Stars of the Sixties/Seventies - Fifi Abdo (born 1953)
FIFI ABDO was born in Cairo on April 26, 1953 and named Atiyat Abdul Fattah
Ibrahim. Her father is a policeman and she has 11 siblings, including
her famous brother Abdelraheem Abdul Fattah Ibrahim, who encouraged her
career.
When she was 12 years old she joined a baladi
troupe and later found work as a model. She began to gain attention in
the early 1970s when she became the main attraction at the Arizona.
Over the years she danced at many other venues such as Le Meridien, Mena House and the El Gezira Sheraton.
Her performances usually lasted around two hours and she received up to
$10,000 per performance.
In addition to dancing, her routines often
included circus tricks and even rapping. The Moroccan newspaper La Vie Eco
reported in 2004 shortly before her retirement that she possessed 5,000
costumes with the most expensive being valued at $40,000
In her acting career, she is known as the woman-empowering type where,
rarely in Egyptian culture and film, she beats up and overpowers men.
(Source: Wikipedia)
PS: If you want to dance and move with me.. then my online BOOST Membership is for you! Tap www.khalidadance.com/vip for all details and the enrollment form.
The theme of 2024's live BOOST classes is 'Time Traveling with the Stars' - all levels are welcome!
I look forward to welcoming you as a BOOSTie member :)
Stars of the Sixties/Seventies - Soheir Zaki (born 1944)
SOHEIR ZAKI was born in Mansoura in 1944. In 1953, when she was nine years old, she and her family moved
to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Souhair Zaki fell in love
with music and dance and showed natural talent, teaching herself to
dance by listening to the radio.
Souhair Zaki was most inspired by
the dances of Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal. By the age of eleven she
was being noticed at the birthday and wedding parties of friends and
family, and started dancing professionally in the Greek nightclubs in
Alexandria.
She is known for her elegant, natural style
and exquisite musicality, even to this day. The 'Soheir Zaki hips'
movement is named after her.
Music, such as “Shik Shak
Shok”, was specially created for her every 6 months, and it is said
she was the first dancer to perform to the music of Om Khalsoum (see a
video of Soheir performing to 'Leylet Hob' below)
Note: the videos below are no longer available on youtube currently sadly - if you happen to find another version of them, please let me know at info@khalidadance.com
Soheir in 'The River of Life', directed by Hassan Reda, 1965 Soheir dancing to 'Amal Hayati' in 'The foolish', 1966 Soheir dancing to Daret Al Ayam in 'Struggle With Death' , 1970
Soheir performing in Wakr al-ashrar (1972)
Soheir dancing to 'Hassan Ya Kholy El Genena' in the film 'Two women', 1975
Soheir dancing to 'Aghadan Alqak'
Videoclips update (2024)
Soheir dancing in 'Matloub Zawga Fawran', 1964
Part 1:
Part 2 (check 1:41 for the famous 'Soheir Zaki Hips' move!
Soheir dancing in 'Hadith al Madina', 1964
Soheir dancing in 'Nahr al Hayat', 1964 (love her outfit!)
Soheir in 'Ana wa Huwa wa Hiya', 1965
Soheir in 'Muharris Khusushu', 1965
Soheir dancing to 'Rigal fi al Musida', 1971 (gorgeous dress and styling!)
Soheir dancing in 'Allo I'm the cat', 1975 (excellent stageing :))
Soheir dancing to 'Shik Shak Shok', 1979 (a classic!)
Enjoy!
PS: If you want to dance and move with me online.. then my BOOST Membership is for you! Tap www.khalidadance.com/vip for all details and the Enrollment form - The theme of 2024's live BOOST classes is 'Time Traveling with the Stars' - plus you'll get access to my bonus DVDs and online courses.
I look forward to welcoming you as a BOOSTie member :)
Favourites of the Fourties/Fifties - Nagua Fouad (born 1936)
NAGWA FOUAD was born in Cairo, Egypt as Awatif Mohamed Agami to an Egyptian father and a
Palestinian mother.
Nagwa performed at the Abdeen Casino where she met Ahmad Fouad Hassan
(her future husband for 6 years), a producer of stage
shows that later became a famous conductor.
He convinced her to perform
live at the most prestigious music and dance show in the 1960s called
“Adwa al-Madeena i.e. City Lights” which had featured such superstars as
Shadia, Abdul Haleem Haafez, Fayza Ahmad, and Sabaah.
In 1976, the famous composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab wrote an entire
musical piece exclusively for her belly dancing show titled “Aamar
Arba'tashar i.e. Full moon” it was her transition from traditional
oriental dance to a choreographed stage performances.
Her stage
performance to this special piece allowed her to change the way
belly-dancing was presented on stage, transforming it from traditional
oriental dance to more of a choreographed lavish spectacle adding more
dramatic elements to it than ever before.
Nagwa featured on many of the covers of the Ahmed Fouad Hassan
LP's/CD's.
(Sources: Wikipedia, Elcinema.com)
Nagwa dancing to 'Moghram Sababa' by Mohamed Roshdy
Nagua Fouad (date unknown)
Nagwa in Cairo, 1964
Nagua's Amar 14 (composed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab)
Note: The videos below are sadly no longer available on youtube. If you happen to find another version of the clips with these titles, please let me know! I will re-add them to the blog in that case.
Nagwa performing in the movie 'Touha', directed by Hassan El-Seify, 1957
From the movie The Police Inspector 'Mufattish el mabahess', 1960
From Sab'el leil, directed by Hassan El-Seify, 1970
From 'Khamsa share' al-habaib', directed by El Sayed Bedeir, 1971
From 'No, You who Were my Beloved', by Helmy Rafl, 1976
Nagua dancing to 'Set El Hosen' - part 2
Enjoy!
PS: If you want to dance and move with me online.. then my BOOST Membership is for you! Tap www.khalidadance.com/vip for all details and the Enrollment form - The theme of 2024's live BOOST classes is 'Time Traveling with the Stars' - plus you'll get access to my bonus DVDs and online courses.
I look forward to welcoming you as a BOOSTie member :)
At the moment I am home in Germany, enjoying a long weekend off, working on a mini-newsletter and mentally preparing for the upcoming events in late spring/early summer. Eschweiler woods are looking like this right now:
Spring in Eschweiler Wald, DE
I am also
Taking classes in ballet with Constanze Janssen in Aachen at Ballettschule Renoldi as often as I can, with added pointe training by Constanze's daughter Giulia since this April (a childhood dream!) I will be blogging about this soon :)
My pointe shoes! Triumph by Grishko from Mondanse.com
As well as
Studying TaeKwonDo, together with my husband, diligently training with Großmeister Chae Seung-Eun in our hometown Eschweiler, DE twice a week. (we've recently received our blue belt and are now working towards blue-red in the summer)
Posing with Master Seung-Eun Chae and Master Lee after the belt/kup test
Blue Belt TaeKwondo - 4th Kup!
See us in action here, performing 'taeguk sa-jang', the 4th form for the poomsae/forms portion of our belt test:
Upgrading the fitness a bit from walking to jogging and biking (need to up that dance stamina for upcoming season!) at Eschweiler Wald
Preparing for a lovely project, Nostalgia Night - a show honoring the golden Era of Egyptian dance with live music (!) at 360° Orient festival in Osnabrück this June, hosted by the lovely Delanna Dance
Nostalgia Night - with live music by Mazzikatea Europe at 360° Orient!
Preparing for DancEscapade, a weekend of Dance this May in Crete, GR with the incredible Boženka - One of the most exciting projects I've been lucky enough to be part of.
DancEscapade with Bozenka featuring Khalida - this May 19-20-21st 2017!
In the near future I will be
Preparing for all of those upcoming spring/summer events (see the Dance Calendar)
Advertising a bit more for MoveSpiration, a unique crosstraining weekend for dancers of all levels at studio Sarossy in August 26-27th 2017 in Würselen, DE (Enrolments are now open!)
Opening enrolments on 1st of July 2017 for a weekend of live percussion workshops and hafla(!) with the amazing Guy Schalom next summer (July 6-7-8 2018!) at Studio Sarossy.
Latest update: April 29th, 2017 - Inspired by the Now
A brief look in the past - videos from Kouklès Show in Verviers, BE
Last month I was lucky enough to take workshops with the incredible Alex DeLora and Nika Mlakar in Verviers, hosted by the lovely Kouklès Duo, and perform at the Kouklès Show. You can find the videos below.
I would like to say a heartfelt 'thank you' to all the the lovely hosts/hostesses, instructors, dance friends, taekwondoins and co-teachers/performers I have been lucky enough to dance/train/work with during the past fall and winter season.
Huge hugs and gratitude also to all participants of the events/workshops and shows I was part of/participated in and/or danced/taught at, I am immensely thankful for your continuing support.
Thank you <3
Below are a few pictures of the past fall/winter 2016-2017 events. I had a lovely time at each of these dance (and martial arts!) occasions, and I am looking forward very much to making more good memories at future and upcoming ones.
This is a post for background information, pictures, videos and links
to go with the 'Raqs Sharki 1-2-3: Time traveling with Egyptian Stars'
workshop series, a series I'll be teaching in the Netherlands (2016) and
Denmark (2017) in the near future.
Here you'll find part 1: Favourites of the Fourties/Fifties.
About the workshop series - Raqs Sharki 1-2-3 This workshop
series takes you on a journey in time with the great dancers of then and
now. It can be taught as one combined workshop or split up into 3
separate sessions of maximum 3 hours each.
Raqs sharki 1 – ‘Favourites of the fifties’ –
Contains combinations and techniques inspired by the legendary dancers
of Egypt like Samia Gamal, Naima Akef, Nadia Gamal and Taheya Carioca.
Raqs sharki 2 – ‘Stars of the seventies’ – Inspired by famous Egyptian dancers from the 60-80s like Suheir Zaki, Nagua Fouad and Fifi Abdo.
Raqs sharki 3 – ‘Modern legends’ – Contains informationa about, and techniques and combinations inspired by the famous dancers of this age
Part 1 - Favourites of the Fourties/Fifties Taheya Cariokka
TAHEYA CARIOKKA was born in 1915. She was discouraged from performing as a dancer by her family.
Due to family
differences that could not be settled with her father and brothers, she
moved to Cairo to stay with an old neighbour, Suad Mahasen, a night
club owner and an artist.
Tahiya had asked several times for employment
in Suad's nightclub but Suad refused to employ her due to the
disreputability of working at a night club. However, many of Suad's
associates and friends became acquainted with Tahiya through various
visits to Suad's home. They all advised Suad to add her to one of the
shows as a chorus girl but still she refused. Soon, Tahiya was mentioned
to Badia Masabni,
the owner of Casino Opera, one of the most prominent nightclubs of the
time.
Badia offered a position in her troupe to Tahiya. Tahiya accepted
and was given the stage name Tahiya Mohamed. She soon began gaining
popularity as a solo dancer and as she became more experienced she
learned a popular Samba dance from Brasil at the time called the
Karioka.
After that she became known as Tahiya Karioca. Tahiya began
starring in movies during what is dubbed as the Egyptian
film industry's "Golden Age".
She was a talented dancer, singer, and
actress. In 1972, the film “Watch out for Zouzou”, starring Soad Hosni with Tahiya performing the supporting role, was released to become the biggest box- office hit in Egyptian cinema to date.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Taheya performing different dance styles in a new year's celebration:
SAMIA GAMAL was born in 1924 as Zaynab Ibrahim Mahfuz in the small Egyptian town of Wana. Her family moved just months later to Cairo and settled near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar.
It was many years later that Samia Gamal met Badia Masabni, the founder of modern Oriental dance.
Badia offered Samia an invitation to join her dance company, which
Samia accepted. Badia Masabni gave her the stage name Samia Gamal, and
she began her dance career.
At first, she studied under Badia and Badia's star dancer at the time, Tahiya Karioka.
However she soon became a respected soloist and brought forth her own
style.
Samia Gamal incorporated techniques from ballet and Latin dance
into her solo performances. She was also the first to perform with
high-heeled shoes on stage. She starred in dozens of Egyptian films next
to the famous Farid Al Attrach.
NAIMA AKEF (October 1929 – 23 April 1966) was a famous Egyptianbelly dancer during the Egyptian cinema's golden age and starred in many films of the time. Naima Akef was born in Tanta on the Nile Delta.
Her parents were acrobats in the Akef Circus (run by Naima’s
grandfather), which was one of the best known circuses at the time.
She
started performing in the circus at the age of four, and quickly became
one of the most popular acts with her acrobatic skills. Her family was
based in the Bab el Khalq district of Cairo, but they traveled far and
wide in order to perform.
The circus disbanded when Naima was 14, but this was only the beginning
of her career. Her grandfather had many connections in the performance
world of Cairo and he introduced her to his friends. When Naima’s
parents divorced, she formed an acrobatic and clown act that performed
in many clubs throughout Cairo.
She then got the chance to work in Badia Masabni's
famous nightclub, where she became a star and was one of the very few
who danced and sang. Her time with Badeia, however, was short-lived, as
Badia favored her, which made the other performers jealous.
One day they
ganged up on her and attempted to beat her up, but she proved to be
stronger and more agile and won the fight. This caused her to be fired,
so she started performing elsewhere.
(Source: Wikipedia)
MAHMOUD REDA, born in 1930, is a pioneer of dance theater in Egypt. He is best known for co-founding the Reda Troupe.
He was the eighth of ten children and his father was the head librarian at Cairo University. His older brother Ali was a dancer and through his influence (and that of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire films) Mahmoud became interested in dance.
Mahmoud Reda originally trained as a gymnast, representing Egypt in the 1952 Summer Olympics
in Helsinki. He attended Cairo University where he received a degree in
Political Economics.
However, his main interest was dance and he joined
an Argentinian dance troupe after graduating and toured Europe. While on tour in Paris he resolved to start his own dance troupe back
in Egypt, but due to lack of funds he had to work as an accountant for Royal Dutch Shell.
He joined the Heliolido Club in Cairo where he met Anglo-Egyptian baladi dancer Farida Fahmy who became his dancing partner. After the two performed in the Soviet Union in 1957 they decided to start a folk dancing troupe in Egypt with Ali Reda.
(source: Wikipedia)
As a soloist, choreographer and director, Mahmoud
Reda made four world tours to 58 countries with his troupe. He performed
on the world's most prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall (New York,
USA), Royal Albert Hall (London, UK), Congress Hall (Berlin, Germany),
Stanislavsky & Gorky Theaters (Moscow, USSR), Olympia (Paris,
France) and the United Nations (New York & Geneva). The Reda Troupe
has performed for many world leaders and Heads of states.
Mahmoud
Reda draws from techniques of jazz, ballet, Hindu dance and folkloric
dance from the USSR. His work has shaped and influenced what is known
today as Oriental Dance (Raks Sharki). Many former troupe members
include master teachers Raqia Hassan, Momo Kadous, Mo Geddawi and Yousry
Sharif
Reda Troupe - Egyptian folklore (Halawet Samsnenah)
Mahmoud Reda and Farida Fahmy - Workshop in Hungary, 2009:
Bonus dancer: Katie Fotsaty
KATIE/Katy/Kitty Fotsaty was born in Alexandria in 1927 to Greek parents, and was famous for fusing Western style dancing with the Oriental style. She danced in nearly 50 films but left the country in 1960 in mysterious circumstances.
ZEINAT OLWY, whose stage name was Zurah, (1930-1988) was one of the leading belly dancers in Egypt in the middle of the twentieth century. She appeared in many movies from the Egyptian Golden Age of cinema. One of her most famous performances was in Henry Barakat's 1955 movie Ayyam wa layali - Days and Nights
(Source: Wikipedia)
Bonus Dancer 3: Nadia Gamal
NADIA GAMAL, born to a Greek father and an Italian mother as Maria Carydias in Alexandria, Egypt, first began dancing as a part of her mother's cabaret act which performed at the Casino Opera in Cairo.
Trained in piano as well as several kinds of dance such as ballet and tap, Gamal initially performed European folk dances
in her mother's act.
When she was 14, an ill dancer in her mother's
troupe gave her the opportunity to dance raqs sharqi in Lebanon, which
her father had forbidden her to do because of her youth. After this
debut, she became a popular dancer and went on to star in many Egyptian films.
She is often credited as the originator of the modern style of Lebanese raqs sharqi.
