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When
Asmahan was booked to dance in Vienna at an elegant dinner
club called Asmahan, she was now a vidette and
this would be the first opportunity to use her sword dance as
a tableaux. The show was a sensation, especially as Vienna was
where OPEC was based and all of the various members of
this Oil Consortium came to Asmahan for the Dinner
Show. From the opening night, when she first placed the sword
on her head a magical moment occured:
The audience broke into a spontaneous applause
Somehow, even though Arabic people had not seen this dance
before, something deep in their souls appreciated this exotic
and dramatic dance. A woman with a sword is really evocative,
and their response was to accept and enjoy this dance. The original
contract was for two months but the booking was extended for
six months as this show was so popular. Vienna has a wonderful
Winter Ball Season, and she was booked for many elegant shows
at these events and made very good money which she saved to finance
her next career move, which was to perform in Egypt.
Now Asmahan was prepared to go to Cairo and try to dance
in the most prestigious shows in the Middle Eastern Dance World.
She had made some contacts that could be useful in putting together
an new career in the big time. Some of the Night Club Owners
in Cairo had been to London to run clubs there, there were a
few diplomats from the British Arab Chamber of Commerce, and
Soroya Giseria was dancing in the clubs on Pyramid Street. The
Atlas Hotel in Opera Square offered her a position dancing
in their show and a room in the hotel. She began sewing more
amazing costumes and going to see all the Famous dancers.
Nagwa Fouad, Suhier Zaki, Aisa Shariffe, Fifi Abdou and Nelly
Fouad were the big stars and each had postions in five star
hotels. At this time the dancer was the star with a Parisian
Show Ballet opening the dinner show. There were no singers in
the hotel shows, they worked the night clubs, or if they were
really big stars they had concerts at special venues.
People
started to talk about her and soon famous movie stars were coming
to this funky hotel show to see her. Two months passed and one
night Adel Zeki and his friends took her to see Fifi
Abdou dance at the Meridian Hotel. Fifi was
on the microphone and asked who she was. The actors said that
Asmahan was a famous dancer from California. Fifi pulled her
up on to the stage, the musicians played Laylet Hob, and
the audience went wild when she danced. The manager asked Asmahan
to substitute for Fifi Abdou when she was sick. In two weeks
the Meridian Hotel signed Asmahan to dance for Ramadan and a
two month contract was offered. This was a dream come true. Asmahan
had to use some of Fifi's musicians as they wanted to work while
Fifi was away. She took 15 of them, and hired a special saidi
band to do the sword dance routine. The rehearsal was one of
the most magical events of her artistic career. She had tapes
of all the music she wanted to use, the musicians were very supportive,
and together with the band leader a new show was produced.
On
her first night at the Meridian Hotel with a hot Egyptian band,
she wondered if this discriminating audience who was used to
seeing Fifi Abdou would like her. The audience must have thought
she was Egyptian, it was just like dancing in London. The power
of the dancer is her relationship with the musicians and the
show that they create together. A dancer performs with a live
band right on the stage behind her. She is literally the conductor
as the the music is influenced by her style and personality as
an artist. Dancing with the mizmar, and the saidi drums for the
sword dance was out of this world. The audience loved it. Every
night when she put the sword on her head the audience broke into
applause.
So
for two years Asmahan danced at the most famous hotel shows in
the Middle Eastern dance world. These were the days when the
five star hotels were open seven nights a week. The audience
constisted of Egyptian High Society, Diplomats, Classy Arabs,
International Businessmen, Movie Stars, and the Art Scene. She
danced at the Cairo Sheraton, Mena House
Oberoi, Nile Hilton, Hayatt El Salem, Holiday Inn, the Meridian,
and Hurgada Sheraton. She even danced several
of the top night clubs: El Leil, Cave du Rois,
Arizona and Tivoli. Every night she left the stage to
thunderous applause, the audiences loved her sword dance. This
dance had made her something different and special so that she
was in demand and left an impression, people were talking, about
her. "HAVE YOU SEEN THE SWORD DANCER?"
Keeping a hot show together is really alot of work and expensive.
The dancer has to pay for everything. She needs at least thirty
costumes, expensive make up, a orchestra of at least fifteen
musicians (the famous dancers have thirty or forty musicians),
choreographers, show producers, original music, a dresser, driver,
manager, roadies, great clothes, and jewelry. Every bit of money
is always being invested in a better show. The competition is
unbelievable, and some of the older famous dancers were millionares
who can afford anything. At this time in Cairo, Nagwa Fouad,
Fifi Abdou, Suheir Zaki, Asa Shariffe, Hanan, and Nelly Fouad
all danced at two or three hotels, so they had the business tied
up. Young dancers had to perform for years on Pyramid Street
at Night Clubs hoping for a break to get a five star hotel and
then lots of weddings. Asmahan was very fortunate to have started
performing in the five star hotels, not having to spend years
in the night clubs. She needed to stay and work for several years
to finally earn that big break, but after two years of performing
two to three shows a night, sometimes seven days a week, she
was going nuts in Cairo and wanted to get back to London for
a break.
Returning
to London Asmahan now had the prestige to perform the sword dance.
No one had see this dance and it gave her the chance to present
an original show and use all the new costumes she had made in
Cairo. Her music was still Ranet el Klhol Khal which was from
Aisa Shariffe and was about five years old. with a new dance
routine and appearing in classy night clubs with five othere
dancers and six singers. In London she performed at Elf
Layla wah Layla and Cave du Rois. She had
original music written for ther Magency by Mohammed Salem. This
was a wonderful compostion which was the mark of prestige for
a dancer. Now musicians would have to read the notes and learn
her music practicing in rehearsals for a her routine.
Asmahan
was now contracted to dance in Tunis at Paradis
du Liban. This was an elegant dinner club near President
Bourgiba's Palace. The orchestra was the National Radio Orchestra
of Tunis. The show was a fantastic success and the contract
was extended from two to six months. Once again it was the sword
dance that made the performance special and unforgettable.
The
next artistic level was to fulfill a dream and make a film. Asmahan
went to Cairo to have the music for the soundtract recorded.
The magency by Mohammad Salem was recorded by Mustafa Hamido
and his orchestra. For the sword dance Hamido wanted to write
an original saidi song for this special dance. He wrote an fantastic
piece with the hook line: "The light from your eyes is
sharper than your sword." The film was an avante guarde
rock video format produced by MGMM. The sword dance was filmed
on the desert at the Pyramids. Asmahan rode a horse up to a tent
and danced in the desert for a group of Beduoins just like the
sword dancers of history must have done.
Asmahan danced in Cairo at the Ramses Hilton Hotel.
She starred in the show with the singer Alaa Abdel Khalek.
Madame Raqia Hassan trained her and choresgraphed the
show. Safaa Farid was the male singer and Heba was
the female singer in her orchestra. She did four costume changes
and used the sword dance for the finale. Hassan Ein the
star mizmar player, was in her Saidi band. The show was a great
success and she was going on to another hotel when the Gulf Was
started. It was an unpredictable environment and she returned
to London for the outcome of the War. A few years later she returned
to Cairo to dance again at the Ramses Hilton Hotel.
Asmahan was the first dancer to perform the sword dance in Cairo
for a hundred years. She had originally been inspired to be a
dancer by this magical dance and had been a star in Egypt making
her name re-creating this ancient dance. |
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