Dina (دينا 1990 (1

[KatyaFaris]

I love Iskanderani, she does it so well! You can really see her training in the Reda Troupe here.

[dinavienna]

i ve never heard Egyptians refer to this dance, which was just popularized in a few movies, more like a "running gag" my impression is, as Iskanderian..

I ve seen a famous choreographer, Mahmod Reda s wife if i m not mistaken, roll her eyes when asked by a foreign interviewer on this dance sayin it really isnt From Iskanderia, or Egyptian, just a movie fad...

[KatyaFaris]

Well, whatever the history is, the fact is that today it IS considered a folk dance. Reda created the form we know of today for stage, so it's hard to believe that his wife dissed it, unless she personally doesn't like it. But that's her opinion, not everyone's, and not a fact. My experience is that every Egyptian I know LOVES this dance. When I dance it for them, they go nuts. They often tell me it's their favorite, sometimes even more so than Raqs Sharqi, as it's coquettish, not too sexy.

[dinavienna]

oh well I can imagine lots of ppl like it but NOT - NEVER - as a "folk" dance! a folk dance would imply it d be danced by the ordinary ppl at social gatherings and it s NOT.

maybe the ppl like it for the "Movie" effect it gives? because to me the movie version of the dance and the specific invention of this dance is the exact OPPOSITE of folk dance - Hollywood à l egyptienne.

i might have badly expressed it - she rolled her eyes over foreigners thinkin this is "Alexandrian" as opposed to Cairo.

[KatyaFaris]

Well, I can see how you would not think it is folk dance, but as a Folklorist by profession I can tell you that no one agrees on what "folk" means. Or what culture means. The phemonological and epistomological creation of a word depends on its application. Reda revived and probably saved this dance form, as no one in Alexandria was performing this anymore when he created his style. So now his style is considered the "folk" style. You see how tradition is transmuted through application?

[dinavienna]

I can see what you mean - I havent seen it from that perspective, obviously folk dances created in the 20th century and perceived as folk dances in the next century will be different from what Arabs consider folk dances today, century old and tribal/kin rooted.. :)

I had heard the story the way that Reda actually "invented" the dance for a movie - portraying the sexy Alexandrian women dressed in fancier fashion coz Alexandria was an import centre of European garments as a seaport.. true/false?

[KatyaFaris]

Yes, I believe that is true.  The fact is that using the term "folk dance" to simply mean "from the village people" is narrow and old fashioned, and really stems from the colonialist, Western European perspective. It's rather condescending and racist, too. Today in Folklore we include Hip-Hop and Ballet as "folk dances", because urban centers are considered "the people". It's the angle you look at things from, and Hollywood is not excluded in this. Therefore, Melaya Leff is a folk dance :)

[KatyaFaris]

Sorry, my comment got posted at the top of this thread!

[bia0305]

poxa...q roupa....mas ela tá dançando muito

[babytb]

she is so tacky here tho

[babytb]

melaya leff

[manlichina]

She was so cute and beatiful!!!

Now she looks a little sad...not so happy like before

[Liannehankin]

She's adorable in this video it's facinating to watch her early stuff I think I prefer it to her modern stuff.

[dinavienna]

yeah me too!!!!!