Fifi Abdou Queen of Egyptian Belly Dance
To the world, Egypt is viewed as the Mecca of Belly Dancing, and the modern popularity of the Egyptian Belly Dance owes much to the legendary icon Fifi Abdou. Touted as a national treasure, Fifi is considered the Queen of "Raqs Baladi" an ancient native folkloric dance that originated in Egypt.
Though Fifi's expressive technique is admired the world over, her talent was not honed by professional dance. Growing up a in a large poor family in a village outside of Cairo, Fifi watched great dancers like Tahia Carioca on television. By age 12, she had begun Belly Dancing with a local folklore troupe. Tall for her age and well developed the modelesque beauty soon began performing at weddings, nightclubs and five start hotels.
Though Fifi is an accomplished dancer, her technical skills are not the reason for her success. Instead, her charming personality, megawatt smile and her interpretative flowing style has made her the reigning queen of the Egyptian Belly Dance. At the height of her success Fifi was Belly Dancing with live orchestras to large crowds from all over the world. Her originality and use of props is also inventive. Fifi has danced with a shisha pipe (Egyptian water pipe), used finger cymbals, danced with a cane and with a veil.
Fifi's dance style is not about tons of complicated moves, but precision and execution using a high-energy style. She is admired for her smooth transitions and energetic performances. One of her signature Egyptian Belly Dance moves is her alternating shimmies that are able to travel up through her body. Her pelvic circles, hip drops, jumps and spins are also characteristic moves. Fifi's signature move is considered her twirling backbend. Her expressive facial movements, sassy energy and numerous hand gestures are also worked into her routines.
Fifi has been known to dance bare footed and her Belly Dancing costumes are legendary. The star is believed to have over 5,000 costumes and in the earlier part of her career, she would often reinvest her earnings to go toward the purchases of new costumes. Her costumes range from flashy cabaret costumes featuring exquisite detailing, fitted saidi dresses with bell sleeves and evening gowns with high heels. Fifi also made it famous to perform Belly Dancing while wearing a galabeya, a traditional white men's robe featuring wide sleeves and falling to the ankles. Those who attend her live shows can expect to see Fifi make multiple costume changes during her routine.
What truly sets Fifi apart from others in the Egyptian Belly Dance scene is her showmanship. As an all around entertainer, Fifi understands the importance of audience interaction. Often she speaks to her audience with the microphone while performing, comes up to tables to chat and gets the audience to clap her on as she performs. The acute businesswoman has parlayed her love of Belly Dancing into a sound business to become one of the richest women in Egypt.
Now in her 50s, Fifi retired from Belly Dancing in 2004, but continues to remain active. She conducts Egyptian Belly Dance workshops all around the world where eager students learn her signature moves and performs on special occasions. During the 1990s, Fifi also became a well known actress in the Arab world, performing in movies, soap operas and plays. Her Egyptian Belly Dance videos are also quite popular with students of the arts and fans. Fifi has been married five times and has three children. From humble beginnings, Fifi taught herself how to read and write and learned English to help with her career. Considered a national treasure has elevated the art of Belly Dancing and left a legacy that cannot be ignored.
For the first time ever Fifi Abdou will be in Toronto Canada for a weekend belly dance intensive workshop and show Aug 6th,7th and 8th 2010 sponsored by www.BellyUp.ca. For info email: info@bellyup.ca
Questions and Answers
Up to 70 stylish choices and new arrival being added continuously, express your inner power, beauty and feminity in our Bellyqueen!
Belly dancing originated from various sources which are why there are lots of theories about its origin. It is known world-wide and practiced by a lot of people. As far as world history is concerned, Belly Dancing is among the oldest societal dances. It is believed that it originated from the...
The Egyptian style of dance places a stronger emphasis on the finer movements of the human body and is far more conservative than Turkish dances, although they have a similarity to the Lebanese dance styles. The basic dance vocabulary of all belly dance styles is very similar, with for example hip figures of eight, shimmies and the like.
Belly dance outfits can be found in varying designs throughout the world. Some of the belly dance outfits are very plain and conservative and others are very decorative and sensual.
The ancient, sensual art of belly dancing has been a great way for women to celebrate their bodies for thousands of years. Learn more and decide whether belly dancing is right for you!
Three well known superheroes. Have you ever desired to defend the earth from all types of atrocities? Super heroes do it every day. They come to life on the big and small screens and in addition in comic books. While fictional, it's so very simple to fall under their spell when they can all perform acts of an awesome nature by using their super powers to help the terrorised and downtrodden people of planet earth.
The most difficult mission in the world is to make certain that your children are kept occupied with either after school activities or activity books for children in the home. Because of the summer break looming parents might want to have a few activity proposals up their sleeve in an effort to provide themselves with some respite from their over-active kids.
A good display of fireworks might just be what is needed to help people who are battling it out in the corporate world to relax. Fireworks have the ability to bring people together as they take in the magnificence of the moment. Fireworks can be appropriate in a host of functions; the bigger the better. Obviously the only time they can be enjoyed is during the night.
With the buy one get one free SuperEnalotto you have a better chance of winning.
If it is time to search for entertaining facilities for kids, you must take a look at the range of inflatable rentals. The little ones would love the new level of entertainment which they usually would attain only from an amusement park.
Discuss this Article
