teela

I was watching some clips of the golden age dancers last night on youtube and I was wondering if anyone could answer a quick question for me. I know that what we see are actually film clips from movies in which the dances may have been choreographed. Does anyone know how these movie versions differed from what was being done in the clubs of Cairo at the time?
Thank you in advance

Mia Serra

Hi Teela,

This is interesting - I bought some DVDs with clips of black and white belly dance movies, as well as whole movies from maqam.com a while back. It was really interesting to see the club environment they were dancing. These clubs really did, and some still do, exist in Cairo. They are still in the dinner and show, 1940's cabaret format.

During the 1940s there was a strong British, French and Greek influence in Cairo and it was a very cosmopolitan city. People would go out all night and watch these live shows - even today it's amazing to see 30 piece Egyptian bands on stage in the remaining venues.

After the Suez crisis in the late 50s many of the Europeans left Egypt and the cabaret culture died out. Although it still survives in a reduced form to serve the tourists from the Gulf states and some more wealthy locals.

Anyway, there are some great books about this period which really give you a flavour of the times - Lucette Lagnado's - The Man in the White Sharkshin Suit and books by Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

Hope that helps....
Mia

Mia Serra Belly Dance

Kashmir

Actually Egypt had a revolution and many of the Europhiles jumped

Getting back to the original question - I'm unsure how close the films were to real life. It would appear they use a number of stock, stereotypical characters - just like ours do.

The films display a range of different venues with belly dancers - the sala (like Casino Opera), weddings and bars and cabarets. In the last two venues, belly dancers would not have been in two piece costumes to at least late 1940s early 1950s. Nor would there be troupes, choreographies to use of floor patterns. Of course, all of this was introduced to Egypt in the first clubs - which most Egyptians could never hope of attending (then or now).