Thursday, January 30, 2014

Arabic words you need to know as a dancer in Egypt

I realise that many dancers around the world come to Egypt to dance and to take part in dance festivals here. These are some Arabic words I have found interesting and useful and thought you might too......

Arabic words in dance world;

Raqs- dance
Raqs Sharqi- dance of the east
Raqqasa - dancer
Fanana- artist (f)
fanan- artist (m)
fananeen- artists,
fanoon shabbaya - folk dancers.
Tannoura- whirling dervish
Fananit Raqs Sharqi - oriental dance artist
Negm/ negma- star
Nimra- the number.. The 'one'

The music and the band;

Musiqa- music
Fir'a (firqa) - band
Musaqayeen- musicians
Firit lorna- Lorna's band
Motrib- singer, motriba- singer (f)
Prova- rehearsal
Orneyya- song
Faddi- solo (usually used for tabla solo)

Costuming;

Bedla- suit (2 piece dance costume)
Bedlit Raqs- dance costume
Thobe- dress, can be loose or fitted. Usually bejeweled
Galabeya- usually loose but not always shirt style dress, often plain. (Fifi abdu)
fustan- dress
Labisa- dresser (a girl to help dress the dancer)
Bra- bra!
Hizeem- belt ( beaded or coin belt)
Jupe- skirt
Asaya- stick
Tarha- veil
Melaya lef- a black sheet used for dancing Alexandrian style

Of course there could be many added to this list...  Please do comment with anything you think should be added or with any questions you many have!this lost is not exclusive, but I  have always founds these useful working here in Cairo.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This recently came up at an online discussion forum. What do male tahtib dancers wear? I found someone calling the head wrap عمامة الرأس الصعيدية (that's a creative name), but what is the long galabeya-coat called? I read somewhere it was a binnish, but all I can find when I try to cross reference the obvious spelling possibilities in Arabic are redirects to Binsh in Syria.