She was quick to point out for me that this is the sword that she danced consistantly with for her first eight years, then she upgraded to a bigger, brighter round pommeled sword..

The pattern that is on the blade itself now adorns her right ankle as a tattoo......

THAT"s why it's on the floor..."Like a loyal dog waiting for it's matser..." (she says...)

Hassan

Those are not the same swords Saroyan sells.They are knock offs..I offer a similar dragon head sword on my web site. I guarantee a perfect balance for belly dancers..

Heres the scoop on the dragon head swords from a person who has sold hundreds of them. There are 3 companys that make the knock offs and none are Saroyan quaility hence the $200 lower price..2 of the companys make crap swords you would be lucky if 1 in 50 balanced well enough for a belly dancer. One company makes a good sword. But they are a tad more pricey than the link listed above.I buy mine from the more expeninsive company
maybe 1 in 20 needs a slight tweak to bring it into what i consider perfect balance for belly dancing ..

The dragon head swords are lighter with less of a curve which in turn makes them feel slick and a little bit harder to balance. They weight about 2.5 lbs..a little surf board wax on the back bone of the sword will remove that slick feeling. a few grooves filed into the back bone will remove the slick feeling as well ( but that's cheating hehehehehe)

Another down fall to them is they are made from a softer metal than Saroyan uses they are a lower grade stainless steel again another reson for the much lower price. They can be knocked out of perfect balance. but are very easy to re balance.

The upside to them is their nice look and light weight , if you like the feel of a lighter sword
and when one is balanced properly you would have a very hard time feeling the difference
between a high quaility kncok off and a Saroyan of the same design.

I have found swords are a very personal item "feel" is what matters.So opinons vary from one dancer to the next.. I havent seen many dancers who like the heavier real sword feel of a cas ibra sword which weighs alomst 4 lbs say they like the dragon head swords and vise versa..

A tip when buying.. Buy from a person who knows bellydance and knows the balance bellydancers require..Chances are high even if buying the sword via the internet you will get exactly what your looking for.. There a quite a few swords vendors who are dancers as well that sell fantastic swords and stand behind the balance..

I hope this helps
Riz

p.s. I got mine from Knights Edge for $48.00 : www.knightsedge.com/previous...54-55.htm

LOFL, i have to do the same thing!

it's ok as a sword if you're willing to deal with the softness and bending, i'm personally saving up for one of those fabulous CAS Iberia hawk headed scimitars............those ROCK!

And...OMGoodness... I am now going to embarass (as well as hopefully delight) Friga by posting up her very first sword performance with her new sword. She is the lady right out in front. She was truly amazing!



www.youtube.com/watch