10 Jun
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ET18RxWl0[/youtube]
It’s been a while since I gave you my belly dancer of the month. Too much traveling and too many different things to work on but my life has been a little more relaxed recently and here is my choice for this month, a resplendant Samia Gamal who with Tahiya Carioca, is my other favourite belly dancer. And like Tahiya, she avoids being vulgar despite the suggestiveness of her movements. Every time I watch her I wonder how her jaws don’t ache with that wide fixed smile she has throughout her dances. She is very young in this clip taken from a 1954 film called Raqsat al-Weda’. The choreography and set are delightful, her body and movements absolutely gorgeous and the characters watching her very amusing despite some tragic expressions! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
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10 Feb
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wveC60EQ9z8[/youtube]
Well, a little later than I should, I am back with my belly dancer of the month and this time, she is not wearing the regular revealing costume but rather a chic evening gown that hugs her figure with the obligatory scarf on her hips. This is how elegant Arab ladies belly dance at parties or weddings. I think I am the only Arab lady who doesn’t know how to shake her hips which is a shame as I would have loved to have a man pull me to him with his cane the way Rushdy Abaza does to Na3ima Akef at the beginning of the clip! Anyhow, she was in her days one of the top movie star dancers in Egypt, not only belly dancing but also tap and other dancing. She is cute and sexy at the same time, and she moves beautifully without ever looking vulgar despite Abaza’s obvious desire for her. I hope you enjoy them both as much as I did when I was deciding which dancer to give you this month!
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5 Oct
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdYjervHCGM[/youtube]
I am in the land of belly dancing, for a whole month! So, I hope that this time I will be able to go somewhere to watch one of the country’s famous belly dancers live. Until then, I offer you my choice for this month, a cute vintage belly dancer, Zeinat Olwi, who is not so much sexy as like a 1940’s athlete with a gorgeous muscly body which she moves beautifully. I also love the beginning of the clip en silhouette, both her in three different windows then the musicians, with each tableau looking like a woodcut from the 20’s or 30’s. A delightful scene. And for those who don’t speak Arabic, the woman’s voice you hear halfway through is asking her silly companion to build her a swimming pool which he should fill with champagne rather than water. Perhaps I should consider doing this in Sicily although I am not sure who I would do it for! Oh, and the beautiful lady who makes a worried entrance at the end is one of Egypt’s greatest actresses, Faten Hamama, who was once married to Omar Sharif.
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4 Sep
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ5JIPraTK8[/youtube]
I can’t say I particularly like Soheir Zaki but I am very amused by her. In fact, I am amused by the whole clip from a 1972 film, the time of my youth when I thought that all belly dance and dancers were incredibly vulgar. She kind of justifies my erroneous youthful stand. She is definitely not classy, nor beautiful, being rather too plump for my taste but she dances well. And I love her 70’s orchestra, not to mention the scene itself with the bored ladies and the overexcited gentleman trying to get close to her. A real blast from my past even if I never went to night clubs like the one featured, nor watched films like this one then! Anyhow, I hope you will be as amused by her as I am!
