Bellydancer- Aliya -
repertoire

Raks Sharqi / Raqs Sharqe – Classic oriental dancing

A classical approach often starts with the Raks Sharki.
This is quite demanding from an artistic point of view, because the music is very alternating and complex in its nature. Played by an orchestra, it is mostly instrumental, rarely featuring any vocals.
Oriental audiences and people with an affinity to oriental dancing are especially fond of this kind of dance, for they better understand the music and its intention, than a more inexperienced audience.
For a German audience Aliya therefore choses modern or quite lively music, which better suits German listening habits.

Dance with the veil

The veil is of a flowing, shimmering fabric. It should be wide enough to hang over about 10-15 cm on both sides when holding it with sideways outstretched arms. Its length goes from the head to the knees.
In some dances bigger, rectangular shaped veils are more useful. A veil allows various dancing opportunities . The dancer can use only one veil, dance with double veils or even use three of them. In that case the person and the costume stand in the background. Main actors are the veils, that magically draw figures, forms and images into the air.
In practice the veil is commonly used for the overture, that means in the first dance when entering the room and it will later be put aside. However it is not used for veiling the dancers face as sometimes mistakenly assumed but is thrown, swung, circled or draped around the body as a very active element of the dance. Therefore it is in motion most of the time.

Dance with the Cybals

Cybals are little bells which are carried on the middlefinger and the thumbs respectively. This “percussion” instrument has a long history. In ancient Egypt, on Crete and in Greece it has been already used. Todays Cybals are made from metal, but at that time they were made of wood. The dancer uses the Cybals to accompany herself. Nevertheless there are also musicians in big orchestras who might use this instrument. These Cybals are indeed a lot bigger that the ones a dancer would use.

Drum solo / Tabla solo

This part of the performance I like the most. It is quite challenging in many aspects. Besides great persistance and power, the dancer needs precision and manifold ability to diversify for accentuation.

This is a choreography on drum music. A “Tabla” is a drum made from wood or clay, spanned with fish or goat skin. The turkish version is made from metall.       

Saidi / Dance with a stick

This dance is of folkloristic origin. The Saidi can be danced with or without a stick. Originally it has been performed by men, who used thicker and less ornamented sticks, which has been straight and without a handle. Because it often is golden, silver or checkered, most people think it is an element from a dance show of the 20s.

It can be carried single-handed, where it is not curved, or by using both hands.

This way one can move the stick in circles and by drawing an eight in front or beside the body or over the head.

There are also many hands on elements like letting the stick dip on the ground or the body, getting it to stand on the floor while dancing around it et cetera, et cetera. The womens' dance with the stick arised, because they imitated and also satirised the males' dancing.

Oriental Pop:

This is an interpretation of modern oriental chart music (Performers like: Hakim, Amre Diab, Hisham, Cheb Mami uvm.). It is the music which is played in Discos or at Party's. The dances commonly are cheerful, cool, coquettish and flirtatious. The classic rules of dancing are not as important here as expression and joy. Aliya interprets these dances with her very own kind of power. Partly the stick, the veil or the Cybals are being used again.

Fantasy Oriental und Modern Oriental

Oriental Dancing of a different kind.
To expand the spectrum of this dance some steps and moves from other genres are inserted and associated with the oriental interpretations, for example HipHop, Jazz, Modern Dance, Folklore. Thus new exciting dancing styles emerge.Another possibility for renewance can be achieved by chosing non-oriental music.
Thus Aliya sometimes willingly uses music like “Phantom of the Opera”, drum music, that contains aside from oriental elements also african and south-american elements or is influenced by techno and dancefloor rhythms. And many more...
Often the critics have complimented Aliyas powerful interpretation, which is not always sweet and neet, but feature harder beats.

The dance with the Isis – Wings (Wing – Veil)

This is a dreamlike and gracefully perfomed fantasy dance.
By using an outsized veil which is being hold by sticks enlarging the dancers arms, very beautiful figures can be formed, which remind one of the wings of a butterfly or a bet.
This performance works especially well on a stage with a good lighting set-up.
However the use of Isis-Wings requires enough space and is not suitable for a performance in the garden, the restaurant or in the living room.