About Belly Dancing
Taheya Carioca, Badia Masabni, Samia Gamal
Today, the term belly dance covers an astonishingly wide array of dance styles. I teach classic and modern Egyptian style dance, along with American Cabaret style dance.
Classic Egyptian Style Dance
In teaching Classic Egyptian Style Dance, I take inspiration from the glamorous Cairo clubs of Badia Masabni and the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema. Samia Gamal and Taheya Carioca, the most celebrated of Badia’s dancers, make up the foundation of this tradition, which continues on through history to include such notable and beloved dancers as Souhair Zaki, Aza Sharif, Nagwa Fouad and Fifi Abdou, along with many, many others.
Modern Egyptian Style Dance
Modern Egyptian Style dancers include Dina, whose impact on the dance cannot be overstated, and who is often referred to in the West as 'The Last Egyptian Dancer' because many of today's dancers in Egypt are in fact foreigners, which has changed the dance profoundly. Other popular current styles of music and dancing include shaabi and mahraganat and I love keeping an eye on new developments from Egypt.
American Cabaret
I also love to dance and teach American Cabaret style, which refers to how the dance was performed in Middle Eastern nightclubs here in the US when it was first introduced. This is more of a pan-Middle Eastern style of music and dance as the performers of this era came together from different backgrounds. They were Armenians, Greeks, Turks and Arabs from many countries. American Cabaret style is characterized by a very distinct pattern to how the music is arranged (the classic 5-part routine), intricate veil-work, finger cymbal playing throughout the set, sword dancing and a particular style of floor work, which is very different from Mohammed Ali Street (Egyptian) style floor work. As an Armenian American belly dancer, I am always keen to study and highlight the significant Armenian contributions to this style of show.
As professional dancers in the US today, we often mix these two traditions. There is no right or wrong answer, or one way to do things. But I believe it is very important to know what you are doing and who your audience is in order to have a successful show!
