shiradotnet
Well-known member
There are many, many Egyptian movies which feature dance scenes. In some, the dancer is also the lead actress. In others, the dancers come on-screen just long enough to dance and then disappear.
I thought it might be fun to form a "movie club", similar to a book club, in which we choose an Egyptian movie with English subtitles, give everyone time to acquire it and watch it, and then discuss it. I think this could really help people who are NOT Egyptian (which, of course, represents the majority of us) to gain appreciation and understanding of Egyptian culture at a level deeper than music and dance alone.
So often, the only exposure we dancers have to dancing by Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca, and others is by watching compilation videos showing us isolated scenes drawn from movies in which they appear. Some of these compilations don't even tell us which movies the scenes are from. Wouldn't it be nice to see the dance scenes in the context of the plot, to understand how the dance factors into the progression of the story? Wouldn't it be helpful to discover (by watching the full-length movie) that the white evening gown worn by Naima Akef in one of her movie clips isn't intended to be a "dance costume", it's intended to just be a dressy outfit for a party she is attending?
We can discuss the historical context of the movie and how the socio-political environment in Egypt at the time influenced the plot. We can talk about cultural elements that can be seen in the movie, such as seeing what a 1950's moulid was like in Tamra Henna. We can talk about the dance scene itself - the costume, the dance technique, the dancer's on-screen persona, etc.
Maybe we could start with Afrita Hanem, which is a movie that stars Samia Gamal and Farid al-Atrache. It's readily available with English subtitles. Netflix has it available, and it costs only $20 on Amazon.com. I love the movie - it's a light-hearted comedy, and so much fun to watch!
Any interest?
I thought it might be fun to form a "movie club", similar to a book club, in which we choose an Egyptian movie with English subtitles, give everyone time to acquire it and watch it, and then discuss it. I think this could really help people who are NOT Egyptian (which, of course, represents the majority of us) to gain appreciation and understanding of Egyptian culture at a level deeper than music and dance alone.
So often, the only exposure we dancers have to dancing by Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca, and others is by watching compilation videos showing us isolated scenes drawn from movies in which they appear. Some of these compilations don't even tell us which movies the scenes are from. Wouldn't it be nice to see the dance scenes in the context of the plot, to understand how the dance factors into the progression of the story? Wouldn't it be helpful to discover (by watching the full-length movie) that the white evening gown worn by Naima Akef in one of her movie clips isn't intended to be a "dance costume", it's intended to just be a dressy outfit for a party she is attending?
We can discuss the historical context of the movie and how the socio-political environment in Egypt at the time influenced the plot. We can talk about cultural elements that can be seen in the movie, such as seeing what a 1950's moulid was like in Tamra Henna. We can talk about the dance scene itself - the costume, the dance technique, the dancer's on-screen persona, etc.
Maybe we could start with Afrita Hanem, which is a movie that stars Samia Gamal and Farid al-Atrache. It's readily available with English subtitles. Netflix has it available, and it costs only $20 on Amazon.com. I love the movie - it's a light-hearted comedy, and so much fun to watch!
Any interest?
