Information About & Three Videos Of Egyptian Saidi Stick Dances

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series on stick (cane) dances from Upper Egypt (Saidi dances). Part I of this series provide some information about Saidi dances and three videos of Saidi dances.

Part II of this series provides five additional videos of Saidi stick dances. Click http://zumalayah.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-videos-of-egyptian-saidi-stick.html for Part II of this series.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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With considerable regret, I have disabled the comment feature on this blog (and on my other blogs except for https://pancocojams.blogspot.com, because of the large number of spam comments that I received on those blogs.

Comments for those blogs can be sent to my email address azizip17 dot com at yahoo dot com for possible inclusion in a specific post on those blogs.

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INFORMATION ABOUT SAIDI DANCES
From http://www.orientaldancer.net/belly-dance-library/dance-middle-east/saidi-dance.php
Saidi Dance By Ashraf Hassan

"The Saidi dance is from Upper Egypt, between Gizeh and Edfu.The Saidi people are upper Egyptian farmers. Usually a Saidi dance is lively, energetic and earthy. The dancer uses one or two sticks, originally made of bamboo.

There are two types of Saidi stick dance: Raks Assaya and Tahtib. The word Tahtib means dancing with sticks and it is originally a kind of conflict with sticks between men to show their power. Tahtib is the oldest form of Egyptian martial arts to have survived. Tahtib dancing is a product of Egyptian martial arts from the pharaonic times. The Pharaohs painted this kind of dance on the walls of their temples and their soldiers learned it.

Tahtib was considered, at that time, to be weapon training. The ancient Egyptians performed stick fencing or stick fighting as a tribute to the pharaoh. This type of fencing was probably based on an actual fighting system used in combat with a shield and a sword - as with the wooden bukko in Kendo which then evolved into a system with its own rules and methods...

In many respects, it resembles the sport of single stick. Like other martial arts of the world which are tied culturally to dance and music traditions, such as Brazilian Capoiera and Indonesian Silat. Tahtib is a special art form in that it combines both real combat aspects, and aesthetic aspects, and the concept of The Game or Play...

There is NO historical evidence to prove how Tahtib was created. However, there is historical evidence referencing the Pharaoh Menes (c305-285BCE), who unified Egypt and his desire to have the world's greatest army.

Supposedly, he invited the greatest warriors throughout all of Africa, India, and several other locations in the Middle-East to train his armies. This was probably the catalyst for the first Olympic Games. Elements of Tahtib can found in the more well known martial arts of the world; namely Eskrima (Filipino Stick Fighting), White Eyebrow Kung Fu (Bak Mei), Pencak Silat, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Hwa Rang Do, Ninjitsu, and various Capoiera styles...

Tahtib has changed over years to be just a kind of dance with Stick. Stick dance belongs to folk dances. The stick is regarded as a symbol of masculinity, i.e. a phallus. Although the dance form originally started as male-only, there are women who perform dressed as men and dance with other women.

Another female version of stick dancing has been developed with a flirtatious and generally less aggressive style, and incorporated into cabaret or "belly dance." The stick used for this type of dancing is generally thinner, more lightweight and hooked at one end like a cane, and generally embellished with metallic-coloured foil or sequins.

Stick fighting has been used to settle disputes between members of rival families, mostly in the Egyptian countryside. The men's stick dances are very dramatic and manly dances - not to be confused with the coquetry of the women's dance. Tahtib is a favorite dance at any festive occasion, such as weddings, welcoming parties, and harvest festivals. It is also practiced by the men as a pastime and used as a means of self-defense.

The stick itself is about four feet in length and is called an Asa, Asaya or Assaya, or Nabboot. It is often flailed in large figure-8 patterns across the body with such speed and violence that the displacement of air is loudly discernible.

There is another form practiced from horseback known as "Horse Stepping" which uses a stick that is nearly 12 feet long. Raks Assaya is performed by men and/or women and shows off a more acrobatic version of handling the stick. The women's version of the stick dance is, of course, much more feminine and graceful, and can only lightly imitate the Tahtib.

One story claims these women's dances are a parody of the men's stick dances. They make the movements cute and flirty and omit the fighting. The women flaunt effortless control of their much smaller stick or crooked cane. They use it unabashedly as a frame for the body movements. Some of the women's movements echo the 'tahtib' and sometimes the men imitate the woman's style...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1:
التحطيب بمولد الحسين 2011



ali elsherbiny, Uploaded on Mar 30, 2011
التحطيب الرقصة الشعبية لأهل الصعيد فى مصر / فى إحتفالات مولد الحسين 29 /3/2011 /

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Example #2: رجب الاسيوطى



ragabalasuotie, Uploaded on Nov 2, 2009وطى

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Example #3: أبناء الفراعنة في الكويت في التحطيب



Co0lZeRo10, Uploaded on Nov 6, 2009
-snip-
This summary includes extensive comments written in Arabic.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all those featured in these videos. My thanks also to the producers of these videos & their publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting zumalayah.

Zumalayah showcases videos of dances & singing games done in circles or in lines, and other movement performance arts from African American culture, from African cultures, and from other cultures of the African Diaspora.

Visitor comments are welcome.