Souheir Zaki & Ahmed Adaweya

As I mentioned last week, we are going to be working with Shaabi music in my virtual belly dance classes through the South San Francisco Parks and Rec (you can still sign up and join us!*).

I do often play Shaabi music in my classes because I love it, but we will be studying it more closely. Shaabi music is the music of the regular people and we will talk more about this in class.

In honor of that, I thought I would show clip of the ‘King of Shaabi’, Ahmed Adaweya (أحمد عدوية) and everyone’s favorite baladi dancer Souheir Zaki (سهير زكي). This is an old, blurry one but you will still have no problem appreciating the feeling of the beautiful singing and dancing.


Ahmed Adaweya is the first modern Shaabi superstar and his music is still beloved today.

I hope you enjoy the clip and enjoy dancing in class. We’re doing a more modern song in class but we will talk about the development as we dance, and maybe I will share some more Shaabi next week. I shared some cute clips of Dina dancing to a Shabbi song last week.

In other news, in addition to my regular virtual belly dance classes (info below), I am planning on doing a special fingers cymbals (zills) Zoom class on Saturday, June 28th at 2PM. I’ll post more information about it later in the week but you can contact me to register or with any questions.

* The South San Francisco Parks and Rec Department have made my online classes available to the public for free, but you do need to preregister at their online catalog so they can send you a secure invitation to join. Enter code SP1-471 in the box under ‘Filter’ and our class will come up - it’s called ‘Virtual-Belly Dancing’.

You can always contact me with any questions!





Dina (دينا)

Hello friends,

Tonight in class we are going to start working on a different kind of song. We’ve been working mainly with classic pieces over the last few months, and tonight we’ll move onto a Shaabi style song.

I had planned to have an explanation for you all about Shaabi music but, like everyone else, I have been overwhelmed by current events. I will get one together for next week.

In the meantime, I thought we could at least enjoy some Dina (دينا). Dina is the most important and influential Egyptian belly dancer of the modern era. Below are two clips of her dancing to the same song because it’s fun to see how she dances in the movie clip compared to how she dances to it at a party with a live audience.

Also - I LOVE her silver dress!

امينة بشويش عليا تسجيل محمد الرفاعى

Dina at a wedding party in Cairo. الراقصة دينا Amina- Da 3eno Meny 's choreography. دينا Bellydance in Cairo, Danse Orientale


I hope you enjoyed those.

My belly dance classes continue online through the South San Francisco Parks and Rec through the end of June. I am not sure what is happening after that but I will keep everyone posted as soon as I know.

In the meantime, it is not too late to join us for this online session. The South San Francisco Parks and Rec Department have made these classes available to the public for free, but you do need to preregister at their online catalog so they can send you a secure invitation to join. Enter code SP1-471 in the box under ‘Filter’ and our class will come up - it’s called ‘Virtual-Belly Dancing’.

You can always contact me with any questions!

Hind Rostom (هند رستم)

Hello Dancers,

Today’s clip is inspired by our class last week where we were working on entrances and directing our energy outward to our imaginary audiences, even from the confines of our respective living rooms.

This clip features Hind Rostum, and Egyptian actress who also danced in some of her films. You can see her lovely warmth radiating outward towards her audience from her first moments on the screen. As a viewer, this gives me such a happy feeling! And you feel this even more when you see a belly dancer in real life.

This is actress Hind Rostom dancing in a scene from the 1957 Egyptian film 'Ushaq al Leil' (Lovers of the Night عشاق الليل ) which starred Yehia Shaheen, Magda, Hussein Riad and Abdel Menam Ibrahim. Hind Rostom (1929-2011) was an Egyptian actress who's remembered mainly for her good looks and her many film roles as a seductress, which is a bit sad as she was a good actress when her range was tested. To quote Egyptian journalist Reem Ghazal, 'Rostom was presented as an intoxicating mix of Rita Hayworth, Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe.' And as you can see, Hind Rostom was also a good bellydancer. She retired in 1979 saying that she wanted the audiences to remember her at her best. Hind Rostom's second marriage to Dr Mohamed Fayad lasted nearly 50 years. Unfortunately at the time of her husband's death, shortly before hers, Dr Fayad's family took legal action against her to reclaim assets they said were theirs.

The caption below the clip is courtesy of the CaroVan, the place I have probably spent the bulk of my sheltering-in-place hours!

And then just a reminder that our virtual classes continue tonight (Wednesday) at 7PM. The South San Francisco Parks and Rec Department have made these classes available to the public for free, but you do need to preregister at their online catalog so they can send you a secure invitation to join. Enter code SP1-471 in the box under ‘Filter’ and our class will come up - it’s called ‘Virtual-Belly Dancing’.

You can always contact me with any questions!

I can’t wait to see you all in class tonight :)




Taheya Karioka (تحية كاريوكا‎)

Hello Dancers,

A little more classic glamour today to take our minds off more serious matters. Here are two lovely clips of the Egyptian dancer Taheya Karioka (تحية كاريوكا‎). I always learn something when I watch her, but sometimes it’s also lovely to just get lost in the music, costumes and overall beauty and not think too much for a bit.

These are both from wedding scenes but the costuming is quite different for each one. They are both just lovely.

تحية كاريوكا


This is Taheya Karioka in a wedding scene from the 1942 Egyptian film “Dreams of Youth” (أحلام الشباب Ahlam al Shabab). She plays the part of Bahia, a dancer who tries but fails to make Farid al Atrache fall in love with her, In this scene she’s hired unknowingly to dance at the wedding of Farid and Elham played by Madiha Yousri. Everything goes along fine until she realises who the groom is. The bride’s aunt is played by the wonderful Marie Munib who’s on the left of screen with the feather in her hair.

The caption above is courtesy of The CaroVan on Vimeo.

Online classes belly dance classes continue through the South San Francisco Parks and Rec Wednesdays at 7PM. The classes are free but you need to pre-register at their online catalog so they can send you a secure invitation. Please contact me if you have any questions!