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I took a workshop this past weekend with Amina Goodyear and Debbie Smith (which was awesome by the way) and they showed a clip of Sahar Hamdi dancing. From what I understand she was a very vulgar dancer and she has since taken the veil. But that's all I know. Does anyone else know anything about her?
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 17, 2009 - 5:58 PM -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 17, 2009 - 6:05 PM
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 17, 2009 - 7:20 PMA clip of her dancing
www.youtube.com/watch -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 17, 2009 - 10:20 PMNone of what I've seen commercially compares with footage Yasmin has of her. Sahar Hamdi could dance very well when she wanted. I'd estimate her dance vocabulary to have had a wider variety than Fifi- they were contemporaries. Her arms and hands were beautiful, her face was priceless. Yes, at times she was outrageous...but not ALL the time. For some reason it's just her drunken footage (and that one clip Viviana posted) that is available commercially. I've seen wedding footage where she is almost delicate with her dancing. She was at times almost, *almost* a little demure, other times lip syncing along with a twinkle in her eye. Then there is other footage of her at the end of a night- pretty much doing "rock star Oum Kolsoum" lol...incredibly irreverent and entertaining...but it was ON PURPOSE. -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Wed, February 18, 2009 - 11:22 AMI was watching some footage of her on a VCD at home, a performance in which she is wearing this crazy shiny black Western jumpsuit deal with cowboy boots and flowers in her hair, with a whole lot of attitude to go with the outfit. My husband walked through the room, stopped, and said "If Quentin Tarantino made a movie set in Cairo, that woman would definitely be in it!" :-) -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Thu, February 19, 2009 - 7:53 AMBadriya, that one is where she is drunk and a guest at a party. She was just invited up to dance. I think your husband got her about right, though. lol -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Thu, February 19, 2009 - 4:48 PMWow, thanks ladies :-) I remember reading those articles a few years back. I was just so amazed by her stage persona when I saw that video of her at Amina's house. I just couldn't take my eyes off her!
It's such a shame that she was seen as a joke :-( -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Thu, February 19, 2009 - 5:09 PM"It's such a shame that she was seen as a joke :-( "
She was IMMENSELY popular with Arabs when she was dancing. By them she wasn't so much seen *as" the joke, but she was "in on" the joke...gosh, she TOLD the joke. :D
Of course there are exceptions (for example some people who love Amr Diab can't stand Sa'ad el Soghayer. It's a social class thing)
American dancers for the most part, especially as there is so little footage available simple don't get her.
We all know how much charisma is lost on video...imagine how captivating she was live! -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Thu, February 19, 2009 - 5:39 PMI can only imagine :-) I also see what they meant about her having beautiful hands. They were very graceful.
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Thu, February 19, 2009 - 6:46 PMI wish I had seen that video. Some how I always missed video night. -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Mon, February 23, 2009 - 10:03 PMI had also made a recent inquiry into Sahar Hamdi . . .
I got a hold of an obscure copy of the "West Kamanga" routine that Dandesh does on a cd format, but unlike the version on YouTube the singer calls out Sahar Hamdi name instead of Nagwa Fouad. Because there is so little commercial material, I was stumped as to how to impersonate her. I asked one of my (Egyptian) employers how she used to dance, her signature style. He looked back confused and said she was not known as a dancer, she was known as a slut. (I'm not taking his word as gospel, just sharing it here) He said that she seemed to appear on the dance scene out of no where, which many people attributed to her sleeping around. Whether this is true I honestly don't know, it could just be a nasty rumor to explain a woman who is suddenly the center of attention.
As far as the "West Kamanga" routine, I talked one of my Saudi friends to sit close to the performance area with a hookah (ironically he does not smoke, AND he's pretty religious so I had to promise not to do anything too inappropriate) and when it came time to impersonate Sahar, I danced suggestively over to him, grabbed the hookah from him and smoked it while dancing and batting my eyelashes. The audience (including Egyptians) thought it was hilarious and that it fit in character. My second choice would have been to get a shot of vodka from the dj, but thought that might be pushing the professional envelope a little too far, even though it was "in character" -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 24, 2009 - 6:04 AMThat Manga version is on Dandash's CD that Dahlal sells www.dahlal.com/default.aspx
Sahar was wildly popular as a dancer on the party circuit. Would I trust the words of someone who didn't know her but will talk about her reputation over someone who knew her and worked with her for several years? I'd have to say I'd listen about the "reputation" but most definitely read Yasmin's articles for first hand experience.
Oh, and having been in conversations (with interpreting friends) with a couple of Sahar's contemporaries; Fifi Abdo and Shoo Shoo Amin- THEY only had high praise for Sahar.
Your DANCE impression sounds appropriate. As discussed earlier- she danced outrageously on purpose. -
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Re: Sahar Hamdi?
Tue, February 24, 2009 - 11:49 AMYes I did read the article, and as I know how gossip goes about dancers in some communities. Whether it's true that she was loose, you are right that it's better to listen to someone who actually knew her. But for the sake of impersonation people did know her by that reputation, so that's what I was going for. But don't get me wrong, I didn't share that post just to propogate rumors that the woman was a tramp.
It would be nice if there were more videos of her REALLY dancing on YouTube so she could be known for her talent more than her reputation.
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