Study notes
Baladi
Baladi is an Egyptian Arabic word meaning "of the country" or "rural" so Raqs Baladi can be translated as "the dance of my country/homeland", i.e the dance of Egypt. As such in Egypt this name can be used interchangeably with Raqs Sharqi to refer to dance, but in the West we use this style to refer to the more traditional form of the dance that the Egyptian Oriental performance style evolved from.
As such, baladi dance was a more social dance than the Oriental style so there is less movement and the feel is restrained but very expressive. Arms are simpler and moves performed more often on the flat of the foot and with more heavily bent knees, making for an earthier style that emphasises hip work and torso movements.
Baladi music is the music of the rural Egyptian communities who moved into the large urban centres and is often characterised by the presence of Western instruments like the saxophone and, in particular, the accordion. These instruments found their way to the Middle East in the colonial period and were adapated to the Middle Eastern scales.
Baladi was traditionally a social dance, not a performance dance, so there is no one traditional costume. In Egypt dancers often include a baladi section to their performance, and they generally use a traditional long dress (galabeya) with flowing sleeves, a hip scarf tied round the waist and maybe also a head scarf. Traditional props include finger cymbals.
Baladi people are rural people and there are many stereotypes associated with the "Bint al Balad" or girl from the countryside. In this sense baladi can also be seen as a difference between "high" and "low" art or classical vs popular.
Fifi Abdou is an example of a baladi dancer.
Read an article about Baladi by Hossam Ramzy.