chryssanthi sahar

Well, I didn't like this video of Randa at all. I saw other videos of her which I liked lot more. I don't know what she is trying to dance on this video, but it doesn't have much to do with Oriental Dance (o.k. I am harsh, but this is how I think about it).
By the way, her popularity in Germany has sunk lately, because she behaved herself very bad at a performance she did in Berlin some months ago. She offended and dissed the musicians, who were playing for her, on the stage in front of the audience (some of them are very good musicians and very famous in Germany, especially Ibrahim Abou Hassan, with who I've also been working for more than 18 years and who is one of the very best Arabian percussionists world wide) and she performed only half of the dances she was supposed to performed. She was telling that the musicians didn't play well, but the real reason was, that she had prejudices against the musicians, because Dr. Mo Gedawi had told her, that there are no musicians in Germany, who are able to perform her music (which is bullshit, but Dr. Mo Gedawi knows everything better, as always) ).The audience in Berlin got quite angry with her (the musicians too), because they payed a lot of money and were expecting to see her dance for at least half an hour and not only for 10 minutes. The German belly dance magazines criticised a lot her behaviour.

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Oriental dancer and instructor of Greek origin, living in Germany
www.chryssanthi.com

taheya

I was at that performance in Germany and Chrysanthi that is quite true, Randa was dissing the musicians which I did not like. True I do not think they were playing her music the way that she wanted them to. However I am sure this happens if you are not used to performing with particular musicians. I think she probably would of preferred to dance to a cd rather those musicians. Yet, I think her complaints should of been made behind the stage and not in front of an audience as it was quite unprofessional.

Salome

Oh, I was just kind of half serious. The wings, the way she was defining a lot of space around the body, the arm work and arm postures, the level of energy and use of floor space etc. were a little bit reminiscent of contemporary American oriental... to me...

Caroline_afifi

Ok, thanks. I am still trying to work out exactly what AM CAM is ??

chryssanthi sahar

Actually a star dancer like her should be able to dance at any music and with any musicians. I know the musicians that played for her and I know that they can play quite well, but it can be that they just didn't play the way she wanted, because she already dissed them at the rehearsal. I know back stage details from Ibrahim Abu Hassan. He was very upset about Randa's behaviour and he felt very offended because she was moaning around before she even heard him playing the tabla. I tell you, I was in Egypt last year and I heard different percussionist there, but none of them was close to Abu Hassan. He is one of the best percussionists on the planet and all experienced dancers have great fun dancing with him (I mean, when he plays for them). I get high, when I perform with the drum play of Abu Hassan, so I don't understand why Randa didn't want to perform with him. The other thing is, Arabian musicians in Germany are respected by the dancers and if a dancer treats them bad they take revenge on the stage You know, they don't depend on the dancers, they get hired by different dancers, while in Egypt the musicians are the slaves of the dancer, because she hires them and they have to endure all of her caprices, because if she gets angry with them, she will fire them.
Anyway, I don't like it particularly when dancers behave like big divas. A real diva must have also a bit wisdom, because at the end the dancer is there to "serve" the audience and not the other way round. If a dancer doesn't understand this, she is going to loose the game.

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Oriental dancer and instructor of Greek origin, living in Germany
www.chryssanthi.com

Salome

Ahh gotcha. It has all it's own defining characteristics but there *is* a wide range of personal stylizing too so it can take a bit of time to assimilate all that and see the common denominators.

Salome

I have to admit my curiosity is up. Exactly what was she doing on stage to diss the band?

chryssanthi sahar

I wasn't there myself, but from what I heard from Abu Hassan, as well as from what I red in the German belly dance magazine "Halima", she was interrupting her dancing again and again making an angry face, pointing at the musicians and shaking her head and then she even left the stage before a song was finished and she didn't want to perform a further song. Maybe Taheya who visit this performance can tell us more about it. Anyway the German audience was not amused at all with her behaviour. I think in Germany Randa lost the game, opposite to Asmahan, who performed very professional and charming in Frankfurt (I visited that performance) and treated the musicians very nice and had no problem at all to improvise with the drummers. Asmahan made a very good impression on the German audience and got very nice critics, while Randa completely failed.

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Oriental dancer and instructor of Greek origin, living in Germany
www.chryssanthi.com

Tarik Sultan

NOW YA SEE WHEN I SAY IT SOMEONE GET'S ON MY CASE! Actually, this was quite tame in comparison to what I've seen her do in person on many occasions. Run all over the place like she's trying to escape a fire, then beat the music to death till it screams for mercy, then beat it some more. Not very Egyptian at all.

Salome

The thread is young, give it time and someone will get on my case too