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"Around Australia" continued... THE GREEK FOLK DANCERS - NSW The Greek Folk Dancers of NSW has had a productive year in 2003. We started teaching new classes in new areas of Sydney, including Blakehurst. Our adult dance class has progressed one stage further to a performing group as well. The adult group, to their credit, have performed for the Greek Community on various occasions, including the Pan-Macedonian Festival at St Mary's. The annual Dinner Dance for the Mytelinean Association and our social. We launched our new website The Greek Folk Dancers of NSW organised its first social and workshop in October. The Greek Dancing Group from Darwin attended the workshop and social and many of the dancers of both groups made new friends. The social was a success and we will hold them 3-4 times a year with a focus on each social. Dances from Macedonia and Thrace were the focus of the last social. The next social to be held will be in December - the focus will be on dances of the Sarakatsani and Vlahoi. Our focus for next year will be a Celebration of Wedding customs and traditions from all regions of Greece. We hope to make it a day event - where we will re-enact the preparations for a wedding including a mock service and of course the party that follows. Our dancing school has also been invited to perform at the Yuin Folk Festival - in Feb 2004. We also will be closed over the Dec - Jan break - as I will be overseas in Greece, purchasing a new set of costumes and plenty of resources. I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe 2004. Best wishes to all. ? Vas Aligiannis (NSW) 2003 AT FOLK DANCE CANBERRA The highlight of this year for Folk Dance Canberra (FDC) was the wedding of Grace (van Raak) and David Potter. David and Grace met at FDC classes, so when cupid had worked his magic and they decided to marry, what better way to celebrate than a folk dance party? And what a very special and wonderful party it was! David and Grace were married on the afternoon of 1 November at the FDC hall before a gathering of family and friends, including FDC members. The bride and groom both wore Bulgarian costumes, and the FDC members were all decked out in their best folk gear. After the ceremony, FDC members performed Starodavny-Mamenka, a Czech wedding dance. This was followed by a number of easy dances that everyone joined in, and then a buffet dinner with a wonderful variety of dishes. At the end of dinner, Grace and David cut their wedding cake and were toasted with champagne. continued top of next column => |
... continued from left column The dance program for the rest of the evening featured Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Armenia, Turkey and Israel and included some wonderful music – and a good deal of stamping, which David is particularly fond of. Grace and David Potter dressed for the occasion in Bulgarian costumes at their wedding.
An unexpected 'guest' at the wedding was an ABC television crew from Stateline, the local current affairs program. They filmed the ceremony, the dancing and interviewed several people, and the result was a seven-minute segment on local TV just before 8pm the following Friday. FDC members were delighted and privileged to have been invited to this unique event, and to share in David and Grace's very special day. And now, courtesy of ABC TV, we all have a wonderful video to help us remember it. Of course, many other things have happened over the year, including:
? Kerry Moir (ACT) |
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BACKGROUND The term "Middle East" was devised by European geographers to describe the area now covered by Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Aden, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf states of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Although the culture of the Middle East, at first glance, may appear to be homogeneous, it has been in a state of flux for thousands of years with cultural groups forming, disappearing and re-forming. The region was conquered and re-conquered by Alexander the Great, the Romans and the great Islamic warlords who ruled from the Black Sea across to Spain. There are a mixture of religion-based cultures, including the Druze communities in the Lebanon mountains, Oriental Jews sprinkled through the region, Bedouin Arab tribes in northern Saudi Arabia, Kurds and Armenians in the hills of Turkey, Turkmen in north-east Iran and Maronite Christians in Lebanon. This religious mixture is further complicated linguistically by various dialects of four major language groups – Semetic, Indo-European, Ural-Altaic and Hamitic. Although "Eastern", the area is considered to be the birthplace of European civilisation beginning some 10,000 years ago in the fertile triangle defined by the Nile and the delta of the Tigris-Euphrates. MIDDLE EASTERN DANCE Generally, it is the rhythms of speech which have dominated the dance movements of the Middle East, giving rise to the irregular rhythms transcribed in Western notation as 7/8, 5/4, 9/16, etc., and combinations of these (eg, 25/8 = two bars of 7/8, followed by one of 11/8). Where the words do not dictate the melody and rhythm, the drummer follows the dancer. The drum, being beaten by fingers and hand, is able to produce more intricate rhythms than when beaten with sticks. The rhythms made are therefore extremely varied, irregular and sometimes broken, because the dancer does not always mark the rhythms with his or her feet alone; sometimes they are marked by the head and arms while the feet rest or keep to a regular pulse; sometimes the accent is marked by an upward or sideward movement, rather than a downward one. The dancer may add to the musical accompaniment, using finger cymbals (zills), which date back to 200 BCE, wooden spoons, castanets or body percussion (stamps, clicks, claps, etc), and can wear intricate belts or necklaces made of coins that, in earlier days, comprised the family's wealth so that it might be portable in the event that the family needed to move quickly or flee.
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... continued from left column This article will focus on two types of dance associated with the Middle East – Belly Dance and Turkish dance (which also has a restrained form of belly dance called Csifte Tel). BELLY DANCE
Belly dancing is natural to a woman's bone and muscle structure with movements emanating from the torso rather than in the legs and feet. The dance often focuses upon isolating different parts of the body, moving them independently in sensuous patterns, weaving together the entire feminine form. Belly dancing is generally performed barefoot, thought by many to emphasize the intimate physical connection between the dancer, her expression, and Mother Earth. In a myth dating from 4,500 BCE, the Middle Eastern Goddess of Love, Ishtar, is said to have tied a girdle around her hips, donned seven veils and to have danced with them to gain entry to the seven gates of the netherworld to bring back her husband, Tammouz, who had died. While she was absent, the earth darkened and turned to Winter. On her return, earth again became fertile and blossomed into Spring. That Belly Dance (women's dance of fertility) has existed since prehistoric times is also confirmed by anthropologists, who believe that it was most likely linked to religious worship. Belly dancing, in one form or another, has not only been associated with the Middle East; it has been widespread throughout the world. The traditional dances of Maori women (NZ) and the hula from the Hawaiian Islands demonstrate a close spiritual and physical connection to belly dance. Belly Dancing was performed in ancient Greece, as shown in clay statuettes, dated between 7th and 3rd century BCE from Tanagra, a small Boeotian city east of Thebes in ancient Greece. The Romans enjoyed this dance, as did the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. In the 7th century CE, a Persian scholar described the attributes of a great dancer to include "a great agility and swaying of the hips". Historically, the influence of gypsies (a corruption of the word Egypt) on the dances of the countries they passed through, and on belly dance in particular, was very strong. According to some legends, gypsies originated from the Sindh or "bilad as-sind", a southern province of Hindustan, now Pakistan. (Note: Some forms of classical Indian dance include neck slides and the sinuous arm movements still common to belly dance today). continued next page ... |
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Middle Eastern Dance ... continued from previous page These gypsy tribes spread through Turkey, where, known as tsjengui, they danced in the harem and for the entertainment of the sultan and his guests during the time of the Ottoman Empire.
Dancers of the Ghawazee (an Egyptian gypsy tribe) used zills. They wore various ornaments; their eyes were bordered with kohl and they usually stained designs on their hands and feet with henna, and dressed according to the custom of the middle and higher classes of Egyptian women. In general they were accompanied by musicians (mostly of the same tribe), whose instruments included the doumbek. The Ouled Naïl ("young women of the Nile") belong to an Arab tribe living in the hills of the Sahara. In the past, the young women, often accompanied by their mothers, travelled up to 250 miles from their homeland hills to the towns to live and work as dancers and prostitutes, with no dishonour attached. After the season or when they had earned enough money they often returned to their home village, joining a caravan that followed a pattern of oases, and to marry and bring up their daughters in the same way. After marriage, they were kept strictly secluded. The costumes of the women of the Ouled Naïl were, until the first half of the 20th century, truly magnificent. They also lined their eyes with kohl and adorned themselves with jewellery (their dowry). This jewellery had a distinctive look and was very much sought after by tourists in the first half of the 20th century. Their oily hair, worn in braids on both sides of the face, was covered with the typical diadem that was sometimes looped up and held in place by big earrings. They went unveiled even when most women in North Africa were covered. In the 19th century, the French Foreign Legion made their dance popular (but not at all respectable) during the colonisation of Algeria. Painters Renoir and Flaubert recorded their experiences with the Ouled Naïl, the "tribe of the dancing sandals," in Algeria. continued top of next column => |
... continued from left column In the walled "reserved quarters", introduced into the desert towns by the French, are the cafés, small streets and squares where the Ouled Naïl dance, while patrons relax over mint tea. The young women are known to wear huge bracelets with studs and spikes an inch or two long projecting from them in order to protect themselves.
Today, the greatest misconception about belly dancing, perhaps understandably, is that it developed to entertain men. However, throughout history, most of this ritualized expression was performed by women for other women - generally during fertility rites or gatherings to prepare a young woman for marriage. In most cases, the presence of men was not permitted. Modern types of Belly Dance (eg, çifte tel, rakkase, raqs sharqi, beledi) are but the latest developments in the long history of this women's dance which goes back to antiquity.
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TURKISH FOLK DANCE The Turkic tribes originated in Central Asia and, by way of continual migrations and incursions west, settled around 11th century on, and spread out from, the Anatolian Plateau in Turkey, which is considered to be a bridge over which many cultures have crossed, including Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian, Celtic, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Armenian, Hindustani, Kurdish and Mongol. For example, the capital of Turkey, Ankara, was once the capital of the Galatians, a Celtic people, and the highest mountain in Turkey, Mt Ararat, is where Noah's Ark is said to have rested. As a result of this rich cultural heritage, Turkish, and especially Anatolian, dances possess a large vocabulary of gestures and movements. However, there is no one national Turkish dance – each region, even each village, has its own dances. Turkish Folk Dances are generally performed during weddings, on journeys to the mountains in the summer, when sending sons off to military service and during religious and national holidays. The best known folk dances are: Horon: This Black Sea dance is performed by men only, dressed in black with silver trimmings. The dancers link arms and quiver to the vibrations of the kemençe, a primitive type of violin. Kasik Oyunu: The Spoon Dance is performed from Konya to Silifke and consists of gaily dressed male and female dancers clicking out the dance rhythm with a pair of wooden spoons in each hand. Kilic Kalkan: The Sword and Shield Dance of Bursa represents the Ottoman conquest of the city. It is performed by men only, dressed in early Ottoman battle dress, who dance to the sound of clashing swords and shields without music. Zeybek: In this Aegean dance, colourfully dressed male dancers, called 'efe', symbolize courage and heroism. continued top of next column => |
... continued from left column Çifte Tel: A restrained version of belly dance, performed as a solo either by one woman for other woman, or by a man for a male audience. The footwork in the Çifte Tel is of secondary importance and the movement of the abdominal muscles is not as pronounced as in the North African dance versions of the Ghawazee or Ouled Naïl tribes. A characteristic of the Çifte Tel is a horizontal movement of the head and quivering of the shoulders and arms. This dance is also known in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Baku and Iran.
REFERENCES: Russell & Coupe, (Ed), The Macquarie Illustrated World Atlas, Macquarie
Library P/L, Aust, 1989. http://www.shira.net/glossary; http://www.bdancer.com; http://www.bellydance.org |
FDA Bulgarian Dances of Yesteryear, 8 Feb 2004
For more details, contact Sandra Bassetti, 02 6552 5142, or Kaye Laurendet, 02 9528 4813. FDA Annual General Meeting, 8 Feb 2004
For more details, contact Sandra Bassetti, 02 6552 5142, or Kaye Laurendet, 02 9528 4813. FDA Yorgo's Macedonian Dance Workshop, 7 March 2004
For more details, contact Sandra Bassetti, 02 6552 5142, or Kaye Laurendet, 02 9528 4813. Hungary on a Plate
Prices include New Years Eve buffet dinner, prepared by Gold medal winning Hungarian Chef. For more information or a copy of the brochure please email: hungaryonaplate@optusnet.com.au.
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3rd St. Petersburg "Russian Spring"
International Folk Music Festival, June, 2004
For more information, e-mail: folk@sp.ru or check their website www.fma.sp.ru. Dance Grand Prix – three events, Europe 2004 For more information about the organisation, the Art Director, Mr. Tiberio Meneghelli can provide the e-mail and post address of many previous participants from all over the world. For more information about the festival programs, visit www.dancegrandprix.com, or email dancegrandprix@dancegrandprix.com. Machol Pacifica, July, 2004 It will include residential accommodation at Lindisfarne College, Hastings (NZ), parallel classes for Thorough or Fast learners and workshops for young people. To get more information, contact Kathleen Osborne: kjo@xtra.co.nz or check the website www.saveguard.co.nz/dance These wonderful teachers will also be in Melbourne with the "Hora" group from 16 – 18 July, 2004. Contact appel@bigpond.net.au or telephone 03 9576 1108 for more information. |
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Name: nick karamitsos Name: balagan@paradise.net.nz Comments: Hi everyone. I know that a lot of you will be receiving a copy of "Rokdim Yechefim" in the mail shortly, but due to a printing mishap, your magazine will not be sent out until mid this week. For a sneak preview (or a complete read) drop by and visit the magazine website at: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~balagan. For those of you who have not subscribed to the magazine, this is your chance to read it! Yvonne Trask
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In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and worst thing you can do is nothing. - Theodore Roosevelt |
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