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By HADIA
The word baladi,
as translated from Arabic, means "of the country". It implies story
telling and folklore or the expression of a people about their culture
and their everyday life. The term, raks baladi or baladi
dance, refers to the folkloric style of Egyptian group or solo
dance. This encompasses the fellahin, bambootia and saidi dances, using
fellahy, baladi
and saidi rhythms. 
The saidi style has its roots in the raks tahhtyb, which is a men's combat dance performed with a large stick. This evolved into the woman's raks assaya, or cane dance, which is more delicate and coquettish than the male counterpart but does not hesitate to occasionally imitate it's macho quality. Both raks tahhtyb and raks assaya represent the pastoral aspects of Egyptian culture.
The woman's costuming for raks baladi is an ankle-length, tight-fitting tunic called a baladi dress, and worn with a scarf or fringed belt tied low around the hips. This is different from the oriental or sharqi costume which consists of the jeweled/beaded/sequined bra and belt with skirt and veil.
The term baladi, as it refers to rhythm, is the backbone of oriental music, recognized by the accent structure [shown on the rhythms page]. It's variations include maksoum and saidi. Finally, baladi refers to the central part of the oriental dance routine which consists of taqsim, call and answer drum, baladi and fellahy. This is also referred to as taqsim baladi or baladi awadi.
Baladi In the Raks Sharqi Routine
Described as "an ancient art of earthy sensuality with a proud, playful air", [baladi] is the oldest form of Egyptian solo dance. Although folkloric in character, attitude and musical accompaniment, it is distinct from folkloric dance itself in that it is a solo dance form and is generally improvised.
From the raqs baladi
has evolved the raqs esharqi or "oriental dance" (what we
refer to as bellydance). This is a more refined, sophisticated and choreographed
version of the solo dance, performed to intricate musical arrangements.
Although raqs baladi exists as a dance form in it s own right, its elements are often contained within an oriental dance performance. In this instance it is referred to as taqsim baladi or baladi awwadi, whose elements, desribed, below occur in a fairly consistent progression.
It always begins with a taqsim, which is a slow, improvised section of music, usually played on one instrument and with no rhythmical accompaniment. This is usually followed by awwadi, or the "call and answer" segment, which has sharp percussive accents on the "one-and" counts and instrumental "answers" for the remainder of the four-beat bar.
A variation of the awwadi, which is found quite frequently in Egyptian music, is the magrour. This term actually means pulled or dragged along, a rather broken interplay between percussion and melodic instruments which.
These rhythms then give way to the large, powerful baladi, a 4/4 rhythm with accents on the "one-and . . . three". This can alternate with baladi kebir [ masmoudi] or saiidi. Then as the pace picks up, the baladi makes a transition into a rapid section of 2/4 beat called fellahi, named after the Egyptian farmers or fellahin. This finally winds down and resolves into a final taqsim which may or may not be followed by a drum solo, according to the individual preference of the dancer.
Hadia is an internationally acclaimed instructor and performer. In 2000 she won IAMED's award for best choreographer. See her website for information on workshops, tours, flamenco dance and massage therapy.