{"id":4085,"date":"2012-05-15T21:38:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T04:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=4085"},"modified":"2012-05-15T21:46:32","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T04:46:32","slug":"pam-tahia-samia-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2012\/05\/15\/pam-tahia-samia-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Tahia and Samia in 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First Belly Dance Tour to Cairo, Part 2<\/h2>\n
\"Author\n<\/div>\n

Pamela Sloane\/Hirt)<\/a>
\nposted May 15, 2012
\nAdapted from the original in Habibi Magazine<\/a>
\nwith many additional photos<\/span><\/h3>\n

Veteran belly dancer Dalilah<\/a><\/span> from Las Vegas sponsored a tour to Cairo for American belly dancers so they could learn from the cultural source of the dance.\u00a0 She would leverage her connection with Egyptian film and dance legend Tahia Carioca<\/span> to arrange special dance-related activities, including meeting Samia Gamal<\/span>. <\/em> <\/em>I did meet with Tahia and Samia on September 22, 1977 \u2013 my birthday \u2013 and this version features highlights of that exchange. We hoped that Tahia might take to the stage this night and demonstrate what this meant. But the outspoken Tahia made it quite clear her performance days were over.\u00a0 \u201cI want see the American girls dance!\u201d she declared in her Arabic-accented English. Later she stepped aside with me for an interview in which I recorded her feelings about American belly dancing and the current state of the dance.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Tahia Carioca\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast to Samia\u2019s lightheartedness, Tahia showed sharp resentment regarding the direction danse oriental<\/em> was taking.\u00a0 Determined to ensure her unparalleled legacy as a primal force in her field, she declared, \u201cNobody has studied with me<\/em>,\u201d adding that she does not teach, nor does she ever plan to do so. <\/p>\n

I took those words to mean that she does not recognize any current dancer as the carrier of true Egyptian belly dance, especially considering that her only acknowledged successor, Samia Gamal, was also retired.\u00a0 The fact that neither she nor Samia demonstrated any dance for us, as had been promised, during our visit underscored her exclusive attitude that only she could be recognized as portraying Egypt through her dance.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

She went on to excoriate today\u2019s state of belly dancing in Egypt, calling most current dancers \u201cservants\u201d who are not really dancers, and that there is \u201cno one actual dancer that can represent the country.\u201d
\nTahia was very surprised to hear that there are schools all over the country teaching oriental dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To her, true danse oriental<\/em> is not teachable.\u00a0 Either you have it or you don\u2019t; either you are born with it or you are not.<\/p>\n

By extension, because she manifested the spirit of the country, she had won Egypt\u2019s de facto permission to represent the people through its ethnic dance.\u00a0 This is probably the origin of the expression \u201cTahia is Egypt and Egypt is Tahia\u201d and probably why Tahia grew into the role of standards-bearer in Egyptian danse oriental.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n\n\n