Thread: Egyptian Dancers to Know

So I was making up a list of Egyptian must know dancers for my students to encourage them to become familiar with some of our dance heritage. (I'm also going to make up Lebanese, Turkish and Other places lists, but I thought I'd start with Egyptians). Here is my list so far. I tried to list all the dancers I thought were/are pretty big players in Egypt. Non-native dancers working in Egypt I'll put on a separate list. Is there anybody you would add or remove?

- Dina
- Fifi Abdo
- Souhair Zaki
- Mona Said
- Lucy
- Raqia Hassan
- Shu Shu Amin
- Sahar Hamdi
- Dandash
- Nadia Hamdi
- Naima Akef
- Samia Gamal
- Aza Sharif
- Randa Kamal
- Tahia Karioka
- Negwa Fouad
- Nelly
- Hanaan
- Tito
- Zeinat Olwi
- Mahmud Reda
- Farida Fahmy
- Soad Hosni
- Hayatem

What a beautiful list! I'd include Badia Masabni.

You might want to prioritize a bit --more important to know who Fifi is than Zeinat Olwi, for example (although I adore Z.O.!).

Lucy

how would you prioritize it? by my personal favorites? from classic to modern? by who I think is most popular?

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

What a beautiful list! I'd include Badia Masabni.

good idea, Badia is pretty important.

Hala el Safy
Zizi Mustafa

I'd prioritize it by the influence that dancer has had on current popular styles, then by my preference, but stating it as such.

For example, Dina has had a huge influence on American dancers, but she'd be low on my preference list (not knocking Dina, just my preference! :-) while Naima Akef, relatively unknown on this continent, but one of my favorites would be low on the influence list, and high on the preference list.

I agree that a shorter list, prioritized, would make a lot more sense. If someone is new to Egyptian dance and starting from a foundation of knowing nothing about it, a long list such as one in the original post would be overwhelming. I'd cut it back to:

Golden Age: Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal

1970's and 1980's: Nagwa Fouad and Soheir Zaki

1990's and New Milennium: Fifi Abdo and Dina

Folkloric: Mahmoud Reda

I base these rankings on their influence not only within Egypt, but also worldwide.

I think I'd prioritize the list into "must know" "Should know" and "might also enjoy"

Putting dancers into categories is going to be subjective, of course. But an Egyptian-style dancer looks really uneducated if she doesn't know certain names (Mahmoud Reda, Dina, Soheir Zaki, Fifi Abdo, Tahiya, Samia) so I'd put them on a short list.

Otherwise the students will be completely overwhelmed!!!

Those are some good ideas for prioritizing. I'll work on that. I expect I'll feed them the research assignments, so to speak, in chewable bite sizes as well.

Aida Nour

Originally Posted by ouroboros

Aida Nour

oh yes of course, thank you!

Khalled Mahmoud !!!!

Originally Posted by MariaAya

Khalled Mahmoud !!!!

Who is Khalled Mahmoud?

Khaled doesn't live in Egypt.

Hm, do we need a seperate list of influental Egyptians outside of Egypt? Like Momo Kadous etc.?
Although many of them are more teachers than performers.

MEISSOUN

Katie!!!!..g.:

Originally Posted by meena_oasis

Katie!!!!..g.:

LOVE Katie! Her back bends were amazing and her smile adorable.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

What a beautiful list! I'd include Badia Masabni.

Yes, after all, she is the dancer that the Egyptians named the nudribranches in the Red Sea after, the creatures that we call Spanish Dancers. Their ruffly edges are constantly undulating like a belly dancer's tummy or a flamenco dancer's skirts

spiced

How about Friez? Not sure of the spelling. Or Lubna

spiced

Naemet Mokhtar - a beautiful dancer. Her famous backbend is the most amazing thing that I saw so far.

Dr. Mohamed Geddawi!!! how can you forget Dr. MO??? lol.

I have Aida Nour, Lubna Eman, Faten Salama and Dr. Mo at the top of my list as favorite teachers.

Dina and Randa for current performers to watch other than the 3 mentioned above (all great to watch perform too and Dr. Mo didnt perform at the workshops I have taken) . . . rather watch then take a workshop with them, lol, but I've done workshops with both a few times so I think I can choose to watch.

Originally Posted by shems

Who is Khalled Mahmoud?

http://www.bhuz.com/index.php?cmd=/p.../name_lizajuk/

he's all ours......g.: but does get around a bit..........