Asmahan Uk/USA

[Sara]

Hello, I found this video clip on you tube. This dancer has a series of them.

I think they're quite artistic and presented more as a short film, which is quite interesting cause I ant never seen video clips done like this before. Just thought I'd share some with yas. I'm not really thinking much about the dancing this time as the style of presentation, lol. :dance:







If anyone has any extra info on this dancer, or why the clips are made like they are. They look like they should be in a film. :think: Perhaps they are.

Well cheers in advance.
Sara

 

[Eshta]

All the info you could want to know about this particular Asmahan is here:

Asmahan

It's a long long read so make sure you're sitting comfortably, but very interesting nonetheless!

 

[Sara]

Oooh, very interesting so far! She's done so much already, lol. So is she American then? :think Thanks for the link!

Are these video clips from the same project? That film like thing she did?

 

[Sara]

Found another clip. Only these that I can find and another one but I'm not sure if it's the right one.

 

[Eshta]

She is American, but she is now based in London. She's a real character, and I think she's very good with sword balancing. I believe she says she was the one who brought sword dancing to Cairo but I've heard that disputed by several independent sources.

I like the idea of presenting belly dance within a 'context'. I've seen a couple of shows where it's been wonderfully contextualised. I'm not sure I'm following the plot in these clips, which makes me wonder there is a video? Or perhaps it's just very 'mtv' styling, with random images that do little to enhance the story but are there for the mood.

Just being silly, in the last of the 3 clips, if I was a bedouin and some woman came riding up brandishing a sword, I don't know if I'd respond so calmly

 

[Sara]

:lol::lol: Yea, I was hinking that too.

I do like how the clips do appear like a mini film, that looks like a lot of fun to do as well. BUt It confused me cause I wont sure why they were done like that and if it was for something...:think:

 

[Suheir]

Those are clips from Asmahan's lavish pop-video-style film! It must be nearly 20 years old now. There's an interesting article by Asmahan here: Asmahan shares her North Beach Memories for the Gilded Serpent

Asmahan originally studied with Jamila Salimpour in the early '70s. She also studied with Raqia Hassan in Cairo before most of the UK "experts" of the time had even heard of her. This is her biog on gildedserpent.com: Asmahan for the Gilded Serpent

 

[Shanazel]

Well, that was pretty cool. Thanks, Sara. I love the North Beach Memories articles. My dad took us through North Beach about 1967 and I was shocked clear to the soles of my hippie sandals- all those nearly naked girls dancing in cages above the street, all the wild people and the neon... I loved every second of it.