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How do YOU define Golden Era?

topic posted Fri, August 24, 2007 - 1:49 PM by  Shira
It seems like people have different definitions of what, exactly, refers to "Golden Era". What is YOURS?

My personal definition is "dancers who appeared in Egyptian movies in the 1940's and 1950's", but only people who actually worked as dancers. (Some Egyptian movies cast people as dancers who never worked as professional dancers, so I don't count those actresses in my Golden Era definition.)

So, how does everyone else define Golden Era? Do you tie it to the Egyptian movie industry, or do you focus it strictly on dance. What do you think constitutes the end of the Golden Era, and why?
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Shira
offline Shira
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    Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

    Fri, August 24, 2007 - 3:23 PM
    Great question Shira, I also would like to read others thought on this. I also define this era as the 40's and 50's, the time of the great dancers (Samia, Tahia, Naima) and the music artist of that time (Farid Altrash). Egyptian Cinema refers "Golden Era of Egyptian Cinema" of that time of classic movies. I guess this is why dancers use the term, like Shareen El Safy. Who is an expert in the subject. I know some others that extend the date to the 60's and 70's and some as early as the 30's.
    Tammy
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  • Shira
    Shira
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    Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

    Mon, November 5, 2007 - 10:41 PM
    I've recently acquired some books on Egyptian movies to assist in my research. These include:

    * Popular Egyptian Cinema by Viola Shafik
    * Dream Makers on the Nile by Mustafa Darwish
    * Dance and the Dancer in Egyptian Film by Roberta Dougherty (an essay in the book Orientalism, Transnationalism, and Harem Fantasy)
    * Arab Cinema by Viola Shafik
    * An Introduction to Egyptian Cinema by Mohammed Khan
    * The Golden Age of Egyptian Oriental Dance by Barbara Luscher (an essay in The Belly Dance Book)
    * Egyptian Cinema by Viola Shafik (an essay in the book Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North Africa Film)

    I used to think that referring to "Golden Era" dancers was some widely-known, commonly accepted term used to refer to dancers who appeared in movies during the Golden Era of Egyptian Cinema.

    However, I'm now doubting that. I was trying to find the term "Golden Era" or "Golden Age" in any of these books with a definition, but I have not been able to find one yet. If it's there, it's hiding from me.

    Is it really so entirely subjective? Or is there "someone" who originally coined the term and did have a definition in mind for it? Are we talking about Golden Era of cinema, Golden Era of dance, or treating the two as synonymous?
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      Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

      Tue, November 6, 2007 - 4:36 AM
      Hi Shira,
      Thank you for the resources! If you could only pick 2, what would they be? Which ones are the most informative, relating to dance?
      Thanks!
      Tammy
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      • Shira
        Shira
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        Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

        Tue, November 6, 2007 - 7:57 AM
        Of the three items by Viola Shafik that I listed, the very best one is her new book "Popular Egyptian Cinema". There isn't a separate chapter on dance, but dance is brought up in a variety of places throughout the book. This is a brand new book that was just published by the American University in Cairo earlier this year.

        The essay by Shafik that appears in "Companion Encyclopedia" can also be read/downloaded free of charge on the Internet. See arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php . It beats spending $240 for the full-length book when all you want is that one chapter.

        The book "Orientalism, Transnationalism, and Harem Fantasy" (which contains Rebecca Dougherty's essay) is also an excellent resource. There's only the one article on cinema (and it has some weaknesses), but the book has a lot of other good essays in it.
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    • Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

      Tue, November 6, 2007 - 8:07 AM
      "Golden Era" is a term coined either by belly dancers (perhaps Shareen el Safy?) or perhaps by Hossam Ramzy when he released his video clips series. I don't think anyone outside the belly dance community recognizes the term.

      For me, the term is not limited to only the dancers who danced in films during the 40's and 50's, but any dance performance with that specific stylization and feeling. I, for one, enjoy watching all of the dance performances recorded during this era, whether by professional dancers or by actresses.
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      • Shira
        Shira
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        Re: How do YOU define Golden Era?

        Tue, November 6, 2007 - 10:09 PM
        Yeah, I was starting to think that "Golden Era" was a term "we" created. Thanks for sharing your feedback on that! I was fairly certain that the Egyptians don't speak/think in terms of a "Golden Era" of *dance*, but I wondered whether maybe they might have a concept of a "Golden Era" of *cinema* (and by extension, we could then consider the Golden Era of dance to be that which was captured on film during the Golden Era of cinema).

        I think the only place I've seen the term "Golden Era" used in writing (ie, not just Internet dialogue) was in The Belly Dance Book, edited by Tazz Richards, in the article written by Barbara Luscher (Hossam Ramzy's partner in the Stars of Egypt project). MAYBE I also saw the term in Wendy Buonaventura's Serpent of the Nile, but I"m not sure of that.

        I haven't really watched much footage of actresses-not-dancers from the 1940's and 1950's, at least not yet. The movies I HAVE seen featuring actresses-not-dancers cast in the role of dancer characters are all post-Golden Era:

        * 1969, Abi Foq al-Shagara, My Father is up a Tree which has Nadia Lotfi in the dancer role
        * 1972, Khally Balak Men Zouzou, Watch Out for Zouzou, which stars Souad Hosni as the dancer
        * 1990, Al-Raqissa wa-l-Siyasi, The Belly Dancer and the Politician, which stars Nabila Ebeid as the dancer

        In the above three movies, I think Souad Hosni did a great job with her dance scenes, but Nadia Lotfi and Nabila Ebeid are both rather forgettable as dancers. They look good in costumes, but...
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