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Advanced and Professional level Classes


Descriptions of the Choreographies taught in the advanced and professional level Classes

Schadia teaches many different styles, including Note: All pictures were taken from live performances showing Schadia and her dancers from her two troupes, Nazeem Allayl and Nazeem Alsabah, and are copy right protected (c) by Liegle, 2004.
The text descriptions were written by Schadia - if you want to use them, please contact for permission.


Ya Albi

ADVANCED LEVEL CHOREOGRAPHY CLASS

This class is designed for advanced level students who have taken at least 4 intermediate level courses, including Cadez and Amar Haween. The pace is faster, and you will learn longer and more challenging choreographies in these classes. This class is for the more serious students, and are expected to practice extensively at home.

PROFESSIONAL LEVEL CHOREOGRAPHY CLASS:

This class is designed for professional level students and is open by invitation only. This class is for troupe members and Schadia's advanced students. Complex group and individual choreographies are covered. We also create and stage our own dances here. This class is ongoing (i.e. not a 6 week course) and less structured than the beginner/intermediate/advanced levels, i.e. if we don't like a particular move, we change it on the fly. Students here are highly motivated and involved in the studio.

American Fantasy

Behebak

Behebak is beautiful love song which means “I love you” in Arabic. Graceful and romantic is the best way to describe this choreography, which should be delivered with lots of feeling.

Props Required: None Video (requires fast internet)


Beledi

Beledi is a fast paced song, interpreted by Samora's choreography with lots of spins. Since it has a strong simple main rhythm and an upbeat happy feeling, it is easy to clap to and altogether a crowd pleaser.

Props Required: None Video (requires fast internet)


Brick House

Brick House is a well known oldie by "The Commodores". Nazeem Allayl took it on to interpret the timeless lyrics (i.e. How can she lose with what she use, see below) by using a stunning costume that highlights the curves and combines belly dance with the Amazon look the song calls for.

Definitely an American Fantasy piece with little resemblance to classical Egyptian dance, it is a great hit with American audiences.

Props Required: None Video (requires fast internet)


Caravan Sword Dance

Caravan Sword Dance is a choreography by Samora. Sword dances are a great crowd pleaser, as they look and indeed are a little dangerous. Great skill is required to balance a sword on the head while performing bends, shimmies and turns. American Tribal dancers usually "cheat" and perform these kind of dances with turbans, which not only protect the head, but also act as a stable platform preventing the sword from sliding or falling off. Cabaret dancers, on the other hand, have to use skill to maintain balance.

While the swords used for sword dances are blunt (else they are illegal in most states and count as weapons), they still can seriously injure toes once they fall.

Props Required: Sword Video (requires fast internet)


Sword Partner Dance

Sword Partner Dance is a choreopgraphy by Schadia and She'nez that shows a playful interpretation of a male sword fight. The two dancers perform many moves "mirrored", i.e. if one dancer goes left, the other goes right. A great challenge are the fast drips to the floor and the fast forward/backward movements. Applause is yours if you can pull it off.

Props Required: Sword Video (requires fast internet)


Tray Dance Behabak

This soft, flowing & modern belly dance was choreographed by Schadia to a sweet song called "Behabak," which means "I love you" in Arabic. This choreography engages both the dancer and the audience with the graceful incorporation of balancing a tray while performing the choreography.

Raqs al Seniyaa, or dancing while balancing a tray, is a very old form of dance most likely originating in Morocco as an interpretive dance of the Moroccan Tea Ceremony. The Moroccan tray balancing is often done with a tea pot on top of the tray, surrounded by tea cups w/ little candles in them.

Dancing with a tray of flowers as we will be learning to do in this course gives our Tray Dance a modern slant and makes the dancer feel feminine and beautiful. What women doesn't love to surrond herselves with flowers?

If you haven't balanced before, balancing a tray is a great place to start. Trays will be available for purchase at the studio. Schadia will give you lots of tips and tricks to make balancing a snap. And Yes, she will also go over how to build a lovely flower arrangement to go on top of your tray.

Don't miss the rare opportunity to learn this beautiful choreography and the graceful art of tray balancing.

Props Required: Tray Video (requires fast internet)


Sherihan

Sherihan is a beautiful piece of classical Egyptian music with a choreography that is a mix of elegance, grace, folksy spunk and feminine power. Yes! All of this is possible in one choreography, especially if you are dancing to Sherihan! This is a dance is of the American Fantasy Genre and was choreography by Schadia. It encorporates the use of both a silk veil and zills.

Props: Veil and Zills


Turkish Style

The Turkish cabaret style is Schadia & Nazeem Allayl's favorite form of belly dance, because they gives the dancers so much creative freedom. It is very high energy, full of large movements and at the same time sexy and smoldering.
Unlike the Egyptian cabaret style of dancing, Turkish cabaret still has very, very strong attachments to its gypsy roots. The Turkish gypsy style is earthy and powerful, giving the feeling both in attitude and movements that women are strong, full of power and pride. The modern Turkish cabaret style is very flamboyant and larger than life, not only in dance style, but in costuming too.

Hüp

"Hüp" is a very popular song by the Turkish heartthrob Tarkan. He sings to the woman he loves --- pledging his love to her and appreciating her love for him. He says that he wants her to breath him in, so that they can become one. The style of the dance is playful & sexy.
Choreographed by Schadia

Ay!

"Ay!" is also a song about love, but in this song Tarkan talks of being totally in love with a woman, who didn't seem to know he exists. He writes her name in the sky with thousands of stars. She laughs and doesn't pay attention. He pierces the mountains, conquered the deserts and the seas, but still she didn't notice him. Ah, isn't that always the way with women!
Choreographed by Schadia & members of Nazeem Allayl.

Shikidim

"Shikidim: Hepsi senim mi?" Yet another Tarkan hit. Shikidim, which means "dirty dancing" in Turkish is a song filled with street slang & colorful language. The dance is sassy and filled with lots of at-ti-tude!
Choreographed by Schadia

Karasin Duenyam

The song Karasin Duenyam means "Let My World Go Dark". Karasin Duenyam is quite a contra point to Ay. It is also about a scorned love, but here, it is a woman in love with a man, who has left her. The dance shows us a woman who is eaten up by her one sided love, with nowhere to turn to but a dance of misery.
Choreographed by Schadia

Haberi Olsun

Haberi Olsun is a Turkish Karsilama choreography. It is a high energy skirt dance modeled loosely after the Turkish romani (a.k.a. gypsies) dances, but is not your typical romani dance, but a style that Nazeem Allayl calls "gypsy nouveau." This choreography is definitely gypsy in heart and spirit, but rather than using a classic Turkish romani music, Nazeem Allayl chose a super modern 9/8 song, which was a recent number one hit on the Turkish charts.
Choreographed by Schadia & members of Nazeem Allayl.


Egyptian Beledi styles

Since Egyptians dancers first brought belly dancing to America at the Chicago World's Fari in 1893 , the Egyptian style of belly dancing has remained the most popular and widely danced style of belly dance in America.

There are many different styles of Egyptian dance. Perhaps one of the most popular styles comes from the Ghawazee of Upper Egypt. The Ghawazee are gypsies and have always made their living playing music and dancing. The Ghawazee style of dancing is characterized by large, earthy, grounded and energetic movements.

Beledi dances often use similar moves to that of the Ghawazee. In Arabic, the word "Beledi" means "Dance of the country," hence 'Egyptian Beledi' would be the dance of the country of Egypt.

Schadia & her Dancers do not perform straight & strictly traditional folk dance, but a style called "Urban Beledi," which has glitzier costumes & mixes cabaret & folk styles.

Although the Egyptian Cabaret dancing has developed far beyond its roots, you can still see the influences of the Ghawazee & Beledi styles, as well as the influences of western dances, such as ballet. Modern Egyptian cabaret dancing is very controlled, elegant, and refined. It is done usually in a rather small space & does not include a lot of traveling or turns. Muscular control is emphasized and movements are small and internalized.

Egyptian Raks Al Assaya

Raks Al Assaya is pronounced "rocks all uh SI yuh", with the "SI" syllable rhyming with "pie". This is the Arabic term for the cane dance. This dance originated in southern Egypt, in the region known as the Said (Sigh eed) or Upper Egypt. Traditionally, in the Said, men carried long sticks with them, which they used as weapons. Eventually they developed a dance in which they feigned fighting with these sticks.
Women then began dancing with canes as a way of playfully imitating this men's dance, and eventually raks al assaya developed into a distinct women's dance. Cane dance movements therefore originate from an exhibition of skill and prowess and accent the dancers' movements.

Hadil Cane Dance

Cane Dance by Hadil is a classical egyptian cane dance. Cane dances are playful interpretations of men's stick fights and stick dances, and are often performed in beledi dresses.

Props Required: Cane Video (requires fast internet)

Bedauia

Bedauia is a Ghawazee dance choreographed by Jasemin Jahal. The Ghawazee have their origin in Upper Egypt. The Ghawazee were always in high demand for their skills at dancing and music-making. The Ghawazee are, in some ways, a living expression of the dancer's dream -- to live amongst the shifting sands, and to dance every night away...for exotic costumes and rich foods, and for music that never, ever ends...

Hagallah

The Hagallah is an energetic traditional Egyptian folk dance. The Hagallah a dance of celebration, usually performed by the Beduin in Western Egypt. It is often performed during the date harvest, which also happens to be the wedding season. The Hagallah is about women representing power and showing their beauty as individuals. Doing Hagallah is not only fun, but a really great work out as the entire dance has traveling 3/4 shimmies. Get ready to shimmy, shimmy, shimmy!

Video (requires fast internet)

Melaya Leff

Melaya Leff is a type of character dance done by Egypt's folk troupes. It uses a shawl-type of garment known as a melaya as a prop. In the melaya leff folkloric dance, the dancer plays the role of a mischievous young woman who flirtatiously plays a "conceal and reveal" game with her wrap.

Props Required: Melaya Video (requires fast internet)

Ala Nar

This is a choreography in the old style of Egyptian Cabaret dance. In the last half of the 20th Century Egyptian Cabaret has been highly influenced by western forms of dance. Schadia’s dance to Ala Nar harkens back to the days, before those western influences, when Egyptian cabaret was closer to the folk and gypsy dances of Egypt.
The song Ala Nar, which means “On Fire!” in Arabic is a classic favorite among Egyptians and Middle Easterners alike. It is a song about love and being on fire with passion! Oh la la.

Egyptian-Spanish Fusion

The Egyptian-Spanish fusion genre is very popular, and it has also sprung an Egyptian-Spanish style of Belly Dance. Spain, you ask? What does that have to do with belly dancing? Well, if you remember back to your college history classes, you'll remember that both Spain and Portugal were occupied by the Moores from 711 until almost 1500. The Moores spread their culture and their knowledge through Spain and Portugal but they did so in a benevolent way. They allowed the peoples under their rule to retain their culture as well. It is from this time in history that we still see Middle Eastern influences on dances like Flamenco & also the Spanish influences on the dances of the Middle East.

Nour el Ain

Habibi Ya Nour El Ain, which translates to "My Darling, You Are The Glow In My Eyes", was a huge hit in 1996 by Amr Diab, not only in the Arabic world, but world wide, since its style has a strong Spanish-Andalusian touch.


This dance was originally choreographed by Nourhan


Ole'

Ya Albi

This dance has a fusion of many stylings including Egyptian-Spanish fusion and Turkish. The idea behind the song was a love between two cultures separated by thousands of miles. Written by Hakim (Egyptian), Antonio Hernandez (Mexican), and Olgui Cherino (Cuban-American), the song shows Hakim in a vulnerable position asking his love, Olga, to come back to him. Olga responds saying, 'I love you too, but you have to come and get me.' Kemo raps on the track, making comments as he watches the love affair from the sidelines.


Admirer with Style

Efred

Efred was originally choreographed by Bahijah. The choreography is in the Egyptian Cabaret style, with an undertone of American Fantasy. The feel is much like the song itself, sweet & lovely with a bit of sass. The song Efred, which means "Just Suppose" in Arabic, is sung by Hakim, another of Egypt's hottest stars

Video (requires fast internet)

Abgal Alena

Abgal Alena is a fun and fab Gypsy Nouveau choreography by Schadia. One of Schadia & Nazeem Allayl's signature styles, Gypsy Nouveau is influenced by Roma/Gypsy dance moves, cabaret style bellydance, and just generally being way too fabulous and yet folksy at the same time. This dance is fast paced, high energy, and lots of fun to perform.

Prop: A "gypsy skirt" is required for this dance & can be purchased at the studio.

Video (requires fast internet)

Tabla Solos

Tabla or Drum Solos are an important part of any dancer's repertoire. During solo performances with a band, a dancer will improvise moves to the beats of the drummer. It is an amazing thing to see & gives you insight into the important relationship between the dancer and her drummer.

When a live drummer is not available and/or for staged and group performances, recorded drum music is used & the dancers perform choreographed drum solo pieces. These dances are really fun to watch. They show the stamina of the dancers and their ability to live & breath the beats of the drums.

Jillina Drum

This drum solo was originally choreographed by Jillina, but not much of the original choreography remains. Schadia & the members of Nazeem Allayl changed the majority of the dance to reflect her style, energy & finesse. This version of Jillina Drum is definitely a Nazeem Allayl dance!

Margo Drum

This dance was choreographed by Margo Abu Odell as the sister drum solo for Irkosily. It has some of the same moves & goes beautifully with Irkosily. The choreography of this drum solo is really wonderful & it can stand on its own or go with almost any Egyptian or American Fantasy style dance. We love it!

Video (requires fast internet)

SuSu Drum

Our newest & most exciting drum solo is SuSu. It is 4 ˝ minutes of pure adrenolin. This drum solo was choreographed by Schadia & the members of Nazeem Allayl. It not only has the shimmies & locks traditionally found in drum solos, but also encorporates Turkish gypsy moves, lots of spunk & a very sassy attitude!

Aseelah Drum

Aseelah Drum is, as the name implies, a drum solo, choreographed by Aseelah.

Video (requires fast internet)

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