance prop and used it to imitate this typically masculine dance in a flirtatious and cheeky way where the energy is upright but grounded and the movements are often accented to match the lively rhythm.

If the dance is folkloric, usually the Assaya will be a plain bamboo cane; otherwise, for Raqs sharqi performances, it can be sequinned.

The instruments used to play Saidi rhythm are very traditional ones, such as the mizmar, the rebab (a string instrument), and percussion instruments such as the duff and tabla.

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