August 2003 Archives
Improvisation2Coreography: Concepts in Restructuring Modern Raks
By Asim al-Talib/Woodrow Jarvis Hill
Adapted from work done for my Sept. 2002 seminar , kindly sponsored by Belly Revelations in Durham, NC
Part Two: Music
Many dancers, when they first start in the raks shaquri form, learn music in, essentially, the same way Egyptian dancers do; by listening to it over and over. For a start, their teachers generally play the same pieces over and over in class, which gives the beginning student an understanding of the basic rhythms of Arabic music. That understanding is critical to the dance.
But building a strong choreography, or even a solid base for doing improvisational work, is much easier with a bit of extra work. It's a very wise idea to start developing a feel for the fundamental rhythms of Arabic music; Beledi, Masmoudi, Ayoub, Saudi, and so on. These are rhythms that you'll find as the base for everything that's played for raks shaquri dancers. Even when the rhythm “feels” weird, usually some form of one of the base rhythms is located in there.
Why know this, then, when you can just dance to the feel of it? Because known the rhythm means you can predict the rhythm. And if you can predict it, you have a much better chance at dancing an improv set that looks choreographed, and you'll find it much simpler to fit the pieces to the puzzle in making a choreography. The base rhythm lends itself to a number of alternative functions, as well, including using moves designed specifically to go with a particular rhythm (such as the Beledi series), accuracy with zills, and a more confidant dance style overall.
The next level above known the base rhythm involves knowledge of the musical piece as a whole. Most people do this when their choreography is based on the entire piece as one whole, instend of locking in to specific rhythms within the music. When you know the base rhythm, you can cut your work into layers; a part of your dance can focus on the rhythm, while another on one or another part of the melody, and yet another on the accents in the rhythm. Many people do this unconsciously; one of the powerful things about many dancers from “over there” is their strong knowledge of the music, and their ability to design their dance around these various layers without even thinking about it. Here, we analyze it to try to gain some level of that knowledge, since we lack (generally speaking) an Arabic upbringing to help in that.
You can do this without learning a great deal of music theory. How I tend to break down song is fairly simple; I listen and count. The tools can be as simple as a CD player with a timer for the track and some paper, or as complex as making an mp3 file and typing into a spreadsheet. Either way, the focus is on listening and breaking down the piece in question.
First, I note exactly in the time scale where changes in th musical structure take place. Counting the changes means that you can predict major shifts in the music, allowing you to build an overview of the piece. This overview means that you can see how long you have for each segment in the dance before the music changes on you, and you’re forced to consider changing the focus of your moves. For example, a change from a fast 4/4 rhythm to a taxsim means your dance should change from, say, a shimmy into some slow undulations, reflecting the musical cue. This is critical to a successful choreography, and many dancers who build choreography do this anyway.
Counting the beats is the next stage, and more difficult. It is done exactly as it is named; by listening to the music and mapping out the fundamental rhythm structure. You don’t have to know the exact rhythms at this stage, all you have to do is recognize when the 4 or 8 (generally speaking) count has occurred. At this level, you’re able to start mapping out specific pieces of dance you’d like to include, such as a particular combo you’ve just learned.
Here’s an example of such a mapout, from a very complex piece by the band Helm:
1-2 drum
3-4 Wind
5-6 Wind
7-8 Wind
9 wind, clack (:49)
10 Wind
11 small drum roll, wind
12 wind
13 string starts, clack (1:16)
14 string
15 string
16 string
17 string, drum roll (1:39 - 1:42)
string taksim (to 2:33)
Closely related is understanding the rhythms that are playing in that piece. A musical selection’s rhythms are closely related to how that piece can be worked in terms of your dance. When you put together a set of moves for a specific part of your dance, you can layer your own dance accents based upon where the rhythm hits. Rhythmic understanding also leads to a cleaner form overall, because your moves match up well with the style of rhythm that’s being played.
Improvisation2Coreography: Concepts in Restructuring Modern Raks
By Asim al-Talib/Woodrow Jarvis Hill
Adapted from work done for my Sept. 2002 seminar , kindly sponsored by Belly Revelations in Durham, NC
Part Three: Dance
Dancing with a choreography in mind is fundamentally no different that improvisation, or even freestyle, dancing; the same movements are involved, the same music. The difference lies in the dancer being able to plan ahead, being able to be more specific, more precise in what you dance. If you’re comfortable with improvisation, looking on choreography in this fashion will help a great deal. If you’re comfortable with neither, building dances via choreographies can help you understand the fundamentals of raks.
The first fundamental was touched upon in the music section; knowing not just a wide-ranging movement vocabulary, but also how to match that vocabulary to the music being played. Choreography gives you practice in doing this. When you choreograph, see if your moves match to the rhythm, or even the melody, being played. You can look to the Beledi dance styles for a hint as to how to do this, as it is something the certainly comes with practice and watching other dancers.
Another layer you can add to your dance is to develop the transitions correctly, again, the music will sometimes cue you, esp. for the more dramatic transitions you’ll use. However, many transitions simply involved changing from one more to another. This is something I’ve rarely come across as being taught in classes and seminars, but can be important to the dance. A transition that simply gets the limbs, torso, legs and hips in position for the next move will oftentimes look poorer than one that is graceful, and that grace comes, in large part, from knowing how to transition well.
Transitions should come “organically” from the movement. The move you start from, as well as the move you go into, should have a transition link that’s reflective of both of them. For instance, moving from a slow hip circle to snake arms in the same rhythmic pattern and speed should not involve your hands flying up. The arms being raised should be done with grace, and the speed of the movement should be like the speed of the hip circle. If you’re changing to a faster move, it’s a useful idea to keep the speed of the transition the same as the move you’re leaving, until you’re in position to do the next move. In this way, you’re able to keep the surprise until the last moment, and not confuse the audience.
When I plot out dances, the music charting I describe above comes in very handy. I generally place my moves in the series of beats, looking something like this:
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| Pause |
Pause |
Pause |
Pause |
| Pause |
Pause |
Pause |
Pause |
| Twist L. hip forward - push R. hip back |
Push L. hip back |
Push R. hip back twice |
One arabic, shift L. foot back, twisting R. hip forward |
| push L. hip back |
Push R. hip back |
Push L. hip back twice |
One arabic, shift R. foot back, twisting L. hip forward |
| push R. hip back |
Push L. hip back |
Push R. hip back twice |
One arabic, shift L. foot back, twisting R. hip forward |
| push L. hip back |
Push R. hip back |
Push L. hip back twice |
1/4 turn to left, R. arm out, L. arm out, hips centered |
| choo-choo |
repeat |
repeat |
repeat, reverse arms |
| R. hip forward/back choo-choo |
repeat |
repeat |
R. hip forward, 1/4 turn to right, arms out and strong |
Or this (Each line in this one equals 4 beats):
| "skip" in half circle |
| 4x spins to place |
| spin w/2x figure 8 of hips |
| pop to right |
| pause |
| pop to left |
| pause |
| loose shimmy |
| hips RL |
| pelvis BF |
| chest RL |
| chest UD |
| "skip" in half circle |
| 4x spins to place |
| spin w/2x figure 8 of hips |
| shimmy w/hip shift to RL |
| shimmy 4(?), turn 1/2 |
| Beledi back |
With this, I can see at a glance exactly what I’m doing at every step during the actual dance itself. This structure also makes it much easier to edit and reconstruct the dance from whatever point I wish. I can match beats to specific moves and parts of moves. This helps me avoid becoming lost when it comes time to dance or teach the piece. The alternative is to learn the musical selection back and forth, which usually takes a great deal of time if you didn’t grow up with the music in question.
Improvisation2Coreography: Concepts in Restructuring Modern Raks
By Asim al-Talib/Woodrow Jarvis Hill
Adapted from work done for my Sept. 2002 seminar , kindly sponsored by Belly Revelations in Durham, NC
Part One: Introduction
Building choreography is, perhaps, best compared to completing a puzzle; largely you know what pieces are at hand, but you must match them together to make a coherent whole.
There are two parts we’ll discuss here; Knowing your music, and an understanding of the fundamental moves in the dance. There are others bits, such as stagecraft, and working the audience, that we can touch on if we have time in the class itself.
