Oriana went to the Reda Troupe Asst. Trainer and former cover story of Fanoos Magazine, Hosam Elmansy, to ask about this Folkloric Dance. Hosam voice recorded his answers and Oriana has transliterated and dictated them for this article.
What is Simsimiyya?
Simsimiyya is an Egyptian Folklore dance derived from several cities in the Suez Canal region. In the Suez Canal area, there are 3 main cities: Ismailiyya, Suez and Port Said. Simsimiyya music is reflective of all of these cities with variations such as Bambouti specifically from Port Said, Malhoul dance from Ismailiyya, Kef dance which is part of the ceremonies the day before a wedding from Suez. All of these are forms of Simsimiyya dance with the music.
"Simsimiyya" as a name refers the music, the dance and the instrument that is featured in the music. In general, it typically refers to a special Egyptian folkloric dance, but you'll hear the term for everything I just mentioned. Originally the instrument itself was called "Tamboura" from Aswan. The music itself really began when the Suez Canal was being formed in the 18th Century. The workers there were Nubian, and they would spend the night after their long work shifts with parties. That's when they began creating the music and dance with this traditional instrument. Over time the instrument became smaller. What is the History of the Dance? Like I said the workers building the Suez Canal were Nubian and they would relax at night with parties and music. After that it continued to evolve into its own style, and they also began adding spoons to add to the rhythm and beats in the music. They used the spoons and glasses they already had to accompany the music. This became the beginnings of the music as we know it. The dance formed in natural relation to this music, and it is all in releve. The position is always in releve because it involves a lot of jumping which comes from the actions of the Port Said workers. Bambouti features this also. When the big foreign ships would cross the Suez, the Egyptian people on the small Feluca boats would jump up and down to get their attention and try sell their wares from their boats. They would sell wine, clothing, cigarettes, etc so these motions became part of the dance. They also incorporated movements of the fishermen in the area. Suez is between the Canal and the Red Sea, and Port Said is on the Mediterranean sea, Ismailiyya is in the middle. How is the dance performed? Now, the dance has become a part of professional shows. It is very difficult and requires a lot of practice which is why I think it's not done often anymore. Now in my work I have done a 3-month Virtual Course recently and it was very hard to teach this online. The technique is very specific and detailed. My opinion is to mix in more hip movements for female dancers and keep the original stories and themes of the history. When you have the technique, it's important to understand the personality and way of life of the people- the talking, the movement, the fishing, the wedding parties. This is important. When you have the technique, the history and the feeling with good music and good costumes, then you can perform! Tell us more about how you teach and choreograph it. This is important: when I teach it outside of Egypt or at any festival, I start with the class doing at least 20 minutes of just technique for the female dancers. Even if they are professional dancers. I just taught at Cairo Mirage in Russia and all of the girls are very good but I still started with general technique just for this dance. Because I mix the movements to keep the Female dancers in mind with their hips. I have them form a circle and practice, or travel in lines to get the steps down. Simsimiyya has a basic step done in a specific way where the front leg is going forward and back in releve and the back leg is going up and down in releve. This is very confusing at first. One leg going front and back with the hips and hand positions. For me, I start to make them start doing counts of the movements ( maybe 8 counts, then 2 counts). After this we start the choreography being led by the music, the melody and the beat. When I dance with the spoons, I must be specfic with the beat. Last year and in the past couple of months when I taught this the Russian, Chinese and Korean students really enjoyed this, and it was very good for them. Only in two days they took the class and then were on stage with me! That's why I teach it the way that I do, so that they can pick it up quickly to do it with me in the show. What would you like to see for Folkloric Dance in the Future? I'm going to say something I think is very important. When you teach folkloric dances, you must have a lot more experience in dance and years of practice. Too many people dance for a few years and become a teacher. No. They are empty artists, because they lack experience. This is important for me. And excuse me, but when I see foreigners teach Egyptian Folklore, I ask why? (Because it lacks the personality or life experience needed.) I try to teach this as much as possible to make it understandable. I thank God that I have a good reputation that I dance in a good way, and I innovate. I can teach the traditional way and also update the dance to make sense for dancers who are learning. I hope in the future we have good teachers and good dancers who can bring good performances of our Egyptian Folklore to the stage. Also, I would like to pay respect to teachers such as Mahmoud Reda, who originally created a lot of the personality we see on stage. He was the first to being a lot of these dances to the performance arena and we must respect him. I am very lucky to teach and travel outside of Egypt to Canada, Russia, China, Japan...I am lucky to tour other countries and share with them my dance, my opinions, my teaching. When someone tells me they will use my choreography on stage I watch them, and I stay in contact with them until they perform it to help until it's perfect. I hope in the future we have good teachers and performers who dance in the right way with respect. Respect is the most important thing for our dance.
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