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Asmahan
was inspired to become a dancer while at the Renaissance Pleasure
Faire in San Francisco where she saw a performance of Bal
Anat, a troupe of Middle Eastern dancers trained by Jamila
Salimpour. It was an experience which would change her life.
The exotic dances were very old-world, the costumes of coins,
ethnic jewellry, antique fabrics and oriental beadwork were a
designer's dream, opening a new world of creative potential.
The dancing was enchanting, feminine, and spiritual. The music
and energy was out of this world. After the show she approached
Jamila, complimenting her on a beautiful, artistic achievement.
Jamila took her hand and said, "you look like an ancient
Egyptian, come dance with me".
At this time Asmahan was a couture designer with her own shop,
Aquarian Princess, making one-off originals for rock stars,
society hostesses and the San Francisco art scene. She attended
Jamila's classes which were very difficult and competitive. It
demanded a level of body control, technique and co-ordination
which was an impossible puzzle at first. Along with dance training
and choreography came playing finger cymbals, drum lessons, music
lessons, costume, and history instruction. The creativity involved
in designing couture dresses was now applied to dance costumes.
At this time everything had to be "pre-Napoleonic"
which meant before any western influences. Becoming more interested
in a professional dancing career, Asmahan sold her business and
moved to North Beach where she opened another shop, Shekinah,
with her long time friend, Donna Seid. She studied intensively
with Jamila for three years and began performing at the Greek
Taverna and on Broadway at The Casbah.
After three years dancing in San Francisco, Asmahan left the
United States to dance in London, which had a flourishing
Middle Eastern dance scene. The most famous singers, dancers
and musicians of the Arabic art scene were performing nightly.
The Gallopoli, a renowned Turkish restaurant with
a dinner show offered her "Star" billing. The classical
training from Jamila with strong Turkish influences was a good
preparation. At the Omar Khayyam she found
another dancing style, "Modern Egyptian". This was
a very dramatic, poised style with complicated choreography performed
with large orchestras, costume changes, and speciality folklore
shows. This she would have to learn by watching the famous stars
from Cairo who were coming to London to work in the glamourous
clubs. After the Gallipoli show, she would be off to see Aisa
Shariffe, Mona Said, or Nahed Sabri. A tape
recorder was hidden in her handbag to record the music which
was the new modern style from Cairo. There were no commercial
recordings of this music at this time. The entrance music was
original compositions for the star dancers.
The next club for Asmahan to be a feature dancer was The
Pars Persian 1001 Nights. This was a cabaret show featuring
six dancers and six singers from all over the Middle East. It
was a fantastic and exciting education. Asmahan was always so
amazed that these artists accepted her, even the guests thought
she was Arabic. It was a great advantage to really look Midddle
Eastern. The vidette (star dancer) Soroya, from Algeria,
gave Asmahan private lessons and new original music with special
choreography. This music was "Ranet el Khol Khal."
Now designing and making new glamourous costumes and dancing
in the modern style she was developing her own image. For three
years she performed at the most prestigious clubs: Shehrezade,
El Nile, Sultan's Palace, and L'Auberge.
Now she wanted to fulfill a dream to do the sword
dance as a tableaux with a costume change.
The
next career move was to Vienna to be the star in a beautiful
club called Asmahan, where she could do a costume
change and perform the sword dance. The show was a sensation.
OPEC ministers and Europeon Royality made it a very glamourous
venue. Now her dreams of being a professional dancer were coming
true. The next challenge was to try to work in the big time---Cairo.
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