Dance Research

Introduction to Randa Kamel Randa Kamel is extremely famous among practitioners worldwide because she travels a lot for teaching and also because her very energetic style is very appealing to foreigners. She is one of the first Egyptian dancers who is more famous...

(Raqs sharqi stars from the 1990s and 2000s) Profile and Background of Dina Dina (دينا) has been considered the last big Egyptian star of Raqs sharqi and indeed she is the last one who has starred in a considerable number of movies and TV programmes from the early...

(Raqs sharqi stars from the 1990s and 2000s) Raqia Hassan Background According to online sources (Sharif, no date; El Safy, 1995), Raqia was born in Cairo and started dancing in the Reda troupe as a folkloric dancer at the age of 14. However, Raqia felt that folklore...

Moving from the 1990s to the 2000s From the early 1990s, there has been a decline in the number of big Raqs sharqi stars in Egypt and the Middle East, for a variety of reasons, as discussed. Since then, Raqs sharqi has almost disappeared from Egyptian movies; many of...

Dance Sociological Analysis Looking at Table 31, there do not seem to be many new movements being developed in this timeframe. There are the oldest kinemes, plus the more recent ones that have, by now, become part of the movement vocabulary and various allokines. A...

About Mona al Said Biographical information about Mona al Said (منى السعيد ) is available from an article written by El Safy (1996) and from Mona’s own website (El Said, no date). She was born in Suez Canal and loved dancing folkloric dances at school. It was not...

Lucy's Background Lucy (لوسى) was one of the star dancers of Cairo in the 1980s and 90s. She is an actress, singer, and dancer (El Safy, 1993a) and danced at the Parisiana, a club in Cairo owned by her husband (Taylor, no date; Rose, 2006; TheCaroVan, 2015c). Dancer...

(1st profile and analysis of the three famous Egyptian dancers of the 1980s and 1990s) Fifi Abdou Background Fifi Abdou (فيفى عبده) was born in 1953 (Shams, 2016) and started dancing at the age of 12 (Shams, 2016), becoming a soloist in a folklore troupe at the age of...

1980s and mid-1990 Raqs Sharqi (Belly Dance) The timeframe between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s sees a flourishing of raqs sharqi in Egypt and abroad (in countries such as Lebanon and the UAE but also in London, as we will see). I have found fewer clips with dance...

Traditional Kinemes and Dance Movements in the 1970s and 1980s Table 25 shows that the traditional kinemes are still performed, along with those that had been observed for the first time in the previous timeframe, such as the hip jewel. Table 25 - Traditional kinemes...

(Continuing on the section on Raqs Sharqi in Egyptian Cinema and TV (1970s and Early 1980s) The Early Career of Nelly Fouad Nelly Fouad (نيللى فؤاد), as Evanoff (2012) reports, was born in Alexandria and she first became famous in Lebanon, before returning to Cairo....

(Continuing the section on Raqs Sharqi in Egyptian Cinema and TV (1970s and Early 1980s) Soheir Zaki's Background Soheir Zaki (سهير زكي), Nearing (2012a) and Sullivan (2002) report, was born in Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, and moved to Alexandria with her family when...

Raqs Sharqi on Egyptian TV and in Movies During this timeframe in Egypt, there are more videos of raqs sharqi from TV shows, rather than just movies. Also, there seems to be a growing interest in trying to legitimize dance as an art form. The two most famous raqs...

Timeframes and Themes In Table 20 and Table 21 (below), I have highlighted the main themes for this timeframe (1960 and 1970s). CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE LARGE VERSION Table 20 - the 1960s and early 70s in Egypt and the USA – Part 1 CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO SEE FULL...

Introduction The 1960s early 1970s timespan has emerged from the data as a distinct timeframe, because, in Egypt, there are certain changes with regards to costumes design and to a certain extent to movement style. Also, the late 1960s and early 1970s, saw the...

Table 15 includes a comparison of the movements used by the three most famous dancers of the golden age. Kinemes All three use isolations of the hips, torso and shoulders and a clear movement vocabulary of Raqs sharqi is already established at this stage. Following...

1950s in Egypt and Egyptian Culture In the 1950s in Egypt, after the 1952 revolution, the government encouraged a renewed interest in Egyptian culture, particularly in the late 1950s. It was in this political and cultural environment that the Ministry of Culture...

Introduction to Naima Akef Naima Akef (نعيمة عاكف) was also an innovator in the field of Raqs sharqi, because of her training and background and she was very influential for future generations of Raqs sharqi practitioners. The famous Egyptian dancer Nagwa Fouad...

Samia Gamal Movement Vocabulary Samia Gamal (جمال‎ سامية) is the most famous of the dancers of the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema. The basic movements she used were part of the same movement vocabulary used by the other dancers of her time. However, the feeling and...

Research on the Golden Era of belly dance and Egyptian cinema in the 1930s to 1950s. Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca and Naima Akef.

Baladi and Ghawazee dance and Roma dances. Cultural production, Awalim Badia Masabni, and transcultural dance. costumes and props.

Analyzing Egyptian Raqs Sharqi belly dance chronologically and historically. Global transcultural heritage. Intangible and Tangible elements.