Thread: Vintage Floor Dance, American Cabaret Style

I discovered this clip of Farideh:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yxAu6BCUE]YouTube - "Belly Dancing images from Vancouver"-1978[/ame]

I think this is such a lovely example of floor dance at its best. I don't know this dancer but I wish I did! Such lovely arms, such a flow, such slow-motion, trancey control. I love it. You sure don't see floor dancing like this very much any more. This clip is from 1978.

It's great. She's so smoooooth.
I do see great floorwork around here from time to time - we have a master in Boston.
I'm a huge fan of floorwork...too bad it's not simpatico with Egyptian.

Ooooh, that was lovely! Thank you so much for sharing!

Wow! That was just stunning! Loved that version of Erev Shel Shoshanim too- anyone know where to find that music?

That is gorgeous. We need to bring that stuff back, in a big way ...

Wow, I am floored! She is awesome, the ability to do back bends and at the same time move her arms and hands beautifully is very nice! I wish there would be more of this done.

That was a beautiful performance. She's moving to the music, completely immersed in it, and she happens to not be standing. She has none of the crazy "Look how sexy I am! I'm rolling around on the floor passionately!" or disjointed moving-from-pose-to-pose stiltedness that bad floorwork can have.

Originally Posted by Shaharazad

Wow, I am floored!

Pun intended, eh, Shaharzad? ..g.:,r:;..l;,

Seriously, though, I totally agree with everyone's comments (just read Tourbeau's; hit the nail on the head:))--She is just so utterly graceful!!! Thanks so much for sharing this, Dunyah, makes me painfully aware of how much I need to work on that aspect of The Dance.

On a lighter note, anybody else think it was so cute to see that little girl crawl around (left side of the screen) to come forward and see more of the dancer/dancing up front? ..l;,

True that, Lesgemini! Totally agree with Tourbeaus' comment too.

Originally Posted by Lara L

Wow! That was just stunning! Loved that version of Erev Shel Shoshanim too- anyone know where to find that music?

I like that music, too. The caption for the clip on Youtube says: Music; Jalladin.(exert from film) 1978. But I'm not sure what that means.

This is terribly irreverent, but my favorite part was the child crawling through the left side of the frame partway through the vid. :D

The floorwork was beautiful, though.

Thank you Dunyah for this post. That clip was truly lovely.

Dunyah, the music is by a San Francisco area artist named Jalledin Takesh (I most prolly spelled his last name wrong) He was (is) very popular on the scene 70's 80's The song is also known as Yarus but the melody is the same as Erev S.S. which I belive is Israeli in roots. Jalledin has several works out, not sure if he has re-mastered his music into CD fom LP. Artemis Imports from San Jose area would be a good contact for information. She is amazing in her music knowledge as to whom did what and when and where it may be available.

Originally Posted by dunyah

I discovered this clip of Farideh:

YouTube - "Belly Dancing images from Vancouver"-1978

I think this is such a lovely example of floor dance at its best. I don't know this dancer but I wish I did! Such lovely arms, such a flow, such slow-motion, trancey control. I love it. You sure don't see floor dancing like this very much any more. This clip is from 1978.

Farideh is amazing! I saw her in at a stage performance, and you could feel her energy from the back of the room. She's still performing and teaching on Vancouver Island, as far as I know. Absolutely stunning, live. I highly recommend seeing her if she's in your town, or you are in hers.

Originally Posted by patrisha

Dunyah, the music is by a San Francisco area artist named Jalledin Takesh (I most prolly spelled his last name wrong) He was (is) very popular on the scene 70's 80's The song is also known as Yarus but the melody is the same as Erev S.S. which I belive is Israeli in roots. Jalledin has several works out, not sure if he has re-mastered his music into CD fom LP. Artemis Imports from San Jose area would be a good contact for information. She is amazing in her music knowledge as to whom did what and when and where it may be available.

Thanks for this! I was trying to remember the name Jalledin Takesh but couldn't quite get there.

Originally Posted by patrisha

Dunyah, the music is by a San Francisco area artist named Jalledin Takesh (I most prolly spelled his last name wrong) He was (is) very popular on the scene 70's 80's The song is also known as Yarus but the melody is the same as Erev S.S. which I belive is Israeli in roots. Jalledin has several works out, not sure if he has re-mastered his music into CD fom LP. Artemis Imports from San Jose area would be a good contact for information. She is amazing in her music knowledge as to whom did what and when and where it may be available.

Thank you, thank you! & good to know about the melody.

Delilah has done some nice floor work too.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M2U2fbgVHs"]YouTube- Delilah - "Angel"[/ame]

IMO floorwork in the traditional Am Cab style was the part of the set where the dancer showed that not only could she dance, but look - she's really flexible and athletic too.

But you should only be allowed to do it in public if you're really good. Otherwise, no matter how gorgeous you are, you still look like a dying walrus flopping out its last breath.

That Farideh clip was absolutely delicious. So beautiful.

Thank you for posting Dunyah! :) I've only seen Farideh dance more recently and it's a treat to see this older clip - she's so fluid and graceful.

Talulah, yes she is still dancing and teaching in Victoria. My teacher invited her to one of our classes last year, which was a great experience - although much too short!
Her website has some beautiful photos of her throughout her dance career:
Farideh Dance Arts
As to the back bend, she may have had a wonderful instructor - check out the photo of her mother from the 1920s halfway down the page! .w.:

What a beautiful blast from the past (in both cases)!

I have that Jalaleddin Takesh album on vinyl; here's how it looks:
del *.*: Jalaleddin Takesh - Bellydance Music Vol. 2

Besides eBay, I have no idea how to buy it these days--awhile back I posted that you could try contacting Jalaleddin at his restaurant, but he seems to have sold it.

On a somewhat related note, Farideh has a lovely and talented daughter, actress Fairuza Balk:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairuza_Balk]Fairuza Balk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Fairuza was at Cairo Carnivale a couple of years ago; she got up on stage in her street clothes and danced while her dad's band was playing. :)

Wonderful! Brings back memories of when I first started taking classes back in the early 80's . . . used to see more floorwork back then but I never did it because I felt stupid getting on the floor ;)

Sigh!!
I still listen to my Jalalledin records :-).
And, cool! didn't know that the lovely Fairuza Balk is her daughter!

i had takesh put on cd for our studio. seems he never kept up with the times

...the song is "yarus"...hye/turkish