Irina Eshta Belly Dance Queen of Carnival of Stars 2014

Irina Eshta's performance is a tribute to Soheir Zaki of the 1960’s and 1970’s

BASINAH - FIRST RUNNER UP

LARA - SECOND RUNNER UP

 

Belly Dance Queen of Carnival of Stars

August 3, 2014

 

Egyptian Belly Dance Revival - This year the category is Traditional Egyptian Classical Raqs Sharqi as performed in Egypt from the '50's to the early '90's. The music, dance, costuming and mannerisms MUST conform to that time period and be stylistically and culturally correct and true to the Egyptian style of Raqs Sharqi as performed on the "cabaret" stages of the Cairo Egyptian dancers of the 1950's to the early 1990's. pre AWS.

Performance - 5-7 minutes - veil, cymbals and/or veil not necessary if it does not suit your piece of music. We are looking for authentic traditional Egyptian dance (and music) - not tricks.

No AmCab or American fusion music. We want to see pure Egyptian dancing before it was influenced by aggressive western styling and technique. The music (song choice), dance and costuming MUST conform to the time period between the '50's and the early '90's and more specifically must agree with contestans' description. Dance, Music, Costuming and mannerisms must be stylistically and culturally correct and true to the Egyptian style of Raqs Sharqi as performed on the "cabaret" stages Of the Cairo Egyptian dancers of the 1950's to the early 1990's. pre AWS."

 

See Pure Egyptian Dancing

The Contestants

Badia, Basinah, Edemia, Eyyam, Helwa, Irina, Janan, Lara, Marzie, Valentina

 

 

 

Badia

Badia will be performing a 1970's Magency in the style of Nagwa Fouad and Soheir Zaki

"I will be performing a Magency in the style of Nagwa Fouad and Soheir Zaki (1970’s). My costume is inspired by Nagwa Fouad’s where she starred in the movie “Bad Reputation”. My music is “Set El Hosn”, which was written for Nagwa Foud by Mohammed Sultan. (Set El Hosn means Prettiest of the Pretty)
As a Classically Trained Theatrical Actor and Director, I was inspired by the showmanship and theatrical stage style of Nagwa Fouad. During certain parts of the music composition, my movements will be inspired by the sharp and deliberate hip work of Soheir Zaki.
The original piece of music was fifteen minutes long. After days of living with the music, by listening to it over and over, I finally selected parts of the song that really moved me while dancing to them with the intent to demonstrate not only my love for the music, but my technique of Raqs Sharqi."

Basinah

Basinah will be performing in the style and time period of Taheya Karioca and Naima Akef from the 1950's.

Basinah will be performing in the style and time period of Taheya Karioca and Naima Akef from the 1950's. Both dancers performed in the movies, in hotel shows, nightclubs and/or weddings. I will be doing a vignette typical of their movie nightclub/show performances that will include all or part of a mergence', taqsim, and veil. As a dancer, my typical dance style is American Cabaret. I found my choice era beautiful, graceful, and very new to my comfort zone. I am completely out of my element for this performance. I find it exhilarating and very exciting! I hope that you will enjoy my attempt/version of this beautiful and enchanting dance style.

Edemia

Edemia will be performing to the beautiful song El Fan composed by Egyptian Mohammed Abdel Wahab.

Edemia will be performing to the beautiful song El Fan composed by Egyptian Mohammed Abdel Wahab.
Edemia is a Sacramento Belly Dancer, was born in Mexico City Mexico. Edemia moved at the age of 20 to Sacramento, Ca. Her passion is been dancing no only Belly Dance but also for Ballet Folkloric Dance.
She also designs her own belly dancing costumes. Edemia will be performing to the beautiful song name: El Fen from the compositor and singer Egyptian Mohammed Abdel.Her performance is classic belly dance style.Where her moves are more about passion and connection to music and keeping a life the authentic belly dance style, Where her dedication is been for 11 year's.Thank you I hope you enjoy.

Eyyam

Eyyam is inspired by the 1950s pioneers - especially Samia Gamal where she incorporates techniques from ballet to Latin styles in her dance.

For my performance I am inspired of the 1950s, famous pioneers of Egyptian belly dancers including Samia Gamal, Tahyia Karioka and Naima Akef gave the beginning of the booming Egyptian film industry centered around belly dancers in 1960-80. In my performance I will mostly follow Samia Gamal. Her style is very unique, she incorporated techniques from ballet to Latin styles in her dance.
I designed and made my costume from the scratch by myself. Following Samia's style, but I inspired of many vintage costumes and tried to add my own design, to give a feeling of look in 1950's and later.

Helwa

Helwa wants to take you to a 5 star hotel show and will dance mostly in the style of Nagwa Fouad.

"Imagine you’re in a five-star hotel or top end nightclub in Cairo in the 1980’s, watching the floorshow extravaganza. What would you see? If I could be an Egyptian-style dancer performing in this time period and in those settings, I’d adopt movements from Nellie Fouad, Nagwa Fouad, Shoo Shoo Amin and Aza Sharif. I’d commission music for my show orchestrated by Hamouda Ali, like his lovely pieces for Nagwa Fouad. I’d be thrilled to be wearing a Mme. Abla dress in which to perform to Mr. Ali’s elegant music. I hope you enjoy this fantasy as much as I do. Joyful Dancing to You All, "

Irina Eshta

Irina Eshta's performance is a tribute to Soheir Zaki of the 1960’s and 1970’s

Irina’s performance is a tribute to Soheir Zaki, a legendary Egyptian dancer of the 1960’s and 1970’s, both in film and on stage. Known for her meticulous ear for music, Soheir Zaki became the first oriental dance artist to perform to the music of Oum Kalthoum. The 1973 song used for the performance, Leilet Hob, from the album “Leil Sabr Hedoud / Leilet Hob”, is one of the ten songs composed by Modamed Abdel Wahab for Oum Kalthoum, with the lyrics written by Ahmad Shafiq Kamel. The choice of the song is inspired by a scene from the 1974 movie Lyaly Lan Taaood (Nights That Will Never Return) directed byTayseer Aboud, in which Soheir Zaki is dancing at a restaurant wearing a green bedlah costume.

To recreate Soheir Zaki’s signature 1970’s look, Irina will wear a green short beaded fringe bedlah costume with an added body stocking, a fully sequined arabesque design of a chiffon skirt with the forever-famous two slits, and silver flats, Soheir Zaki’s preferred footwear. The movements used in the interpretation of the song are typical of Soheir Zaki’s dance style, characterized by simple relaxed arms with some wrist circles and hand gestures, small steps with body weight changes, relaxed Egyptian isolations, hip circles and full body circles, forward hip lift accents, shimmies stepping forward, relaxed and short spins, and musical accents caught with precise stops.
Like Soheir Zaki, Irina strongly believes that dance is art and must always be honored and respected, and that "being a dancer is not about showing off your body and posing on stage", but is about interpreting the music, dancing from one’s own inspiration and feeling, and letting the music move your body.As said in a famous song by Oum Kalthoum, "So you want to go back to the old days?"

Janan

Janan would like to present a general impression of the dancers of that era, including Naemet Mokhtar, Tahiya Karioka, Samia Gamal.

I will not imitate the style of a specific dancer in my performance, but have studied footage of several dancers active in the 1950s to present a general impression of the style of the era, including Naemet Mokhtar, Tahiya Carioka, Samia Gamal, and others. I hope to enhance this presentation through styling of costume, hair, and makeup.

I am dancing to “Ahwak” (“I Love You”), a popular love song by Abdel Halim Hafez which he first performed in the 1957 film “Banat El-Youm” (Girls of Today). His performance of thissong does not feature a dancer, but it focuses on a lingeringimage of a woman lost in deep emotional contemplation as he sings the song at the piano. I aim to convey the romantic tone of the song in my dance performance.

This is a translation of the song as provided by the website Lyrics Translate:
I love you._And I wish if I ever forget you,_I forget my soul with you._And if it becomes lost, it's OK, if you've forgotten me.
So I forget you, and I forget all you pain._And I start longing for it again._And I find my tears remember you, so I return to you._At times, the whole world comes with you._And its wish is your wish._And then, maybe you will end, depriving my love of you.
I love you._And I wish if I ever forget you,_I forget my soul with you._And if it becomes lost, it's OK, if you've forgotten me.
So I forget you, and I forget all you pain._And I start longing for it again._And I find my tears remember you, so I return to you._At times, the whole world comes with you._And its wish is your wish._And then, maybe you will end, depriving my love of you.
I dream of finding you thinking of me, and I of you._And my eyes meeting yours._And the words written on your face, while you try to hide them._And I'd nourish you, wake up from my sleep to call you._And send my soul to wake you._So you who has stirred my soul, try out my fire.
I dream of finding you thinking of me, and I of you._And my eyes meeting yours._And the words written on your face, while you try to hide them._And I'd nourish you, wake up from my sleep to call you._And send my soul to wake you._So you who has stirred my soul, try out my fire.
I love you._And I wish if I ever forget you,_I forget my soul with you._And if it becomes lost, it's OK, if you've forgotten me.
So I forget you, and I forget all you pain._And I start longing for it again._And I find my tears remember you, so I return to you._At times, the whole world comes with you._And its wish is your wish._And then, maybe you will end, depriving my love of you.

Lara

Lara's performance pays tribute to the styles and theatrical themes of the 1950's of dancers such as Katy, Hermeen, Taheya Karioka, and Samia Gamal.

My performance pays tribute to the styles and themes of the 1950's. It draws inspiration from dancers such as Katy, Hermeen, Taheya Karioka, and Samia Gamal. Like many of these dancers in their classic films, I will be performing a theatrical piece. In this scene, the dancer -- myself -- finds herself in a dream where she is dreaming of the new love she has just met before falling back to sleep.

Marzie

Marzie will dance in the style of her favorite dancer Nagwa Fouad from the 1960's and 1970's.

Nagwa Fouad is my favorite Egyptian dancer. She became famous in the early 1960’s when she introduced a new style to the era. She has been quoted saying “ I came to change the style from Samir Jamal.” She is very theatrical and always smiles no matter what the song might call for. She engages and connects with her audience, keeping it interesting by changing her movements often and varying her speed. Her style is very dramatic and smooth. Her dances aren’t too sexy; they are more entertaining yet elegant. Her most characteristic moves involve eyebrow movements, facial expressions, and playing with her hair.
I based my costume on her costumes. I designed and handmade it specifically for this competition. The shape is similar to the one she wears in the movie “Husband by proxy” (1961). The belt is inspired by her performance in “What is life for?” (1961). She wear the green and gold color combination in the film “ Searching for a scandal” (1973).
This design allows me to mimic some of her distinctive movements. For instance, the way she holds her skirt when she twirls. Some of my favorite performances from her are from her career debut and this is what inspired my style for this song, in particular her dance in the movie “The Police Inspector” (1960). A lot of hand/arm movements, shaking her head, playing with her hair are characteristic of her style. Her mannerism is smooth and funny. She captivates her audience by surprising them with facial expressions and rapidly changing her moves. And of course, she always smiles! This is what I intend to replicate in my choreography.
I chose the song “Walah leeab el Hawa” from Susu’s new CD Nostalgia. It was originally sung by Ahmed Adaweyah who is a legendary Sha’abi singer from the 1970’s. He uses modern instruments like the keyboard, saxophone, the trumpet and the accordion, as well as traditional instruments such as the nai, violin, kaanun, riq, large cymbals, and tabla. This cover uses only traditional instruments. Sha’abi was always considered the music of the working-class. It has become very popular and is being used in restaurants, at weddings and parties. Even though, this probably wouldn’t be a song Nagwa Fouad would choose, the lyrics remind me of her style and can be roughly translated as “Finally, love is in the air and we are together. Flowers are there and the jasmine is here and I am the king.” The song is sometimes referred to as “sultan sultan” which means king.

Valentina

Valentina will perform in the style of the time period of Taheya Karioka, Naima Akef, Samia Gamal, Sohair Zaki, Fifi Abdo.

I am Valentina.
It's my great pleasure and honor to participate in this contest. Thank you for watching me :-)
I'm going to perform in the style of the time period of Taheya Karioka, Naima Akef, Samia Gamal, Sohair Zaki, Fifi Abdo. I like the music and songs that those dancers were performing.
Why do I like dancing? Dancing for me is like singing the songs, and expressing my emotions and feelings with my body. Sausan is my belly dance teacher. I've started taking classes from her in 2006. In 2008 I started performing in Al-Masri restaurant.The song I'm dancing to is El Sorh composed by Farid Al Atrache. That is instrumental version of the song from LP "Super Belly Dance with Farid El Atrache. Year : 1980"

 

THE CRITERIA

Did the dancer do her research and makes sure that everything conforms to the same time period chosen by the dancer?

Stage presence and personality. Does the dancer also reach out to the audience? Is the dancer entertaining? Mannerism/style of dance/personality/audience interaction. Modern Oriental dance is rather aggressive, athletic, direct and can be too busy. The contestants should dance and act appropriate to the style chosen and act more like the dancers of the 50s-90s.

Execution of movement and musicality. Is it appropriate to the piece chosen - rhythmically and musically (phrasing, lyrics) correct?-

Technique. Not so much the difficulty and execution of the technique, but its appropriateness to the chosen time period and dancer.

Choreography. Appropriateness. For example, if a dancer chooses Fifi Abdo, she should stick to Fifi's simple moves.

Song choice. Don't dance in the style of 50s to the song written in the 80s.

Costuming (overall appearance - but not a beauty pageant - ) The aesthetics of appearance such as clean styled hair, steamed, clean, well fitting and stylistically correct costume, etc. Is everything appropriate to the style of the era/dancer chosen.

Overall impression. How well do you like the particular dancer and is she memorable?

The Judges

Amina Goodyear, Cathy Guthrie, Jacques Al-Asmar, Terry D., Zahra Zuhair

Amina Goodyear
Amina Goodyear began dancing professionally in 1966 at San Francisco's famous Bagdad Cabaret, where she was a principal nightly dancer for twenty years. Amina's teaching career began in 1971. Soon after, she founded The Aswan Dancers, premiere Egyptian dance company. She also founded The Giza Club, The Giza Academy Awards, The Cairo Cats Band and co-founded The Arabian Knights Band and The Pasha Band.
Amina teaches cultural Egyptian belly dance including specialty styles such as Tarab, Oriental, Shaabi, Mahraganat, Dellaae, Melaya Lef, Saidi, Assaya, Nubian and even AmCab, Debke, Khaligi and Turkish on request. She also teaches Arabic song translations, how to interpret songs while dancing and percussion including tabla and zils. Dancers learn to move to the music, the lyrics and the drum and learn to choreograph and/or improvise to CDs and live music. Because she performs percussion regularly with the Aswat Arabic Ensemble, the Georges Lammam Band at PenaPachamama and with The Pasha Band at Al Masri, she provides many dance performance opportunities.

Cathy Guthrie
•Weeklong intensive classes with Dahlena for many years
•Classes with Ibrahim Farrah, week long intensives with Elena in NYC
•Teacher of Belly dance classes and director of troupe AlAma in Nevada City, CA
•Member of Aswan Dancers with opening for Naqwa Fouaat the International
Conference in Southern California 1997
•Taught Belly dance at the Lark in the Morning Music camp
•Regular dancer at restaurants in Sacramento, Rockland and Dublin Calif. Greek
restaurant in Reno, NV.
•Guest dancer at clubs in NYC and Chicago
•Drummer with the Evergreen ensemble in Nevada City
•Zurna player with Hahbi Ru, directed by John Compton.

Jacques al Asmar
Jacques Al~asmar was born in Accra, Ghana. He was raised in Beirut, Lebanon.
For the past twenty-five years, he has lived in the United States. He has studied, performed and taught internationally. His passion for dance was noticed at an early age.
Influenced by the legendary Nadia Gamal, Jacques watched his own body move in the same genre as Nadia Gamal. However, his lack of formal training in dance and cultural barriers held him back from pursuing a much- loved art form. Jacques' formal training came at a later stage of his career. In 1993, thanks to the Legendary Amina of the ASWAN DANCERS, who trained, educated and supported Jacques, he became a dance sensation overnight.

Jacques is a co-founder of the Arabian Knights band and producer of Salamat Sundays in San Francisco, California. Jacques is currently in pursuit of a Ph.D in psychology in Atlanta, Georgia. “Jacques Al~Asmar is a feast for the soul” Dr. Elias Abou Joaudeh

Terry Del Giorno
Terry has been studying Belly Dance since she was a teenager and teaching for the last 20+yrs in the Bay Area. She first started her study of Egyptian dance, (like a lot of dancers did) with VHS tapes of Mona Said, Nagwa Foud, and Nelly Fouad. She continued her studies with Master Instructors Sahra Saida, Shareen El Safy and Safi (Ann Ziemienski), well-respected American dancers who had worked in Egypt. She continues to study here and abroad with world-renowned Egyptian dancers. Her last trip to Egypt was in 2011, leaving just days before the revolution and she hopes to return soon.
She considers herself lucky to have been performing when opportunities were plentiful and being the “house” dancer was the norm not an exception. Those kinds of gigs where a dancer could develop a show with her band and had the full cooperation of the management. Terry performed in nightclubs like Scheherazade, Petra, Sultan's and Luxor where her shows catered to the audiences who were eager to experience the dance and the music of their culture, left behind in the Middle East.
Terry regularly performed for the Egyptian American Association, Lebanese American Association and Syrian American Association as well as countless weddings and private events.
She opened for Arab entertainment legends like Sabah, Warda, Nourham Hanna, Walid Toufic, George Wassouf and Ragheb Alame.
Terry considered herself a“working dancer” and never competed. However, she does admire and applaud all the dancers' who bring dedication, hard work and artistry to the stage for these events.
Terry thanks COS producers Pepper Alexandria and Latifa for continuing their efforts at creating this festival for local and visiting dance artists. Special gratitude to Amina in creating the contest and inviting her to sit amongst the talented judges.

Zahra Zuhair
Zahra Zuhair began studying Oriental Dance in the early 1970's. She took her first of many study tours to Egypt in 1979, which sparked a love of Egyptian dance. Since that time, Zahra has traveled to Egypt extensively, conducting tours and studying with master teachers, such as, Raqia Hassan, Ibrahim Akef, Mahmoud Reda, and many more. Zahra has been invited to teach numerous workshops, worldwide, along side many renowned Egyptian teachers and legends, such as, Nagwa Fouad, Mo Gedawi, Aida Nour, Lubna Emam, and Randa Kamal, to name a few. Zahra loves sharing her vast knowledge and expertise with her students, and is based in Los Angeles, CA, where she teaches regular weekly classes.

 

 

 

Grand Prize Belly Dance Queen of the Golden Era of Egypt Dance:$100; Free Entry to 2015 Silver Anniversary of the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition (BDUC), Egyptian Category, Valentine's and President's Day Weekend, February 13, 14, 15; Trophy, Crown donated by Multi-Kulti; Banner; Dinner gift certificate donated by Al Masri Egptian Restaurant, Featured dancer at the Carnival of Stars Evening Show 2015

First Runner Up: $50; Trophy; banner, Gift Box from Bitchin' Baklava

Second Runner Up: $20, Trophy, Banner, Gift from Wicked Smilies

All Contestants receive Gift from Wicked Smilies

 

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