10
Jun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ET18RxWl0

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!


5
Oct

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.


3
Oct

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k7Ni0ySyYU&feature=related

This month has gone by very quickly and before I know it, it is time for another belly dancer. My choice on this sunny autumn morning is a very pretty and nubile Soraya Salem who I featured recently albeit with her name spelled differently. Here she is leading newly weds, Sabah and Anwar Wagdi, who hate each other and are hurling insults at one another in a funny exchange that is sadly lost on non-Arabic speakers into the main drawing room where their guests are gathered then back to the bedroom where I imagine they will be at each other’s throat instead of falling into each other’s arms. Anyhow, back to the very young Soraya and her beautiful gracile body. The film is from 1953, the golden age of Egyptian cinema, and it must be one of her very early small roles as her cinematography starts in 1954 and finishes in 1966. I absolutely love her, her movement, and her costume; and if I were to get married, which is highly unlikely, I would also want her to dance at my wedding!


7
Sep

Here we go again, belly dance time. This month I hesitated between a seriously vintage one and Kitty, one of my favourites. Then I settled on Kitty. I just love how she is shamelessly seductive with the singer without being vulgar. No mean feat for a belly dancer. I am definitely hiring one for my next party, hoping I find a dancer who is as cute and as well shaped as Kitty! Anyone who knows of such a belly dance treasure in London please give me a shout.