Dina (دينا)

June 3, 2020

Hello friends,

Tonight in class we are going to start working on a different kind of song. We’ve been working mainly with classic pieces over the last few months, and tonight we’ll move onto a Shaabi style song.

I had planned to have an explanation for you all about Shaabi music but, like everyone else, I have been overwhelmed by current events. I will get one together for next week.

In the meantime, I thought we could at least enjoy some Dina (دينا). Dina is the most important and influential Egyptian belly dancer of the modern era. Below are two clips of her dancing to the same song because it’s fun to see how she dances in the movie clip compared to how she dances to it at a party with a live audience.

Also - I LOVE her silver dress!

امينة بشويش عليا تسجيل محمد الرفاعى

Dina at a wedding party in Cairo. الراقصة دينا Amina- Da 3eno Meny 's choreography. دينا Bellydance in Cairo, Danse Orientale

I hope you enjoyed those.

My belly dance classes continue online through the South San Francisco Parks and Rec through the end of June. I am not sure what is happening after that but I will keep everyone posted as soon as I know.

In the meantime, it is not too late to join us for this online session. 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!

Summer 2019 Belly Dance Classes in South San Francisco

June 12, 2019

Hello Dancers!

Registration is open for my Summer Belly Dance Classes in South San Francisco!

Click here to register online! It’s simple to register using the South San Francisco Parks and Rec online system. If you type “belly” in the “Filter” box at the left-hand side of the page both classes come up. Register today and you’ll be ready to dance your way through the summer :)

Summer Belly Dance Classes

June 13, 2018

Hello Dancers!

Just a quick update this week to let everyone know that the Summer Session of belly dance classes at the South San Francisco Parks and Rec starts next Wednesday, June 20th.

Beginning Bellydance is from 7 - 8 and Intermediate is from 8 - 9. Classes go through Wednesday, July 25th and there is no class July 4th. You can register online through the SSF Parks and Rec in plenty of time to join us for a fun summer session. Let me know if you have any questions.

And then for something completely different :). I got to perform at Al Masri last Sunday with Nazir Latouf and the Al Masri Passion Band and my lovely friend Joumana took a video so I thought I would share it here. The musicians are Musa Sababa on keyboard, Nazir Latouf on the oud, Reda Darwish on tabla and Linda Grondahl on backup percussion. The music is incredibly beautiful - we are so lucky to have these musicians in the Bay Area and I encourage everyone who loves belly dance and Arabic music to come out and enjoy one of these nights!

Al Masri Passion Band and Alisa Greer

I hope you all enjoy the music and I wish you a great week!

Hoda Shams El Din (هدى شمس الدين)

May 31, 2018

A couple weeks ago I was looking at the YouTube page of Sausan's Academy of Egyptian Dance and stumbled across a very cute clip of Egyptian belly dancer Hoda Shams El Din (هدى شمس الدين).

Photo of Hoda Shams El Din courtesy of The Belly Blog — *Photo of Hoda Shams El Din courtesy of* *The Belly Blog*

Before I get to the clip, I wanted to mention a really interesting article/interview with Luna of Cairo. Luna is an American belly dancer who moved to Cairo to study Egyptian dance and to work as a professional belly dancer. Like many other belly dancers who have not had that opportunity, I have enjoyed her reports from Cairo. This interview is about her decision to leave Cairo and move back home, and in it she says:

“The dance scene is now centered around an Eastern European aesthetic, physically and in terms of dance, and that’s not why I came to Egypt.”

— World of Dancers: Exit Interview with Luna of Cairo

This is a very frank and important observation from a dancer who has been deeply involved in the Cairo scene. I am mentioning it because this is precisely why I like to share vintage or classic Egyptian style belly dance clips on my blog and why I also try to support other artists who share the same respect and love for the roots of the dance. I feel that someone new to belly dance could go onto YouTube and look for clips and get a completely skewed idea of what the dance is, and perhaps be discouraged from trying it. Some of the clips out there make the dance look much too gymnastical (is that a word?), technical or impossible for the average person to do, and I fear women could be discouraged from trying. I always hear the words of my teacher Amina in my head when I would start to get to wrapped up in this kind of thinking. She says, "It's a folk dance." That means it is not only for someone with elite training.

Anyway, I highly recommend the whole interview with Luna of Cairo for a great read. It sounds like she will be teaching workshops now that she is home from Egypt, so here's hoping that San Francisco is on her list. Follow Luna here to stay up-to-date.

And so back to the clip I started talking about! Sausan is another artist I admire so much- she is the owner and head chef of Al Masri Egyptian Restaurant (where so many of us in the Bay Area LOVE to dance, watch dance and listen to live Arabic music!) and also runs the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance. She has taken many film clips of dancers and created DVDs of them categorized by dancer- she has translated many of the songs into English and subtitled the DVDs so it's quite valuable - you can see her collection here.

Sausan herself is a beautiful performer and I will share a video of her here when I start my series on American dancers. For now, here is Hoda Shams El Din, with the caption below from Sausan's research:

©SAED Hoda Shams El Din was born of Armenian parents. Her first appearance on the silver screen was in 1950 as a dancer. She later starred and danced in a movie called Halal Alayk (You Really Deserve It) with Ismael Yaseen in 1951 and continued to appear as a dancer and actress until the mid 1960s.

A charming performance, right??

You can see more of Hoda Shams El Din on the CaroVan Vimeo Page. And you can learn more about her at this really fascinating article on The Belly Blog.

If you like this post, please subscribe to my Monthly Newsletter for more. I never share your email address.

Lots of news for this week too: first of all I get to be part of not one, but TWO live music and belly dance shows this weekend! Tomorrow (Fri 6/1) I will be at Tannourine Restaurant in San Mateo for a live Arabic music and dance with Khalil Abboud and Band.