Ghada Abdel-Kader watches a performance of a martial art that has become an art of a different kind For folkloric entertainment to succeed on the stage in front of a general audience, it needs to be larger than life -- in the way that Riverdance made a spectacle of the Irish jig and Indian temple dancing helped create Bollywood. If Upper Egyptian stick dancing hasn't quite made it -- yet -- it is not for want of trying but rather, perhaps, that it hasn't cinched the X- factor. That something extra, that Wow! that spells a hit. Well, never mind. Take it or leave it, I'll take it, thanks, knots and all. The audience at the Nahda Association for Scientific and Cultural Renaissance witnessed a fair about stick bashing by the Medhat Fawzi Centre for Stick Arts located in Mallawi village, Minya governorate. The performance two weeks ago opened with two male dancers mounting the stage holding sticks. They challenged each other to combat, and battle commenced. The two pummelled one another until the weaker one fell, but he continued to defend himself and attempted to stand up. The dance was charming and elegant. The theatre was completely full, and the audience's mood was right behind the dancers. What were they feeling? Were they being swept back in time, back into a folk memory? Dressed in round-necked, wide-sleeved galabiyas over long pants, with long scarves wound round their heads, the two oldest members of the troupe gave an outstanding performance as they leapt round the stage avoiding one another's blows. The troupe delivered a rousing drumming as a sign of victory. The audiences gave rousing applause for the old mawwal (ballad) songs. Medhat Fawzi, stick-dancer-cum-executive producer, set up the centre in 1993. Hassan El-Geretli and Naguib Guweili have been looking for dancers for the Warsha troupe. The three -- Fawzi, Geretli and Guweili -- met on the roof of the building and practised tahtib (stick dancing). "They admired the idea of tahtib," says Gamal Mosaad, current director of the Medhat Fawzi centre. Warsha set up the centre for stick arts, where young artists could return to the origin of stick dancing to learn the martial art of tahtib. "After Fawzi's death in 1996, Warsha started subsidising the centre," Mosaad said. For the past two years the centre has had separate resources with the aid of financing from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). "We are also seeking a grant from Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Foundation." Warsha, an independent theatre troupe established in 1987, is dedicated to theatrical forms that embrace the rhythm of life united by the quest for new horizons of communication in the cultural world view through working in parallel on the creative process of outreach activities. Its methods are long term and cumulative. They claim that their creative journey is about the path towards maintaining the dialogue between the past and the future. It also offers ongoing training opportunities for young artists who wish to work as professionals. Sheikh Dakhli El-Seweiti, a former national champion in tahtib, is now an instructor at the Medhat Fawzi Centre. Seweiti told Al-Ahram Weekly : "It's a Pharaonic practice. At that time tahtib was considered a battlefield weapon and was taught to soldiers as self-defence. Royalty were trained in an advanced style of this art at a very young age to deter assassination attempts. The original sticks were made of wood and the stem of the papyrus plant. " Tahtib was practised by men as a means of self-defence, and the stick is regarded as a symbol of masculinity in Upper Egypt. It is up to the father and grandfather to teach tahtib to their sons. The original stick was a shoum or nebboot. The shoum is harder and heavier. In the past, people's body shape was bigger and more powerful. Today, we use sticks made of krzan (a type of wood), which is lighter. The length of the stick itself starts at 120cm and is no longer than 160cm, depending on height and body size," Seweiti says. "The music used in tahtib is typically played by traditional instruments such as the mizmar baladi (a horn which emits a long, whining tone), the tabla baladi (drum) and the tahyol. The tahyol is a double-sided drum worn with a shoulder strap that hangs sideways in front of the drummer and is played with two sticks. Tahtib is a favourite dance at any festive occasion, such as weddings, welcoming parties, and harvest festivals." "The Mallawi troupe practises original tahtib. In other folk dance troupes there are female dancers, but not in tahtib. The dancers depend more on moves and rotations rather than dance steps. "We tried to develop our troupe through reviving folkloric and heritage songs. We are working on introducing modern dancing in our troupe but without changing our heritage," Mosaad says. The Mallawi troupe has toured in Holland and Brazil and closer to home in Jordan and Lebanon. It also took part in this year's Syrian dance festival and the Faces of Egypt festival held in Cahors, France. The company of 70 dancers, singers and musicians includes a number of children. "We exercise twice a week for three hours," Mosaad says. "Rehearsals are divided into an hour for music, an hour for dancing and an hour for tahtib. The programme includes the music that accompanies the jousting and dancing, and more recently the singing." Learning the principles of tahtib starts at the age of 10. "The student's capability of understanding determines when he will start dancing," Seweiti says. "I teach him the moves and stands and the way he holds the stick." Dakhli's son Islam, 15, has been practising tahtib for five years. "I love it. I inherited it from my family," says Islam. "One day I want to be an instructor like my father."
