{"id":2385,"date":"2011-02-16T09:40:13","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T16:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2011-07-25T14:30:45","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T21:30:45","slug":"amina-interview-magana-baptiste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2011\/02\/16\/amina-interview-magana-baptiste\/","title":{"rendered":"Magana Baptiste"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Amina
Amina poses with Magana in Magana’s doorway<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

San Francisco Dance Pioneer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

by Amina Goodyear<\/a> and Lynette Harris<\/a><\/strong>
\nposted February 16, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

Magana welcomed us into her home studio in San Francisco–a home that seems quite large and spacious for San Francisco. It is a not a stereotypical San Francisco house, which might be a colorful painted lady, a peak-roofed, attached Victorian row house. This San Francisco home is somewhat newer and is quite a nice house in a rather quiet, up-scale neighborhood where all the houses are mostly painted white and are surrounded on all four sides by greenery. However, upon entering her house, it feels as if we are no longer in San Francisco as we are greeted by figures of Buddhas and other Asian figures with candles and incense both lighting and warming the air. Although it is daytime, the rooms are dark and the windows are veiled keeping the sun from the antiques, rugs and fabrics adorning the floors and walls. <\/em><\/p>\n

With her dark, almost shoulder-length hair gently dancing as she walked, Magana, a quite attractive, youthful woman of 88, invited us to have something to drink and gestured to a table filled with a large assortment of nuts, sweets and fruit. (–and to think: we were worried that she might have forgotten our appointment!)<\/em><\/p>\n

After filling our glasses and our stomachs, we went into another room, Magana\u2019s studio, and sat across the room from her. She sat casually in a richly textured altar-type space surrounded by candles, crystals, Buddhas, musical instruments, and photos of Walt, her dearly departed husband. Magana continued to add details from a previous interview concerning Walt, her life, her dance career and friends, her successes, her dreams and her future plans. <\/em><\/p>\n

Magana – Dance Pioneer and Visionary Oriental Dancer<\/p>\n

Magana was born in El Salvador but actually grew up in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. Of course times were different then. The houses were large and grand and there were no hippies. Hippies didn’t come into existence until the early sixties, about the time of the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

At the age of six, Magana started to study dance with Miss Daisy Upham<\/span> and was soon performing for society recitals. <\/p>\n

This was in the 1920s and 1930s and at that time there was no TV and barely radio. For entertainment, Magana\u2019s family asked her to don her tap shoes and perform for the family and for company.<\/p>\n

She remembers family friends – aristocrats and diplomats – visiting from Spain; cousins who had consorted with past presidents, and she would be the sole entertainment with her tap shoes, playing the piano, and even performing the Tango.<\/p>\n

Being a respectable young lady of the times, Magana went to drama school to fulfill her desires and to business college to fulfill her family’s honor. Upon her graduation from business college, Magana\u2019s family found her a job in a bank as a bilingual English and Spanish secretary.\u00a0 She hated the office work, earning $15 a week, so she would spend her lunch hours looking for other work. Eventually she quit and an employment agency found her a job with an oil company earning a grand $200 a month as a receptionist.<\/p>\n

In the early 1940s <\/strong>she interviewed with the Arthur Murray Dance Studio<\/strong> and soon she trained to become a ballroom dance teacher. One of her colleagues invited her to a party in North Beach<\/a>, and at that party, she met Walt Baptiste<\/span>. Little did she realize that just a short three months later (1944) she would marry this man who was into physical fitness, yoga, nutrition and good diets. At the time, all of this was considered either odd or a fad.<\/p>\n

Walt taught Magana about nutrition, bodybuilding, and yoga. He also taught the stars in Hollywood who were eager to embrace inner peace and outer beauty. This so-called "fad" was a big deal then, and it continued until it was no longer a fad–but a lifestyle–for many. For Walt and Magana, it was not just a lifestyle; it was their life.<\/p>\n

\"Magana<\/p>\n

Magana recalled the various studios that Walt and she owned.<\/p>\n

1944-1946 – 567 Sutter St.: In the late 40s (1946-1949) she started teaching in her downtown studio the Golden Gate Studio<\/strong> by the Golden Gate Theater<\/strong>.\u00a0 It was here that Indian Yogi President of Yoga Society of America, Sri Deva Ram Sukul<\/strong>, came. He brought yoga to Walt and Magana.The big stars (such as Robert Mitchum<\/strong>) frequented their studio when they would come to the Golden Gate Theater for openings, premieres, and sneak previews. They would drop in to have their photos taken with Walt. <\/p>\n

Walt was a big name back then; he was Mr. America<\/strong>. He was known for his body building, and his health and fitness studio was not just the first in San Francisco; it was one of the first in America! He was here at the same time with Jack LaLanne<\/span>. Jack, Magana, and Walt, produced and starred in shows together, and Magana was the Oriental Dancer.<\/p>\n

\"Magana<\/p>\n

\"JackWalt was also very well known for his "muscle control dance\u201d because he could do total isolations. It was sensationally phenomenal: he could flex and isolate every muscle in his body! Also, Walt Baptiste sometimes worked with snakes. In fact, one of his gyms was like a zoo because of his snakes, parrots, and monkeys. (255 Powell St.)<\/p>\n

In the 1940s their\u2019s was the only dance and fitness studio. Since they were friends with Jack Lalanne, they would – all three – participate in educational shows, concerts at universities and at Army bases. Jack and Walt would do the body stuff and Magana would do the dance. She performed Oriental Dance with union musicians who used sheet music such as "In a Persian Market" and \u201cMiserlou".\u00a0 Frequently, she was asked to perform with the Shriners in their parties in California and Nevada and appeared in plays such as "Desert Song" and "Kismet".<\/p>\n

Later–while in Hollywood during the 1950s,<\/strong> Magana lived in a house with people of similar interests. It was a studio belonging to Devi Dja<\/strong> who was the most famous dancer to come out of Bali. A lot of stars stayed at her studio. It was an international house, full of international artists, dancers and actors. Magana was staying in the house while doing some movie work. Jamila Salimpour<\/span> came and stayed there too. At the time, Jamila was married to a body builder, and they all were good friends.<\/p>\n

\"HoracioDevi Dja appeared in many famous movies, including "The Picture of Dorian Gray\u201d (1945) in which she performed a temple dance. She and Ruth St. Denis<\/strong> were friends and performed together at an ethnic dance festival\u00a0 in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles<\/strong>. Magana appeared there also with her troupe, demonstrating the dances of Egypt. Ruth St. Denis was the mother of the Middle Eastern dance in America. She introduced Magana to a Middle Eastern dancer named Camilla<\/strong> who also lived in this artists’ home in Southern California. Magana took some classes with Camilla and got into the feeling of it. This was before there were any nightclubs, any CDs, –anything.<\/p>\n

Besides studying Hindu and Balinese dance with Ruth and Devi Dja, Magana traveled all over the US and Canada with Devi Dja. Later, when Magana moved back to San Francisco, Ruth St. Denis stayed with her\u00a0 because she was teaching in North Beach. Although Miss Ruth worked with a veil, most of her teaching was in the mode of lectures rather than physical demonstrations. She had a very spiritual and Sufi-like approach. Martha Graham<\/strong> also worked with Ruth St. Denis and was influenced by her. Later, Martha went to New York and established her form of Modern Dance.<\/p>\n

During the 1950s there were no Indian stores or Middle Eastern shops in San Francisco, but there was an Oriental dancer. Magana, the first Oriental dancer in the area, danced what was termed "casuals". These are what we now call \u201cgigs\u201d. Sometimes her Oriental dances were referenced as \u201cexotic dances\u201d (exotic as in foreign country) and Magana would get paid $75-$100 per show, a great deal of money in those days! Her "casuals" were usually with variety shows that included a singer, an acrobatic act,\u00a0 a comedian, and an "exotic "dancer. Sometimes her dances would be fused with Indonesian and Balinese dance movement (because she had studied with Devi Dja) and also sometimes fused with Afro-Cuban and Afro-Haitian (as she had also studied with Katherine Dunham)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was also in the 1950s (1955) that she toured with "Incan Princess"<\/strong> Yma Sumac <\/strong>in the U.S and throughout Canada.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, Magana had a studio at Turk and Van Ness streets called \u201cThe Academy of the Arts\u201d<\/strong>: Dance, Art, Drama. It was an enormous place! Magana has a picture of Amina<\/span> in her dance class. It was in the late 1950s and Amina was in high school. Magana presented a play about Nefertiti and Magana played the role of Nefertiti. <\/a>It was a very ambitious play. She chose Amina to be the court dancer in this play. They needed a dancer to dance before the king. Amina studied with her during that time. Magana notes that Amina did a lovely job. <\/p>\n

San Francisco in the 1960s:<\/p>\n

Jamila started teaching Belly dance. Magana went a few times to her class to support her friend and later heard that Jamila had told everyone that Magana was her student. This was not accurate as she had already been performing for quite a few years prior.<\/p>\n

Magana and Walt liked to perform with snakes.\u00a0 In 1964, a year after her son, Baron<\/span>, was born, Walt and Magana were performing at Gigi’s Port Said<\/a><\/strong> on Broadway in North Beach where the musicians were Vince Delgado<\/a> <\/strong>on drums and brothers Fadil<\/a><\/span> and Walid Shahin<\/span>, on oud.\u00a0 They performed there between 1963-65. Walt would come out, be a magician, work with fire, do his muscle control and then charm the snake with his flute. Next, two large baskets would be brought out. King Tut<\/span>, a large boa constrictor, would dance out of one, and Walt would hand King Tut to Magana so she could dance with the snake. Then Walt would charm another smaller one out of another basket and hold this one. Magana always danced with King Tut. They had many offers to go on the road with their act,\u00a0 but, with three young children they just couldn’t do it. They also did not want to sacrifice their teaching schedule of dance, yoga, and physical fitness at their studio.<\/p>\n

\"Bobby<\/p>\n

Magana and Walt\u2019s other studios: <\/p>\n

\"MaganaSea Cliff on Clement, Above Walgreen\u2019s Drug Store on Clement, across from 450 Sutter Street, Arguello, and Clement (after returning from India). It had a studio upstairs, a shop, boutique, and restaurant downstairs.<\/p>\n

Magana ends her interview by remembering other famous Belly Dance people with whom she worked:<\/strong><\/p>\n