Samia Gamal

Hello Dancers!

I hope everyone has had a great couple weeks dancing!  I had the opportunity to check the Bay Area Belly Festival last weekend - I arrived in time for the live music set with Tahneen, a favorite local Arabic music band.  It was lovely to see all the dancers perform to their beautiful music.  If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for their mailing list to stay in the loop about next year's festival and other events planned by the amazing Sudeep.

I am thinking of starting a series on American-style belly dance and dancers which, as much as I love Egyptian-style dance, is also a huge source of inspiration for me.  So stay tuned for that and today we'll enjoy the most classic Egyptian style with Golden Era legend Samia Gamal.  I chose this clip because of the song, it's a classic Egyptian song that was popular with early American dancers because it is on a George Abdo album under the title Raks el Gezlan on the album the The Art of Belly Dancing, which was one of the albums I grew up listening to!  More on all that in the weeks to come, for now let's enjoy the one and only Samia Gamal.

Samia Gamal- Golden Era Bellydancer from Legends of Bellydance DVD

There is another lovely clip of Samia dancing a drum solo here - this is a must see clip for learning about Egyptian style drum solos.

And just a few notes- I will be teaching this summer at SSF Parks and Rec for a 6 week session, I will get my Classes page updated this week with all the info.  Contact me if you have any questions!

And I will be performing at Al Masri on May 20th with Nazir Latouf and Band, at Tannourine on Friday June 1st with Khalil Abboud and Band and at Carnival of Stars Saturday, July 21st.  I will try to get my Shows page updated this week as well with all the details.

Happy Dancing!

SSF Classes Start Wednesday!

Hello Dancers,

One last reminder that our short Spring Session at the South San Francisco Parks & Rec starts this Wednesday, April 25th!

Beginning goes from 7-8PM and Intermediate goes from 8-9PM.  This is a quick 4 week session, so even if you've been busy, please consider joining us!!

You can register easily through the SSF online system - use class code 167428 for Beginning and Class Code 167429 for Intermediate. 

Complete class info is as always on my Classes Page.  See you Wednesday!

ps - until then, how about a little Monday Glamour:

Beautiful Egyptian belly dancer Samia Gamal

Melhem Barakat and Fifi Abdo

This is one of those clips that I watch over and over and over again.  I just love the whole relaxed and happy vibe it has, and Fifi's personality and musical feeling just shine through.

Melhem Barakat is a classic Lebanese singer and I love his music.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I hope your week is going well!  My classes page is updated with registration info for classes starting next week!

Bay Area Belly Dance Events

Happy Wednesday, everyone.  There are so many exciting Bay Area Belly Dance events coming up that I wanted to do a recap of the ones I am involved with before we move back to more vintage clips of the gorgeous Egyptian dancers.

First of all, I want to remind everyone that registration is open for both my Beginning and Intermediate Belly Dance Classes through the South San Francisco Parks and Rec.  Registering online is very easy.  Click this link https://econnect.ssf.net/ and put code 165114 in the box for Beginning and code 165115 for Intermediate.  Please always contact me if you have any questions, I am happy to answer them all!!

Next up, the San Francisco International Arts Festival kicks off this weekend and Arabic Dance is well represented thanks to Amina Goodyear's fantastic Magic Carpet ride.  I wrote more about the show here.  

I will be performing with the Aswan Dancers at the San Francisco International Arts Festival this year.

Amina describes the show like this:

“The Magic Carpet is a Middle Eastern Dance and Musical Adventure. The musical carpet will transport you to various countries across the deserts of North Africa, through Egypt, the Middle East and onto the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. We want you to sit back and enjoy the ride and let the drums, the music and the dance take you to the Arabian Nights of our dreams when magic and fantasy was foremost and stimulated all the senses. Performed by The Caravan Band, The Aswan Dancers and Joweh Dance Troupe.”

— Amina Goodyear

I am in the show for a little bit and so I got a sneak peak of their rehearsals last night.  It is going to be a wonderful expression of music and dance like only Amina can produce.  Tickets are available here: http://www.sfiaf.org/aswan_dancers

After that, coming up June 2nd we do our monthly First Friday party at Tannourine Restaurant.  Live Arabic music and dancing with sensational singer Khalil Abboud.  Reservations are always highly recommended as this show often sells out.  Great music, food and dancing- I look forward to it every month.

Monthly First Friday Party at Tannourine Restaurant presented by Sensational singer Khalil Abboud

Looking ahead a little bit, Carnival of Stars is right on the horizon in July!  I love this event, which is produced by the lovely Pepper Alexandra.  Mark your calendars now for two days of music, dance and bellydance-related SHOPPING :)

I will be performing on Saturday on both the main stage and the cabaret stage with musical favorites Pangia.  Stay tuned for more details and performance times but there will be gorgeous dancers on two stages no matter what time you are there.

Lastly, I perform at Marrakech Restaurant in downtown San Francisco almost every Sunday night. Come down and dance with me.  Complete details as always on my Shows page.

Alisa Greer and Nader Shahin at gorgeous Marrakech Restaurant

Whew!!  Thanks for reading and I wish everyone a fun-filled week.

Happy Dancing, Alisa