Dance Research

Read the dance heritage research from the PhD of Dr Valeria Lo Iacono by choosing from the posts below and from the additional pages.

Tahia Carioca Bint al Balad Laban Movements Analysis (5.3.1)

Tahia Carioca Bint al Balad Laban Movements Analysis (5.3.1)

Who is Tahia Carioca Tahia Carioca’s name (in Arabic: كاريوكا‎ تحية) can be transliterated in many different ways, including Taheyya Kariokka or Tahiya Karioka. In my writing, I will use Tahia Carioca, while in the quotations from other sources I will use whatever...

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Belly Dance Heritage Change and Traditions Discussion (6.5)

Belly Dance Heritage Change and Traditions Discussion (6.5)

Dialogical Paradigm As living heritage is based on a dialogical paradigm, the dialectic between change and traditions is important and so is practitioners’ agency. As Adshead (1988, p. 78) posits, ‘genres and styles place constraints upon . . . the nature and range of...

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Heritage Qualities and Value Findings (6.3)

Heritage Qualities and Value Findings (6.3)

Introducing the Heritage Value in Raqs sharqi Adopting a dialogical paradigm of heritage, according to which heritage is (Bodo, 2012, p. 182) ‘constantly questioned and rediscovered by individuals who breathe new life into it’, this section explicates the heritage...

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Male Belly Dancers (5.7.8)

Male Belly Dancers (5.7.8)

Men Performing Raqs Sharqi I have not found any videos of men performing Egyptian Raqs sharqi to analyze, dating back to before the late 1990s/early 2000s. Back in the early days of Raqs sharqi, even though Badia Masabni stated that, in her troupe, ‘we also had men...

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Foreigner Dancers Living and Working in Cairo (5.7.7)

Foreigner Dancers Living and Working in Cairo (5.7.7)

Non-Egyptian Influences As mentioned by Dina at the end of the previous section, the musicians, the feeling and the heart of Raqs sharqi are still in Egypt. This is why many Raqs sharqi practitioners (those who want to discover the roots of this dance) from around the...

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Belly Dancers in Contemporary Egyptian Media (5.7.6)

Belly Dancers in Contemporary Egyptian Media (5.7.6)

Other Egyptian Dancers Apart from the dancers who perform and teach internationally, there are other examples of Egyptian dancers I found online. These are the ones who appear on shaabi music videos and I have found references to some of them on an article from a...

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Sahar Samara – Modern but Mellow (5.7.5)

Sahar Samara – Modern but Mellow (5.7.5)

Background of Sahar Samara Another Egyptian dancer who teaches at the Nile Group Festival is Sahar Samara. She also participated in the raqs sharqi competition Al Rakesa, organised by Dina, and she came second. I found a little bit more information about her from the...

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Arabic Terms Used in Belly Dance Glossary

Arabic Terms Used in Belly Dance Glossary

Afrangi Afrnagi are considered the westernized Egyptian upper class. Alma (plur. awalim) Alma is an educated woman who could sing, write music and poetry, play instruments, and sometimes danced and who performed mainly for women in the harem. Assaya An Assaya is a...

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Glossary of Raqs Sharqi Belly Dance Movements

Glossary of Raqs Sharqi Belly Dance Movements

The following list of terms for Raqs sharqi movements is not the official codified terminology, as this does not exist for Raqs sharqi or belly dance. It is instead the terminology I have learnt from my teachers over the years and from books and DVDs which I have used...

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