{"id":4627,"date":"2013-01-10T15:14:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T22:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=4627"},"modified":"2013-03-25T15:43:04","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T22:43:04","slug":"from-cafe-chantant-to-casino-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2013\/01\/10\/from-cafe-chantant-to-casino-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"From Caf\u00e9 Chantant to Casino Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evolution of Theatrical Performance Space for Belly Dance<\/h2>\n

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by Heather D. Ward (\u201cNisaa of St. Louis\u201d)<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tposted January 10, 2013 <\/span><\/h3>\n

Most students of Egyptian belly dance are aware of Badia Masabni <\/span><\/a>and her famous nightclubs, and many believe Badia’s clubs to be the birthplace of theatrical belly dance, or raqs sharqi<\/em>.\u00a0 However, fewer are aware that Badia’s clubs were neither the first nor the only venues of their kind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In reality, clubs like Badia’s grand Casino Opera were the culmination of a trend in Egyptian entertainment venues beginning in the late nineteenth century, and the transformation of awalem<\/em> and ghawazee<\/em> dance into raqs sharqi<\/em> was already underway in the earlier, lesser-known caf\u00e9s chantants<\/em> or salat<\/em> of Ezbekiya and Shari’ Emad ad-Din.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This discussion explores how developments in popular entertainment and performance space in Cairo impacted the evolution of belly dance and ultimately gave rise to the dance form we now recognize as raqs sharqi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the nineteenth century, the modernization projects of Mohamed Ali <\/span>and his grandson Isma’il<\/span> transformed Cairo into the Paris of the Orient, and the environs of the Ezbekiya Gardens emerged as the bustling hub for arts and entertainment in the city (Hassan 1998, 1999).\u00a0 Ezbekiya was originally the site of a lake that formed annually during the flooding of the Nile.\u00a0 Many of Egypt’s rulers built their palaces on the periphery of the lake, and Napoleon based his headquarters there during the French occupation.\u00a0 Under Mohamed Ali, the lake was drained and gardens were laid out on the site.\u00a0 Isma’il continued the development of the gardens, employing a French landscape architect to create a lush setting styled after the public parks and pleasure gardens of Britain and France.\u00a0 Hotels, theaters, restaurants and caf\u00e9s were established in and around the Ezbekiya Gardens as the area became increasingly popular as a travel and recreation destination.\u00a0 The grand Shepheard’s Hotel<\/span>, located at the northwest corner of the gardens, rivaled European hotels of the time in luxury and opulence, and the original Cairo Opera House<\/span>, located just south of the gardens, was the site of the world premiere of Verdi<\/span>’s “Aida”.<\/p>\n

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\n survey map of Ezbekieh Gardens and environs 1920 – from Library of Congress
\n (top photo- Egyptian hotels Ltd., Cairo. Shepheard’s Hotel. Exterior – 1920s or 1930s) <\/h6>\n

By the turn of the century, numerous venues in Ezbekiya were offering “variety shows” that included music, singing, dancing, theatrical performances, and more \u2013 in the mold of European caf\u00e9s chantants<\/em> and music halls.<\/p>\n

There seems to have been no unifying term for these establishments at the time, (1<\/a>)<\/span> though the generic term sala<\/em> (“hall,” plural salat<\/em>) was sometimes used and is adopted throughout this article for convenience.\u00a0 Some of these venues were referred to by Western travelers and tourists as caf\u00e9s chantants<\/em> or occasionally caf\u00e9s concerts<\/em>.\u00a0 An 1886 article by an Australian correspondent in The Queenslander<\/em> newspaper writes of El Dorado<\/span>, a sala<\/em> that turns up frequently in travelers’ accounts and guidebooks:<\/p>\n

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At the El Dorado Caf\u00e9 a troupe of danseuses<\/em> with singers, acrobats; while in the next room merrily goes the roulette ball, while the fascinating baccaret<\/em> and trente et quarante<\/em> attract the jeunesse dor\u00e9e<\/em>, who, if they win have champagne suppers, and if they lose take ditto for consolation.\u00a0 (The Queenslander<\/em> 27 February 1886, 336)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Two years later, the Arabic-language daily Al Ahram <\/span>mentions that the owner of El Dorado was adding theatrical performances to the program (Al Ahram<\/em> 1 December 1888, 2).\u00a0 Thus, like music halls in Europe and the United States, these venues offered a broad range of entertainments.\u00a0 However, dance was certainly on the bill at many of these establishments.\u00a0 Indeed, by the 1910s, female professional dancers, or awalem<\/em>, could be found performing in salat<\/em> throughout Ezbekiya (Sladen 1911: 114-115).<\/p>\n

Prior to the nineteenth century, the term almeh<\/em> (plural awalem<\/em>) had designated a “learned woman” \u2013 a skilled female entertainer who wrote and recited poetry, composed and sang songs, and occasionally danced, but only in the hareem<\/em>, or women’s quarters, of an Egyptian home (Lane 1836: 354-355).\u00a0 The awalem<\/em> contrasted markedly with the ghawazee<\/em> (singular ghaziyeh<\/em>), dancers who performed publicly (in streets, in courtyards, and at saint’s day celebrations) in provocative dress (by the standards of the time) and who were thus considered less than respectable (Lane 1836: 372-377).\u00a0 In the early nineteenth century, there was increasing overlap between lower-class awalem<\/em> and ghawazee<\/em> (Van Nieuwkerk 1995: 35).\u00a0 In 1834, both the awalem<\/em> and the ghawazee<\/em> were banned from Cairo, and by the time that the ban was formally lifted (under the reign of Abbas Basha<\/span>, between 1849 and 1854), the distinction between these two classes of female entertainers had been irrevocably blurred.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

By the end of the nineteenth century, the term almeh<\/em> came to designate a professional singer\/dancer, while the term ghaziyeh<\/em> increasingly referred to dancers in the rural villages outside of Cairo (Rushdy 2010, Van Nieuwkerk 1995) (though Western travelers and tourists still frequently used the terms almeh<\/em> and ghaziyeh<\/em> interchangeably).<\/p>\n

Although the awalem<\/em> and ghawazee<\/em> were permitted to return to Cairo, there were apparently restrictions placed on where they could perform within the city (Leland 1873: 126-137, Van Nieuwkerk 1995: 36-37).\u00a0 Reynolds-Ball states:<\/p>\n

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Genuine performances of these dancing girls are seldom seen in Cairo, except occasionally at weddings among the rich Cairenes; and, in fact, the public dances of the Ghawazee are forbidden by the authorities. They can, however, be seen at most of the towns of the Upper Nile Valley, especially at Keneh and Esneh. (Reynolds-Ball, The City of the Caliphs<\/em>, 1898: 191-192)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dancers and other entertainers were omnipresent at Cairo’s Moulid An-Nabi (the immense annual festival celebrating the birth of the prophet Mohammad) in the 1880s (Charmes 1883: 179-181).\u00a0 Yet, S.H. Leeder, describing the moulid<\/em> in 1912, states:<\/p>\n

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The dancing-girl no longer has a place in such festivities, and the buffoons and conjurers had no stage here that I could discover; and I could find no representative of the lower orders of dervishes who used to chew and swallow red-hot coals and crunch and swallow glass with apparent enjoyment. (Leeder 1913: 253) <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nevertheless, as Reynolds-Ball notes, dancers could<\/em> be found in the caf\u00e9s chantants<\/em> of Cairo, such as El Dorado:<\/p>\n

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There are several good caf\u00e9s<\/em> and caf\u00e9s chantants<\/em>, such as Caf\u00e9 Egyptien, close to Shepheard’s, the Eldorado, Rue Ezbekieh (native dancing girls). (Reynolds-Ball, Cairo To-Day<\/em>, 1898: 12)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Toward the turn of the century, although dancers continued to perform at a variety of private functions for the upper classes, at weddings for the middle and lower classes, and at saint’s day celebrations (mawalid<\/em>, singular moulid<\/em>) in rural towns and villages, in Cairo at least, the sala<\/em> was becoming a significant performance venue for dancers.<\/p>\n

The move of belly dance in Cairo from traditional performance settings such as weddings and mawalid<\/em> to the salat<\/em> of Ezbekiya marked a fundamental shift in the nature of the dance.\u00a0 In traditional contexts, belly dance was embedded in an occasion.\u00a0 In other words, professional dancers were engaged for a performance if there was an occasion to observe, such as a wedding, a moulid<\/em>, a sebo’<\/em> (party for a seven-day-old baby), or even a dinner party for visitors(2<\/a>)<\/span>.\u00a0 The sala<\/em>, on the other hand, was a formalized performance venue \u2013 one which existed specifically for the display of performing arts like music, dance, and theater.\u00a0 The attending audience was composed entirely of paying customers who attended with the intent of seeing the show, as opposed to a gathering of family, friends, and neighbors (as in a neighborhood wedding) or a casually aggregated mass of observers (as in a moulid<\/em>).\u00a0 A 1902 newspaper article describes admission at El Dorado:<\/p>\n

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The entry is generally free, but one is expected to order at least five piastres worth of something, or else pay that money for a seat.\u00a0 (Star<\/em>, Issue 7512, 20 September 1902, 2)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Further, the dance of the awalem<\/em> and ghawazee<\/em> in traditional contexts was not a strictly theatrical dance.\u00a0 Theater dance, or concert dance, is performed as entertainment for a non-participating audience, and there is a clear distinction between the performers and the audience.\u00a0 While the awalem<\/em> and ghawazee<\/em> were certainly performing for others, the boundary between the performers and the audience was not precisely defined.\u00a0 As Van Nieuwkerk (1995: 36-37) notes, some Western observers were shocked by the casual air of association between female entertainers and their clients.\u00a0 Lane writes:<\/p>\n

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In some parties where little decorum is observed, the guests dally and sport with these dancing-girls in a very licentious manner. I have before mentioned (in a former chapter) that on these occasions they are usually indulged with brandy or some other intoxicating liquor, which most of them drink to excess. It is a common custom for a man to wet with his tongue small gold coins and stick them upon the forehead, cheeks, chin, and lips of a Gh\u00e1zeeyeh (Lane 1836: 494-495).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Consider also Lady Duff Gordon’s description of an experience with a dancer in the Sa’id:<\/p>\n

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I dined last night with Mustafa, who again had the dancing-girls for some Englishmen to see. Seleem Efendi got the doctor, who was of the party, to prescribe for him all about his ailments, as coolly as possible. He as usual sat by me on the divan, and during the pause in the dancing, called “El Maghribeeyeh,” the best dancer, to come and talk to us. She kissed my hand, sat on her heels before us, and at once laid aside the professional gaillardise <\/em>of manner, and talked very nicely in very good Arabic, and with perfect propriety, more like a man than a woman; she seemed very intelligent. What a thing we should think it, for a worshipful magistrate to call up a girl of that character to talk to a lady! (Duff Gordon 1865: 224-225)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The setup of the sala<\/em>, with its clearly defined performance stage for the entertainers, established greater distance between performer and audience (3<\/a>)<\/span>.\u00a0 In essence, the movement of the dance into the formalized performance setting of the sala<\/em> signified the transformation of belly dance into a fully theatrical dance form by the end of the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

It is clear that two significant features of what would become raqs sharqi<\/em> \u2013 performance for the sake of performance, and performance for a primarily non-participating audience \u2013 were in place much earlier than the establishment of Badia Masabni’s first sala<\/em> in 1926 (4<\/a>)<\/span>.\u00a0 Yet belly dance was only one among many entertainments offered in the salat<\/em> of Ezbekiyah.\u00a0 When entertainment venues expanded west from Ezbekiyah into Shari’ Emad Ad-Din and neighboring streets in the early twentieth century, the salat<\/em> that opened there followed the already well-established model for variety entertainment.\u00a0 Research by Priscilla Adum (n.d.) regarding the history of Badia Masabni’s establishments in Cairo reveals that dancing was not the only draw at the Sala Badia on Shari’ Emad ad-Din when it first opened its doors in 1926. \u00a0In fact, though Badia included some dancing (her own) in the show, no other dancers were on the bill, and the show seems to have been focused primarily on singing and acting (ibid<\/em>.).\u00a0 When Badia did begin including dancers in her programming the following year, some of those she hired were already established entertainers (ibid<\/em>.).\u00a0 Badia did not set out to create a new dance form; rather, quite successfully, she attempted to out-do her competitors in an already proven format for variety entertainment that included dance.\u00a0 The stage for raqs sharqi<\/em> had already been set within the walls of the salat<\/em> of Ezbekiya.<\/p>\n


\n Der Esbekieh-Garten in Kairo, \u00c4gypten, fotografiert aus einem Ballon – aerial photograph by E. Spelterini created in 1904 published in 1928 <\/h6>\n
References<\/h5>\n