How Saiidi Changed my Life
It feels like I´m walking alone for a long time.
The way I see Egyptian Dance is new, though based on ancient wisdom and history, and the way I practice it is out of the box, mostly misunderstood and eventually copied by others in my industry.
One of the things I´ve been doing - teaching, writing, and speaking about - for a long time, in perfect solitude, is to claim there´s a direct connection between Egyptian Dance and Life.
What I learn for Egyptian Dance, I apply to Life; what I learn for Life, I apply to Egyptian Dance. They´re intertwined in visible and invisible ways.
Obviously, I´m often considered an oddity, someone who disturbs the "rotten order of things". That I am.
Eventually, the world catches up. It always does.
Take Saiidi, for instance, of the styles within Egyptian Folklore.
At first, I took it as most dancers take it - a dance style, a set of dance movements, a rhythm, a posture, and a culture. That´s already a lot to take in, especially for a foreigner.
But there was more - time, deep curiosity, and experience showed me that Saiidi was also a character shaper, a style made popular by my dearest teacher and friend, Mahmoud Reda, who could change our life for the better.
The fields of Upper Egypt
The year was circa 1999. I was invested in knowing Egypt better than I knew my homeland, Portugal.
Alone, I took off. First, Alexandria; then, Cairo; from Cairo, I went towards the desert to spend time with the Bedouins - there was dance, music and an exotic love affair to keep me busy in the desert -; then, Luxor and Nubia.
I went down the Nile on a cruise that looked like it was taken from Agatha Christie´s novels. It felt sensual and vintage.
The sweat was dripping from my skin, my clothes, my soul. It was a particularly hot Summer in a particularly hot part of Egypt. Life itself became lazy, slower, self-indulgent.
- Welcome to Luxor! - A male´s voice announced.
I got out from the cruise and managed to escape the sellers of antiquities, clothes, and other touristic gadgets, knowing exactly where I wanted to go.
Me and a Saiidi Man somewhere in Luxor (you can see how happy I was)
-Take me to a village where I can see "Tahtib". - I asked one of the guides that stood, patiently, waiting for customers.
For some reason, I trusted this stranger. There was no hesitation when he suggested I´d follow him, in his car, to the village where his family lived, deep into the Saiidi countryside, by the Nile.
He could have been a rapist, a psychopath, a burglar but I trusted my gut and accepted his invitation.
One hour passed and we were still in the car - bumpy, old, falling apart; two hours passed and we remained in the car. An exercise in trust and courage.
A certain nervousness - "where the hell is he taking me?" - mixed with a growing astonishment at the beauty of the Saiidi countryside. The poverty of the villages we passed by couldn´t erase the beauty of the fields, the palm trees, the cotton plantations, the shore of the Nile.
I was in love. There was a purity in the air of the Saiidi countryside. A purity I longed for - in my dance, as in my life.
Eventually, in what seemed like a time outside of time, we arrived at his village. The entire family came to greet us - old people and teenagers, children, goats, birds, neighbors; everyone and everything that breathed.
They looked at me as if I was an alien from Mars they´d be waiting for a long time and treated me accordingly.
A lavish "fellahin" ("peasants") meal was laid in front of me, a "Tahtib" fight was conjured, and a surprise-gift was prepared. Never, in my entire life, before or after that trip, was I treated with such generosity and kindness by strangers.
What was supposed to have been a quick visit turned into an overnight stay. There was "Tahtib", which I enjoyed immensely, the first of several "Tahtib" congregations I´d have the privilege to participate in; there was a private dance performance for the children and women of the family, there were laughter and learning but, mostly, there was a major lesson I never forgot.
A lesson from Saiidi Culture. A life lesson that changed my life.
When the time to leave arrived, I was told I´d receive my surprise gift, the one which had been announced at my arrival.
I was taken to a small canoe, by the Nile, and told I´d be sailing, all by myself, for as long as I wished.
Unsure of how to react, I made a pause and got lost in my thoughts:
1. The canoe is old and fragile; it looks like it has holes in it. Will I die, drowning, in the Nile?
2. Could someone come along with me, in case something went wrong?
3. Aren´t there snakes, crocodiles, and piranhas in the Nile?
I´m an adventurer and I was also appreciative of their generosity. Saiidi people are indeed the masters of courtesy.
Saying no to this gift would blemish my so far untainted bravery status and it´d offend the family who´d received me with open arms.
-You have to go, Joana. - I thought out loud.
The entire village was watching at the shore as I hopped into the canoe, reticently, trying to keep a poker face. To make things worse, the current was so strong I could hardly keep the canoe stable. It felt like I was going to be dragged to Assuan (that is if I didn´t drown until there).
The Nile Delta in Upper Egypt
I was the show, they were my audience and I couldn´t disappoint them.
The thing is I was right. The canoe had holes in its bottom and it was just a matter of time until the water invaded it.
Fear set in.
I´m going to drown in the Nile, what a poetic and terrible way to die!
The village remained untouched by my fear. They smiled, waved, and danced at the shores of the river, waiting for my return, oblivious to the fact that I may not return.
I rowed and rowed but, due to the current, I got stuck in the same place, right in the middle of the river, slowly going down.
When things got tragic, an old man came to my rescue.
He wasn´t from the family who had received me; he was a villager who´d been warned about the "alien´s presence".
Despite his old age and frail complexion, he got into the river, wearing his "gallabeya", with the agility of a 20-year-old; no hesitation, no fear, just one mission ahead. His eyes were pitch black, piercing, and magnetic - typical Saiidi eyes - and his hands were damaged from the work in the fields, I could see them when he held the canoe to pull it.
The contrast between the intention behind that gift and the stress it caused was hilarious; the contrast between me and the old man in the water and the villagers, pleasantly observing the spectacle was hilarious; the fact that I was being saved by a grandfather was hilarious. Egypt at its best. I didn´t know if I´d cry or laugh.
When I touched dry land, I took a breath of relief and thanked the man who´d saved me so valiantly.
- Thank you for helping me to get out of the water. You may have saved my life. - I told him, ignoring the fact that he didn´t speak a word of English.
The man nodded and held my hands on his - wrinkled and rough - hands. Then, he asked a member of the family who´d received me to tell me the following:
-Saiidi means character. And character means love. Whenever one is in need, we don´t think twice, we go ahead and help.
I took his words in and remained silent. That evening, just before we left, I shared the last meal of that impromptu trip. The old man was present. Every time our eyes locked, he´d nod and bow, ever so slightly and intentionally, with an attitude of humbleness which is also nobility. Service.
Saiidi - people, culture, music, and dance - were never the same, from that moment on.
Every time I took a "Tahtib" class, I remember the old man and the lesson he´d given me; whenever I heard the word "Saiidi", I bowed; whenever I faced a challenge or someone I knew was in need, I didn´t think twice - I jumped into the situation and did what I had to do. No hesitation, no questioning, no fear. Only character.
When we´re ready and eager to learn, the teachers come to us. He was a teacher and that village, lost in the Upper Egyptian countryside, was a school.
More than studying steps and movements, what we truly ought to study, when we get into Egyptian Dance, is the LIFE behind/inside the dance.
Forever, I´ll keep this story within. Forever, I´ll know the meaning of Saiidi.
Egyptian "fellahin" (peasants) in Upper Egypt
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