This article will explain why I started this series of posts with Egyptian style, why many American bellydancers hold it as a standard (not that they should or shouldn’t, but it will help you understand how that happened) and what caused the changes from the vintage styling covered in the last couple posts to what's happening now. In addition to the social-political changes discussed there have been technical changes: the introduction of drum machines and synthesizers have profoundly changed the music. Additionally, because of those social changes modern Egyptian dancers don't have as much money to hire big orchestras, so bands have been scaled back and the percussion become more dominant (drummers are cheaper so you can still get a big sound for less cash). The dominance of the percussion, in my opinion, has a lot to do with a sort of stubborn insistence to stick around despite push from conservatives.
Check out Shems' playlists, I'll point out a few exceptional dancers of the Modern Egyptian style:
Dina is considered the momma of this style. She is outrageous on purpose but is a very smart woman and an amazing dancer. Randa Kamal is very famous to tourists, but native Egyptians usually can't afford to see her shows in the 5 star hotels and Nile river cruises. She, like many modern stars, was folkloric trained first, which influences her footwork and styling, which is very popular on the international stage, particularly in the competition circuit (more on that later).
There are very few foreigners dancing in Egypt now, who I'll include because the fact that they dance for primarily Egyptian audiences shows in the style they bring to the stage. Asmahan is from Brazil and was there for a while. The only two Americans still there are Leila Farid (who comes to the US to teach workshops and produces CDs with her band El Negoum) and Luna of Cairo, who runs a really nice blog for anyone looking to learn more about the life of a dancer in Egypt, post revolution.
Orit is an Israeli dancer who performs internationally, she's very emotive and I love her example of bringing cultures together through dance ^_^ (and I just love her dancing and dance philosophy!!!)
Egyptians will splurge for their wedding entertainment (although only the wealthiest can afford Dina) so this is how dancers in Egypt become well known to Egyptians. That and acting in movies.
Dina is considered the momma of this style. She is outrageous on purpose but is a very smart woman and an amazing dancer. Randa Kamal is very famous to tourists, but native Egyptians usually can't afford to see her shows in the 5 star hotels and Nile river cruises. She, like many modern stars, was folkloric trained first, which influences her footwork and styling, which is very popular on the international stage, particularly in the competition circuit (more on that later).
There are very few foreigners dancing in Egypt now, who I'll include because the fact that they dance for primarily Egyptian audiences shows in the style they bring to the stage. Asmahan is from Brazil and was there for a while. The only two Americans still there are Leila Farid (who comes to the US to teach workshops and produces CDs with her band El Negoum) and Luna of Cairo, who runs a really nice blog for anyone looking to learn more about the life of a dancer in Egypt, post revolution.
Orit is an Israeli dancer who performs internationally, she's very emotive and I love her example of bringing cultures together through dance ^_^ (and I just love her dancing and dance philosophy!!!)
Egyptians will splurge for their wedding entertainment (although only the wealthiest can afford Dina) so this is how dancers in Egypt become well known to Egyptians. That and acting in movies.
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