Wednesday Inspiration: Dina

A beautiful vintage clip of Dina today.

This illustrates so many of the things we love about her in 5 short minutes: her warmth and charm, which radiate even from a big stage, her creative and innovative costuming and of course, her incredible dancing :)

Dina belly dancing in concert in Germany 90's

I hope you enjoy that and that you have a great rest of the week!  And a little reminder that registration is now open for both residents and non-residents for my classes through the South San Francisco Park and Rec.  All the details are on my classes page.  

Thanks for visiting and Happy Dancing!

xo Alisa

Wednesday Inspiration: Samia Gamal

Another Wednesday, another dose of sequiny glamour and beautiful Egyptian dancing!  Today's clip is from the legendary Samia Gamal.

She has a beautiful smile and expresses such joy in her dance.  I hope you enjoy the clip and that you have a great rest of the week!

من فيلم رقصة الوداع 1954 مقام هججز From the film, Raqsat al-Wadaa 1954

A Vintage Clip

Good morning, friends!  I am so sorry that I am a bit late with my post this morning!  I normally like to post Mondays and Wednesdays by 9AM, but I may have spent a little too much time on Mother's Day lounging around instead of getting prepped for the week!  So today I will just keep it short and share one of my very favorite clips.  It is of Soheir Zaki, who I just can't watch enough.

Isn't she beautiful?  This clip is under two minutes, and I am not entirely sure that the video and audio are synced properly, but it is still just so beautiful - I just love the way she dances and her sweetness.  I feel like you can really just enjoy yourself the she is dancing, do you know what I mean??

I hope you enjoyed that and I wish you all a Happy Monday and a Happy Week of Dancing!

Alisa

Wednesday Inspiration: Taheya Karioka

Well, I realized the other day that I have been blogging for several months, and Taheya Karioka has yet to appear.  That must be fixed at once :)

Egyptian Belly Dance Star Taheya Karioka

If I had to choose one favorite dancer, it might be her.  But I hope I am never forced to choose just one!

Egyptian Belly Dancer Taheya Karioka

I am going to show two clips instead of one, since they are both quite short, and since I should have featured her much before now.

My love of headdresses comes straight from her!

I hope that added a little glamour to your Wednesday.  Taheya was such an accomplished and musical dancer, but she also illustrates just how much a dancer's warmth and personality matters over drill-like technique.  Everything about her is relaxed, easy and charming.  

This last clip also illustrates how much skimpier the costumes could be back in the old days.

This has turned into a bit longer post than usual.  My Wednesday posts are usually just one quick clip to get us through the week.  But she deserves it and I hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Dancing as always.

xoAlisa 

Egyptian Dancer Mona Al Said

Back when I went to visit the legendary belly dancer Jodette (a wonderful trip which I wrote about here), I was very pleased and tickled when she told me that I reminded her of Mona Al Said.  It may just be because I am tall!  But it of course motivated me to want to learn all I could about this legendary dancer, whose clips seem to be all too rare.

Egyptian Belly Dance Star Mona Al Said

Mona Al Said was born in Egypt and started dancing in Cairo at the age of 13, but she eventually had to move to Lebanon to avoid upsetting her family, who felt her dancing was shameful (and to anyone new to belly dance, this is not at all an uncommon attitude toward dancers).

Egyptian Belly Dance Star Mona Al Said

She eventually made her way back to Egypt and danced in the five star hotels in Cairo as well as in the famous London nightclub Omar Khayyam, which she also co-owned for a time.

Egyptian Belly Dance Star Mona Al Said dancing at the Omar Khayyam nightclub in London

There is an absolutely fascinating and inspiring article about Mona Al Said in the Best of Habibi archives.  It is a must read for sure!

For now I will leave you with a video clip of her dancing.  I love her arm work and of course her hips.  She is just a beautiful dancer and a joy to watch, and I hope you like it and that it gets your Monday started off on the right foot! (no pun intended !!)

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Just a quick reminder that my new San Mateo classes start tomorrow!  I am so excited to be teaching at this gorgeous studio, we are going to have a good time!  Details are here.

Happy Dancing wherever you are!!

Alisa