Ottoman Empire and Turkish Style

The Ottoman Empire started in 1343 to 1922, when sultanate was abolished and Turkey become a republic.
The centre of the Empire was always the Royal Palace. The harems were part of the house where all women of the family stayed altogether. It was a place where non-family man was not allowed so they had the Eunuchs to guard the Sultan's harem. The harens was alweys huge with hundred of womend who were wives and cuncubines. Because the Ottoman Empire was muslin, music and dance was forbidden. However Rakkase is from the Ottoman Empire, they would dance in the harems women for women, they had to wear headscarves and conservative dresses. Although forbidden by religion, the government tolerate music and dance.
The females dancers would hardly apear to the public so for intertainment they had male belly dancers called Rakkas. The male would have more freedom. The history said there are two kinds of Rakkas: Kocek and Tavsan Oglan.The Tavsan Oglan would wear a hat and tight trousers and the Kocek would wear women's costume with long hair. Both use to dance in public celebrations and wedings.
Without women for these intertainments male dancers would take the post. They were dance and music trained and they dance sexy and provocative. Everything to attract the public they danced slow belly moves, acrobatics, playing metal symbals and using wooden stiks like cane. The boys ware very attractive, affeminate and they would dance as long as they can hide the beards. The boys was a good substiture for the Rakkase, women's belly dancers, however sometimes the public lost control sattering glasses, shouting and attacking the dancers.
The dancers were organised by agencies. All dancers would work to agents who find the performances and train them. The historian said there were over 3000 male dancers and 15 agencies in Turkey in that period.
In 1856 the male belly dancers were officially baned from Turkey during Mahmut II era. Many Koceks were forced to Emigrate to other countries and many went to Egypt.
There are still a lot male belly dancers in Turkey, in some areas they still dress as women. Nowadays they no longer work in agencies like in the Ottoman empire. The male belly dancers are as popular as female and they perform as part of the country folk and no as sexy as in the Ottoman Empire.
The idea of male belly dancers is purly from Turkey in the Ottoman Empire. It is still not acceptable in Middle Eastern countries to see male dancing affeminate and moving sexly their bodies. However it is acceptable folkloric dancers.

Belly Dancer Diary - One day with Francy!

I normally wake up early, about 8:30am, as a married woman I try to match my times with my husband even when is hard to me. Having a nightlife is hard to keep a "normal life". So I do my best to be able to dance as long as I wish keeping the marriage harmony.
First thing in the morning I take my vitamins, that helps me to keep going healthy and then I have a light breakfast. Soon as the morning starts I have to answer all emails and voice mails I couldn't answer the evening before as I was dancing. Normally the emails are requests to private parties, new students to my lessons, new girls for my agency, business proposal etc... Mornings and early afternoons I spend most time answering all emails and calls.
About 12:30am I will probably cook something light with loads of proteins and fibre that keep me going all day on. Sometimes I like to try new Middle Eastern food.
From 1:30pm, when normally the other performers wake up the phone don't stops ringing to cover shows and find covers to last minute shows. Afternoons are time to prepare the cd's for the evening, sewing costumes when necessary, practice a bit new steps... Also is time to look after hair, nails, skin.
About 4:30pm I normally have a break to eat some light snack and prepare my water bottle To take with me for the evening.
From 5pm the time is precious and run fast. Then will have loads to prepare same time so I won't answer the phone to concentrates in get ready on time. My shows starts early as 7pm so I need to be ready to leave at 6pm. I work every day of the week, some days teaching and the rest of the week and weekend performing. The shows will finish as late as 1230pm, this because I defined till what time I want to work because I know most of my colleagues will finish at 3am. But for me by 2am I am in bed resting to start a new crazy day tomorrow. For a professional belly dancer, who lives with dance and teaching, has to keep busy to guarantee a good income. As our work is very enjoyable I don't feel the need to take day off but I do take long holidays!

Week days - Around 2-3 shows per night
Weekends - Around 5-7 shows per night

Full time dance teacher diary - One day with me again!!!

My day is pretty much the same every day. As I already told you in my Dancer Diary I wake up about 8:30am. The days I teach I check emails and return calls during all mornings, have a break for lunch and afternoon I prepare my lessons.
So when I teach I spend my afternoon creating new choreographies and remixing new songs for the lessons. Normally these days I also contact new gyms for new groups or book new private lessons to the next weeks. Restaurants also book us to teach in hen parties.
These afternoons I take to organise all I have to teach in that week and plan my schedule. Some groups need more attention and some I need to create more difficult combinations to challenge them. When the group has already about 10 choreographies we organise a family show. Or the group take part of charities and haflas.
If the group decide to take part of any event I may spend one afternoon ordering costumes from the designer in Egypt.
 When is about 6pm I leave home way to my lessons. I normally take with me a huge bag with scarves and everything the girls might need for their lessons. My lessons take 2 hours. First we would do technique and secondly choreographies. When I teach I arrive at home about 11pm.

I normally have 3 afternoons private lessons and 1 or 2 evening group lesson.

How to choose the right belly dancer for your event?

Nowadays is possible to find a huge selection of professionals available to entertain your guests. From modern to tribal, from Egyptian raqs el sharq to cabaret style. All sizes and shapes, all experience levels and prices. But remember, in your party the most important are your guests, so choose a dancer who will match your guest's expectations, not just yours.

When you know exactly what you want for your party contact the professional belly dancers and let her knows "clear" what you expect from the show. It's important to inform if there is any religion restriction or a special guest who should be invited to dance.

Remember: cheap always cost more. If you are doing the party of your life like your wedding or a special day to someone you should really consider to hire the best dancer you can afford. It's worth the money and you will keep amazing videos and photos of the special moment.

BUT... If you still prefer to hire the cheapest one, you can still delete your photos and videos later, however you won't delete the bad experience from your guests memory!

How much can cost to be a Belly Dancer??? Check below how much a "real" professional belly dancer should spend yearly so you can understand their prices.

Considering only professional performers:

• A professional dancer who performs everyday has to have at least 10 professional costumes to cover everyday of the week surprising the audience. Note that most professional dancers have more then 30 costumes. However the professionals buy at least 10 costumes a year. Each "real professional costume" you can't find for less then £250 and can get up to £700 new. So lets do a medium price of £300 each considering tailor adjustments. 10 Costumes x £300 = £3000 a year.
• A "real professional" dancer spend loads of money for the first 10 years studing with the hight profile teachers, some of them travel to Egypt regularly. The fist 10 years are decisive to build up a professional carrer, so they attend private lessons, buy DVD's, travel, attend workshops. I would say the first 10 years is when we spend more money, after that we still invest in lessons but might be half and it has to keep forever. It cost at least £2000 per year.
• Since 1930's all professional belly dancer use high heels. Firstly for more elegance on stage and secondly for health and safty reasons. A good dance shoes don't cost less then £45 in the UK. And if the dancer performs everynight she might need about 3 to 5 pair a year. Let's say 3 pairs a year x £45 = £135 a year.
• All professional dancers like to perform with some props to intertain the audience. All these props have to buy new one each year as it gets demaged using everyday. So she must have at least: 1 cane = £25, zills = £25, 5 silk veils = £150, Sword = £100, Fan veis = £35
• Most belly dancers use hair extentions, false eyelashes, false nails, fake tan and it can easily cost over £2000 a year.
• As we perform everynight we also have to use good products on our skin. Make up products £500 year
• Cd's and mp3 musics £100

Please note I have mentioned all in a medium price. High profile dancers spend much more money for sure!!!

A "REAL Professional Belly Dancer" invest in their work at least
Monthly £672.50
Yearly £8070.00 !!!

Sadly some dancers just buy DVD's online and costumes cheap as £100. They can charge much less, they will perform to your guests and unfortunatelly you all will think our work is "that cheap".

Now think twice when you choose a dancer to your event. And help us to keep the real dancers who invest their lives preserving this ancient art.

Do you still want the cheap one?

Oriental Dance Stars and the Egyptian Golden Era

Badia Masbani

• Born in Lebanon around 1896
• Moved to Egypt in 1920's
• She opened the first music Hall in cairo called "Opera Casino"
• She trained many stars such as Tahia Carioca, Samia Gamal, Naima Akef
• She introduced into belly dance folk steps and improved the way to dance adding more arms moves and using all stage. From this it was known as Oriental Dance or Raqs el Sharki

Tahiya Carioka

• Born is Ismaileya, Egypt around 1915
• When teenenger she went to work with her family in Cairo where she started her carrer as dancer
• She was introduced to Badia then started to dance in Opera Casino's trupe and gradually became famuous
• She starred in not less then 150 films in that period
• She was know as Carioka as she introduced into belly dance Brazilian Samba moves improving shimmies

Samia Gamal

• Born in Egypt in 1924
• She also started her carred in Opera Casino and trained by Badia
• Samia was also trained in ballet and modern danced which later she introduced techniques into belly dance improving our posture and stage skills
• She soon became famous and starred in films includding the famous Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ (1954) with French comedian Fernandel and ‘Valley of the King’ (1955) with Robert Taylor.
• Samia also introduced veils to the dance inspired in Hollywood films
• She had a short relationship with the composer and musician Farid el-Atrash who later split up with her and refused to marry her

Naima Akef

• Naima  starred in many movies and theatre productions and once won the first prize at a festival of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow
• She also took part of the dancers in Kitcat with Beba

 

Farida Mazar Spyropoulos

• Born in Syria around 1871
• She was the firs Oriental Dancer to perform in US at the "Street Cairo" an exhibition held in Chicago in 1893

 

Hekmet Fahmy

• She danced with Beba and Naima in Kitcar cabaret
• She became famous for espionage in Cairo during Second World War, she used her charming to extract important information from English to pass to Germans
• She was imprisioned in 1942 for 2 years after she was suspected of spying for the Germans
• After the was in 1946 she produced a film called "Almotasharidah"

 

 

Shafiqa Al-Qibtiyya

• Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1851
• She was student of Shooq, the first Oriental Dancer in Egypt
• Shafiqa was already famous in 1920's as she was the pioneer to the candelabra dance
• She danced for years in a club called El Dorado and later she opend her own Club know as "Alf Leyla"
• Saddly she became addicted to coccaine and died in 1926

 

 

Houreyya Mohammed

• She worked for Badia Masbani in Opera Casino which opened doors to the cinema

 

Hagar Hamdi

• Hagar took part of many Egyptian films in 40's.
• In the film "Abou Halmous" (The father os Hamous) she plays a dancer in a club. 1947
• She can be seen in more then 30 films in that time and danced in most of them
• She retired in the 1950's and went into clothing business
• She worked with Badia in Opera Casino but got fired as Badia didn't belive in her potential
• So the actor Youssef Wehbe treined her. Once she was ready he gave her a role in his film in 1944.
• She proved in her films that she was indeed a good dancer and actress and she became famour lates 1940's
• She was married 5 times. Once with Kamel el Shenawi (who played her husband in one of the films)
•  She died in 2008 at age 88.

Beba Ezzedin

• Born in 1910 Beirut, Lebanon
• She started her carrer in Beirut
• She opened her own club called "Kitkat" where also Naima Akef danced
• She was well know in the high society and the government circle.She remained famous in 30's, 40's and 50's
• Beba was very successful dancer and business woman earning the equivalent of 150.000 Euros per month by that time.
• Besides being a belly dancers she faught agains English coloni as a Patriot and freedon fighter
• When Badia left Cairo to Syria she sold Opera Casino to Beba. So Beba became a very powerful and successful business woman. She hired high profile dancers and musicians.
• Singers like Souad Mekawy performed in her nightclub
• Beba died in 1950 at age 40 in a car accident

You certainly can find more about these dancers browsing on internet through Wikipedia and Google. All these informations I had collected from teachers around the world. But I did find on internet similar information. You also can see some films with these Stars on youtube.

 

Remember that from these ladies Belly Dance was spread to the world and improved to attract more audience. These ladies are the begining of the Oriental Dance as we know today, before was Gypsy, tribal and gawazee style.

Belly Dance from 1930s and European influences

In 20's and 30's there was plenty of Egyptian films that added belly dance in it's story making it more popular. Egypt was a huge film industry by that time till late 40's. From this period is dated the beginning of a revolution in it's way to dance.
To make belly dance more worldwide, the film producers added veils to make more mysterious, swords making more challenging, high heels shoes making more elegant and other props from Egyptian folklore and gypsy influences. These elements professionalized belly dance and attracted more audience.
If you really love belly dancing you must meet Ms. Badia Masbani! She is considered the godmother of Oriental Dance. She was Lebanese and moved to Egypt early 20's where she worked successfully as actress and dancer. In 1926 she opened the first music hall in Cairo named "Opera Casino" or "Madame Badia's Cabaret". She offered a variety of intertainment such as music, comic, dance and magic. The Opera Casino became a real success and really attracted the tourists from Middle East and Europe.
Badia really contributed with belly dancing introducing to the folk styles such as Shaabi, Gawazee, Baladi, Saidi and Melea more thecnique. These folk styles were danced mostly in one spot using limited arms positions. Badia then introduced snake arms, lift arm and use all stage space. She also was pioneer to choreograph belly dancing for stage shows.She also added classical musicians to the traditional line up of riqq, darboukka, ney and zurna. These musicians then would introduce rhythms from all Middle East, Turkey and Greece, at that time Ottoman Empire.
With all this changes, Badia professionalized belly dancing and it became Raqs el Sharki or Oriental Dance.
But also around1900 French trevelers got fascinated with the rhithms and the hip moves of the gawazees dancers. They described in their travel stories as "danse du ventre" or Dance of the belly. That is why we call Belly Dance.

The Origin of Belly Dancing

It is still not clear in the history when and where excaly started Belly Dance in the World. The closer scientists and anthropologists could get is that Belly Dance started in the ancient Egypt as part of the local religion around 5.000 years ago.
As far as we know, some kind of dance, similar as belly dancing, was executed inside the templos as part of an Egyptian religion. Only special and selected women would dance to attract fertility for humans, animals and nature. These women was called priestess. In this period the religion was matriarchal beliving the women was real God, because they bleed every month and have babies but do not die. For that reason they believed the women had special powers and an conection with the divine.
Later on, many wars and invasions happened in Egypt and Middle East. Specific in 639AD when the Islamic invasion happened they took the Egyptian dances religions as part of the public intertainment and no more as a pagan religion. From there Egypt was no longer preserving their original anscient religion and became Muslin, an patriarchal religion. From this periodo belly dance was seen as part of intertainment in parties and weddings.
Because of the constant wars in this period many women lost their partners. Some of them could marry again or share a husband with other women, some of them became prostitute and others dancers on the streets. From this belly dance became a business when some women, normally gypsies, would sell their dance or intertain people on the streets and private events to get money.
The street belly dancers would receive loads of coins, and they would attach these coins in their belts to save it. More coins, better dancer! that is what they belived.
The best dancers ware invited to dance in the castles to the kings and rich people. These would give them jewelry like rings, earings, bracelets and necklaces. These jewelries the dancer would save attaching them in the costume. That is why nowadays we still use costumes with loads of crystals and rich sequins.
From 639AD till 1930AD, belly dance became an important public intertainment. It was a way to live for many women in that period.
In that period the belly dance would be freestyle and improvising. With loads of hips and arms moves. The music would come from drums, cymbals, harps and many styles of pipes.