I have lots of fun stuff to share with you in the weeks ahead, and as it was Dina's birthday earlier this week, I thought it would be fun to celebrate the life of this legendary Egyptian woman who has revolutionized belly dance.
As my students and friends know, I am a big Dina fan :). I have always love her early clips (like this one of her dancing at the 1989 Cairo film festival) and her more modern clips where she gives her emotional interpretations of classic Egyptian songs (like this one of of her dancing to the Oum Kalthoum classic Sirt El Hob). But a few years ago my teacher Amina introduced me to a whole new genre of Dina: her performances in Egyptian Shaabi movies and with Shaabi singers. She even showed me a couple of whole films from her amazing collection with Dina acting and dancing, which were so funny, I just loved them.
The clips of Dina dancing to these kinds of songs highlight her fun, playful side and her warmth and humor and I quickly became addicted to finding them on my late-night YouTube watching sessions.
The clip I have today is Dina performing with Egyptian singer Saad El Soghayar (سعد الصغير). He is playing the drums for her as the clip starts, but be sure to watch until then end when he starts dancing with her! This is a wonderful clip not only for Dina's performance, but also to see how Egyptians often dance to the drum. It is not too busy. There is no breakneck "popping-and-locking."
Also- I love her dress! I hope you enjoy this.
A new session of beginning and intermediate bellydance starts tonight at the South San Francisco Parks and Rec and it is not too late to join us. Call the office to register - 650-829-3800
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And finally, I will be performing at beautiful Marrakech this coming Sunday, and then the rest of the Sundays in April. Complete performance details as always on my Shows page!
Belly Dancer Alisa at Marrakech in San Francisco, with Nader Shahin signing and and playing oud.