In all Middle Eastern/ Arab cultures, the Zaffa (Arabic: زفـّـة‎), or wedding march, is a musical procession of bendir drums, bagpipes, horns and belly dancers. This announces that the marriage is about to begin. This is an ancient tradition, possibly predating Islam.

Historically Wedding Celebrations have included the presence of a dancer acting as high priestess in pre Islamic times with ceremonial functions blessing the Bride and Groom. This ceremony was linked to Fertility, Abundance and basically good luck and prosperity. To this day, a dancer is still presented to introduce the Wedding Couple into the reception room to their guests. This has nothing to do with current religion, it is a social custom that people love. The dancer and the quality of the wedding show is a mark of prestige just like thousands of years ago. Everyone has a favorite dancer and wants her to dance at their wedding.

This entrance procession is called a Zaffa. It has the dancer (with a candelabra), the bride and groom, a group of musicains playing the zaffa rhythm on percussion instruments, a mizmar, brides maids with candles, or a boy with inscence. (there are variations). The Zaffa musicians playing the dynamic Arrousa Rhythmns and dancer/s introduces the Newly Married Bride and Groom to the Wedding Guests in the reception room. In the Middle East the Bride and Groom sit on a raised small stage in decorative chairs surrounded by flowers. They may also be seated at a head table with their parents.

In addition to the entrance procession, at the wedding ceremony, the dancer will also perform either with her orchestra/musicians/or to a cd. The Bride and Groom will then be brought up to be introduced and congratulated and they will dance together for their guests.. The dancer then gets all the relatives and friends up to dance creating an atmosphere of festivity.

If you are interested in having Jaida perform at your wedding, she has a group of musicians and singers who perform the traditional Zaffa for weddings. They also provide the Raks Sharqi show as part of the wedding ceremony. Each wedding is unique and a show can be taylored to suit each unique celebration. A dance show typically includes traditional as well as contemporary Arabic music (beledy and saidi), getting the bride and groom up to dance, and getting the relatives and guests up to dance. Jaida has performed at many Egyptian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Turkish (arab) engagement parties and weddings. These kinds of celebrations are joyous occasions and dancers and musicians create a unique atmosphere of festivity all will remember and treasure.

All Photos courtesy of Jennifer May.

2009 Fall Student Showcase

Sunday November 15th, 2009 6pm – 9pm

at the Lafayette Grill
54 Franklin Street New York, NY 10013 ~ 212-732-4449

Over 12 Fabulous Dancers

Solos and group numbers beginner through professional dancers

$15 min food or drink

Tickets: $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

For ticket reservations, please call Jaida at 917-288-1123

Sponsored by

The North Eastern Network Wellness Center
Gary Jean-Baptiste, M.D.
178 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 398-8000

SIE Sponsor Groups
www.sponsorgroups.com

Celestine Collection
www.myspace.com/thecelestinecollection

The Cowrie Shell Center
www.cowrieshellcenter.com

What I primarily want to do is welcome you and then give you some suggestions about how you, as a friend or fan can help out Jaida and make her new website a success. This blog is a place for you! … Whether you’re a family member, friend, student, or fellow bellydancer this is the place to keep up with what is happening with Jaida and also offer your encouragement and support. The more often you check here and the more often you comment on her blogs and interact with this online community the more you will help her to become what I would call “visible” on the web.

The more people who visit a website, the more visible it becomes to search engines like Google and Yahoo. So that means as her friend, you can help her out simply by checking back frequently for updates. It is my hope that this site will be a great help to you if you’re trying to keep track of her bellydance life. I, personally have many bellydancer friends down here in Delaware, my little corner of the world and for me, I often have no idea when or where they are dancing so I don’t get to see them perform as often as I’d like. Jaida’s main page JaidaDance.com incorporates a modern web technology called an “RSS feed” which is maintained and updated by Jaida in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest info for her dancing. For those of you more web savvy, you can subscribe to her RSS feed to get up the latest info via your favorite feed reader. For those of you who want to follow Jaida, you can subscribe to her e-mail list at the bottom of the main page. The gallery has pictures and YouTube videos of her performances. I’m sure you can figure all this out out… onto the meat.

Here are some simple ways that you can help out Jaida and her new site:

• Check the site, particularly the main page and the blog frequently for updates
• Comment on her blog
• Subscribe to receive e-mail updates (any time Jaida updates her calendar you will receive an automated e-mail informing you of new dates added to her calendar) on the main page
• Post links back to her site in appropriate and visible places, such as: online forums (like bhuzz.com, and shira.net) and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

There’s a good chance you won’t hear from me again, as Jaida will be taking over the show, but if you need me, you can find me over at my site DreamStar Studios. It’s not as pretty as Jaida’s because I keep so busy with other people’s sites that mine is a bit neglected :( Sorry about that!

Much Love to everyone and to all of you dancer’s out there… Keep it Up!