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 :)