E-Newsletters 2014

A few of my favorite dancers

For my next few posts, I thought I would share some videos of my favorite dancers.  This month:  Egyptian stars Randa Kamel and Dandash

Dandash

1) This is an older Dandash video  where she does cute imitations of other well-know past & present dancers, until around 2:50, when the singer says she is doing “Dandash”:

2) This recent one is totally exquisite, done to a classical piece by Oum Koulthoum!

3) Though the aspect ratio of the next video is an issue, it’s otw good. Some moves that look like knee lifts in this one are referencing Saiidi (cane) dance.

4) Nice, if under lit,  interaction between her & her band during a rehearsal

5) Dandash doing Shaabi!  You can see how at home she is with this style!

Randa Kamel

1) Here’s current top Egyptian Randa Kemal dancing with non-stop hips.

Though Randa Kamel’s athletic antics are not always to my liking, she seems to have reverted to her raqs roots with outstanding hipwork!   This dance is a good example of her use of shimmies as overlay,  as well as various hip accents that seem to have fallen into disuse here in the States.

2) She’s more elegant in this skirt:

More next month!