If you hear me walking down the street...

The finger cymbal playing is coming along, thanks to my new practise regime. 

The zills I recently purchased are of the professional variety.  They are big and loud and the sound will cut through noisy bars and open air fetes.  But loud also has a downside, when practising for any sustained period of time. 

My "studio" at home is the kitchen in my tenement flat, breakfast table pushed to the side.  It's got a laminate floor and I try to tell myself this offers some kind of sound insulation for my poor neighbours.  Well they haven't yet complained... My poor ears, however, are ringing along with my fingers - they are now starting to suffer.

I needed to find a solution to my problem.  What's that I *struggle to* hear other dancers shout? Zill mufflers?  Baby socks?  I say no crochet.  I want to hear what I am doing, to work on the difference between dums and taks, clicks and claps. 

I had to think out of the apartment, and move my practise to the great outdoors.  Well, the streets of Edinburgh to be more precise.  So I've taken to walking home at night, zills in hand, through the old town, up the royal mile, across the meadows.  And it works.  I can practise my drills, rhythms, variations, slowing down, speeding up, tones, trills and tricks.  All the while, I am walking home to a constant beat, thinking about my tea, looking at the Edinburgh skyline, and browsing in shop windows.  And it's the same kind of brain multi-tasking skill, that I can then apply to my dancing. 

I do pass plenty of people every day.  But there are lots of other city noises all around, sometimes so much that even my zills are drowned out.  And no one's really exposed to the sound for more than a moment.  If anyone notices, I have mostly just been politely ignored. 

And the result?  Well, I think it's starting to work... In just a few weeks of practising a little bit every day, my fingers are getting used to playing.  And when I put on some music and start dancing zills in hand, I think I'm finally getting it!

Have you got a great practise trick for learning finger cymbals, zills or sagat?  I would love to hear it. 

In the meantime, here's a shot of that Edinburgh's skyline.  I hope this provides some nice distraction from playing the 200th repetition of Beledi rhythm.

Oh, by the way has anyone any advice for protecting zills from the rain...?

Resources for zills and sagat - some great online videos

Since getting my new zills at the end of April, I've stepped up the amount of practise I've been doing.  As I don't, unfortunately, have access to a teacher, I have had to find different ways to teach myself.  My learning so far has been through online videos, and from a variety of CD and other rhythm resources.  For anyone who might be in the same position, I thought I would share some of the things that have really helped.  I'll start with the online videos. 

Free videos

YouTube is as good a place to start as any, when looking for some top up online tuition.  A quick search for "zills" plus "lesson", "learn" etc. will throw up a range of clips of varying quality together with a few trailers for video resources that can be purchased.  I found this a good way to cover a few basics and find some interesting play along material too.  Some of the videos that are for sale also look good, although I haven't invested as yet.  Here are 2 teachers that recommend. 

Firstly, Anthea Kawakib, a master ziller from the States.  She has an online course on her YouTube channel with 7 classes, suitable for both students and teachers who want ideas for teaching zills in class.  This short course, felt like an opportunity to follow the classes I never had.  The best thing about them is that from the outset, playing at the same time as dancing and moving about is absolutely essential.  By stop starting the clips and doing the same lessons over and over, there are maybe a few hours worth of free training here. Here is an example of Anthea breaking the technique down into manageable doses, from her second lesson:

The second teacher is Mahin Sciacca, author of the "Daily Bellydance Quickies".  She has posted a huge amount of free online material on belly dance and body conditioning.  This includes over 40 great zills videos, again aimed at familiarization, practise, and getting you moving and playing at the same time.  It helps to already have some experience of zill playing beforehand though, as does having some familiarity with American names for basic Arabic rhythms.  Here is Mahin teaching a combination with zills to Leylet Hob:

Subscription videos

The other set of videos I found useful, were Ansuya's online classes.  Former bellydance superstar Ansuya is famous for performing high energy belly dance, zills always in hand.  Just when I needed it, I came across a tweet from Ansuya granting a 24 hour free trial of Ansuya Online.  This is a subscription service that offers 4 new videos every month, together with the previous few months worth in an archive.  There is a basics class, a workout, a choreography and an "entertainment" section featuring extras type titbits.  I followed I think 3 different zills classes from the archive.  Lessons were 40 minutes long and I found the teaching to be excellent, clear and precise.  Rhythms were broken down into small pieces, built up again, speeded up and combined with moves.  I got a lot out of the learning, which even stuck with me for several days afterwards.

Although I am very grateful for the trial, I found the American belly dance posture and style quite alien to my own Egyptian Dance training.  But I would still recommend this series to an experienced dancer who can't easily access classes/workshop, especially if you're already a fan or interested in learning a variety of different props in addition to zills.

Out with the sagat, in with the zills

I've been trying to learn to dance with sagat for years.  It is a rare an interesting sight to see a dancer on stage who is proficient in playing finger cymbals, and as a former musician this instrument has always had a certain appeal.  I have also been impressed whenever I had a teacher who used her sagat in class to provide instant music to accompany the moves, and I wanted to do that too.

One of my dance specialities is Sha'abi style folk dance from the South of Egypt.  This looks and sounds great when danced live with sagat, as exemplified by the Ghawazee tribes of Upper Egypt.  I even performed my own tribute to the Ghawazee dancers a couple of years back in Sarasvati Tribal's Gaslight Faeries show.

However, I found it difficult to make progress in learning this instrument.  Mine are the heavy one-holed proper Egyptian sagat, imported from Mohammed Ali Street in Cairo.  And although I love the sound, the one-holed design means that although they are fine when played sitting down, when I dance, they wobble.  I have tried every manner of things to stop this happening, different sizes and thickness of elastic, even using bra elastic, but nothing really helped.

I had to find another solution to my finger cymbal problem.  So I turned to a different instrument altogether, the zill...

Finger cymbals are an ancient percussion instrument, still played by dancers in the middle east today.  In Egypt they are called sagat, in Turkey they are called zills and the instrument exists under different names and sometimes slightly different forms all over the middle east and North Africa.  Zills have a higher pitched, more ringing sound than sagat.  The slightly different sound means that they are not entirely authentic to Egyptian dance, however they are a reasonable substitute.  And due to their popularity amongst Stateside bellydancers, good quality zills are easier to find.  The best ones also have 2 parallel slits, which you string with thick flat elastic, and they don't wobble!

I did some research and discovered Saroyan, one of the manufacturers of quality zills popular with US dancers (other brands include Turquoise and Zildjian).  And more importantly, I found a supplier in the UK, Aladdin's cave, who carries this brand.  So here are my new zills, they are professional quality Saroyan Arabesque II.

I'm quite pleased with them so far.  They are heavy and loud and more tuneful sounding than my sagat.  They stay on my fingers too which helps me to hold my hands in a nicer more open position while dancing.  And more importantly, this has given me motivation to start practising more regularly again.

Habiba Dance is on the Move!

Goodbye purple website.  We were together two and a half years, but sadly now we must part.

It's out with the old and in with the new at Habiba Dance HQ, as my new, even shinier website is being built as we speak.  I'm really excited about it and I can't wait for the big reveal, coming soon to a computer screen near you!

Contact me...

Meanwhile, my blog will be my home for a few short weeks, and if you do need to get in touch there are still lots of ways to contact me:

• through Facebook 
• by tweeting @habibadance 
• or email me: habibadance AT ymail.com

Oh yes, and it's business as usual on YouTube as well (now with over 60,000 video views). 

As part of the transition to the new site, I'm in the middle of working through a few techy type things.  This means that right now my www.habibadance.com domain is showing a 404 error when you tap it into your computer.

However, everything else remains business as usual.  If you want to browse through the content of my old website, you should still be able to have a nosey at it, it's just being held in stasis on the servers of my previous host.  If you want to enquire about teaching, performances or hire, please get in touch directly with me.  If you have already accepted a quote or received a contract, all arrangements remain in place - naturally - and you will still be able to get in touch direct using the email and phone number that you have.

And finally, please do come back here very soon, to read my latest news, and check on the launch date for unveiling my new site. 

Thank you for the music!

Thank you Northern Arabic Dance Association for last night's fantastic live music event in Edinburgh with the Baladi Blues Ensemble!

Thanks to your support: 8 people got to dance in the evening show; another 8 led the musicians in the workshop; 21 in total enjoyed a workshop with live musicians; 1 person had her first experience teaching a live music workshop; 10 people went to their very first bellydance class; and over 115 people enjoyed our party and performances to fantastic live Egyptian music from the Baladi Blues Ensemble!

For many that were there this was their first experience of hearing or dancing to live Arabic music, for others this was the first time they had ever seen Arabic dance or belly dance. For all of us, this was a very special occasion, with a beautiful warm atmosphere and a fantastic finale for a whole weekend of amazing events like this around the country.

Thank you to everyone at NADA, all of its members, committee, to Coordinator Anna Bisco, to Elspeth SwishandHips, all the volunteers and helpers, the staff at the David Lloyd Newhaven, and to the incredible Baladi Blues Ensemble - Guy Schalom, Sheik Taha, Ahmed El Saidi and Adam Warne!

Thank you to all of you for spreading the Baladi Love!