Yesterday Samrah Al Zuhur nominated the Aswan Dancers to a 10 day photo challenge that has been happening on facebook. It got me thinking about dance troupes in general and more specifically my humble beginnings and the formation of my dance group The Aswan Dancers.
Before I ever thought of having a group of my own, I was almost part of another group called Bal Anat. This was a group founded by Jamila Salimpour who was a popular teacher in San Francisco when I was working at the Bagdad. I first met Jamila at a baby shower given in her honor (for the anticipated birth of her daughter Suhaila) because my teacher Bettina Robbi was her friend and co-worker at the Bagdad. Little did I know at that time that I would eventually work at the Bagdad too. Upon reflection, now that I think about it, when my teacher Bettina quit the Bagdad to “go on the road,” she left a job opening. It was probably that opening that I filled when I applied for my first dance job. Of course I didn’t realize it then since Bettina was already working elsewhere. And so, because I needed a job, I was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time when the Bagdad was short one dancer. If Bettina had known, I wonder if she would would have cheered me on or laughed, or would have used her influence to get me the job, or to get me turned away. I’ll never know. I was lucky that the dance scene wasn’t glutted and so I was able to snag a job based on being young and cute becauseI didn’t really know how to dance yet.
The original reason why I took belly dance lessons was to get my shape back after having three children within four years. I was fortunate that Bettina learned to dance in Morocco and in class included many Moroccan stomach flips and roll movements that tightened the abdomen area. Six months later, after I landed a job at the Bagdad, I was quite adept at undulations and belly rolls. In fact, since I really didn’t know much about the music, dancing or performing, my best dance movements consisted of doing lots of belly rolls - forwards, backwards and sideways. Ultimately I learned and added dance steps and more to my belly repertoire.
With this back story, I’d like to now insert a little paragraph written by Aziza! on the creation of Bal Anat.
The Gilded Serpent presents...
The Birth of Bal Anat and Other Adventures
by Aziza!In 1968, Jamila brought to fruition a plan that had long been simmering in her mind. She was asked to do a lecture at UC San Francisco, and decided to present a chronology of the Mother Goddess and corresponding dance through the ages. She lined up a number of dancers and gave a great deal of thought to costumes, dances, etc., to go with her well-researched lecture. For instance, she made Amina a great Egyptian-looking collar and skirt out of some printed terrycloth, and wanted her to go topless to be really authentic, but Amina wouldn't go for it, so she wore a skin-colored leotard, instead. I was the finale, the modern cabaret dancer. The day before the day of the presentation, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, so we postponed our show for a couple of weeks. From this lecture/demo beginning came the famous Bal Anat…https://www.gildedserpent.com/articles14/aziza9BirthofBalAnat.htm
Aziza! was my first friend at the Bagdad and she studied with Jamila. Since Bettina, my teacher had moved to places unknown, there were only two dance teachers left in San Francisco: Jamila Salimpour and Bert “Roman” Balladine. They were both friends of Bagdad owner Yousef Knoyoumjian and so in turn they both became my friends and advisors. Since I was best known for my “belly” dancing, when Jamila was asked to present a lecture demonstration at UCSF Medical Center, she naturally asked me to be part of her presentation. I would be the mother goddess rolling my stomach ritualistically, magically, as done in a childbirth ritual.
Being a “mother goddess” was fun, but because I was working as a dancer, I was actually more caught up in learning to dance to the music than in rolling bellies and doing tricks. When my neighborhood library asked me to present a performance with my dance class, we performed in two piece costumes and danced to songs that I knew from working at the Bagdad. That was all I knew; how to be a bare bellied belly dancer showing more legs and padding bras to the extreme, ready to entertain mostly men, often drunk men, on Broadway in San Francisco. 1800’s Broadway was the same location as the infamous International Settlement, a remnant and fading memory of the raunchy gold rush days where prostitution, gambling, drugs, alcohol and being shanghaied and then later my 1900’s Broadway was still very much in the minds of the local clientele with its topless, bottomless dancers, gambling, drugs, alcohol and “no overnight visitors” posted on hotel doors.
Remembering Jamila’s presentation made me realize that group dancing didn’t have to replicate my nightclub experiences. After our standing room only library performance, I decided I wanted to show that there really was more to the Middle East that just bare bellies. I decided that I would and could do something different. I could still be a bare bellied dancing girl at the Bagdad, but my newly formed dance group The Aswan Dancers would be covered. I wrote a mission statement: The Aswan Dancers are a San Francisco based troupe dedicated to entertaining and educating the public about Middle Eastern, Arabic and Egyptian culture through music and dance. And we’ll keep our bellies covered.
In 1976 after a few trial runs I formally presented The Aswan Dancers at SF State University. We would be different. We would not only be a new dance troupe, we would also interpret Arabic music in new and innovative ways. The Aswan Dancers would be about the music, the culture and my imagination.
Amina and The Aswan Dancers perform in “Yallah” 1981 show at Latvian Hall San Francisco
1. Amal Hayati by Mohamad Abdel Wahab: Cinderella and the Magic Lantern - The Genie, Mary Ann Laverty; Spoiled stepsister, Telma Flanagan; Cinderella, Claudia Bermudez. Musicians: Mary Ellen Donald, Michael Gruber, Yoko Abe, Erena and Susu Pampanin
2. Al Qafila, The Caravan - Mohamed Abdel Wahab - Sleepy traveler, Amina Goodyear; Camel driver, Marsha/Shamira; Horse rider, Molly Bode; Cinderella, Claudia Bermudez