COPYRIGHT 2005
Famous Egyptian pop singers often do shows in the summer at the
big 5-star hotels. Although most American and European tourists
rarely go to Egypt in summer because of the heat, Cairo is filled with
Arab tourists from different Gulf countries who are avoiding a
summer’s heat that’s even more extreme than Cairo’s. To
accommodate the Arabs, the belly dance clubs open and the famous
singers do “parties”. A party is what we would call a concert. It is a
giant event held in a huge auditorium to accommodate the masses or
big 5-star hotels. Although most American and European tourists
rarely go to Egypt in summer because of the heat, Cairo is filled with
Arab tourists from different Gulf countries who are avoiding a
summer’s heat that’s even more extreme than Cairo’s. To
accommodate the Arabs, the belly dance clubs open and the famous
singers do “parties”. A party is what we would call a concert. It is a
giant event held in a huge auditorium to accommodate the masses or
| Camelia of Egypt by Cheri Berens |
a smaller one held in the larger nightclubs at the big hotels to accommodate the more elite.
During summer I go around to all the major 5-star hotels in Cairo to see where my favorite singers are
performing. This time as I did my rounds, I noticed that Camelia, who is considered to be the top dancer in
Egypt at the moment, was dancing at the Marriott in Zamelek three nights a week and at the Grand Hyatt in
Garden City three nights a week. At the Grand Hyatt she was also performing on their private cruise boat for an
early dinner show seven nights a week.
Normally I don’t like dinner cruise boats, the buffet food is mundane, the opening band is always boring, the
dancer’s band is usually small and not very stimulating, and the dancer is always a disappointment. But this
was the Grand Hyatt, and if you’ve ever seen their new improved hotel on the Nile (connected to the old
Meridian), you would be impressed with the hotel’s offerings. They offer several 5-star ethnic restaurants plus
a revolving roof top French restaurant that turns 360 degrees in an hour and 15 minutes. It has the most
spectacular view of all of Cairo. Their cruise boat doesn’t limit itself to the regular dinner show. It also has an
evening sunset cruise before the dinner show and after the show, an all night Egyptian disco cruise.
I decided to take the dinner cruise. It was $30 for a dinner show. Alcoholic drinks were extra. A typical
nightclub usually starts at $50, but my experience at the better nightclubs is that they usually cost a lot more—
up to $150. So this was a bargain, especially considering I was going to see Camelia.
As expected, the first show and dinner were uninteresting, but when I heard Camelia’s band tune up behind the
curtain while we were having dinner, I could tell Camelia’s show would be a good one. I was hearing a very
exciting version of Lesa Feker, complete with heavy tabla accents. I was quite moved, so much so, that my
hips were twitching in my seat.
I had seen Camelia dance twice before. She is very fast, but hits every beat and nuance. Most Egyptian
dancers on the cruise boats do the slower style with frequent pauses to interact with audience members.
There are lots of gaps in actual dancing. Camelia is dynamic, and although rarely gets near an audience
member in her 5-star hotel dancing, she interacts with the audience from a distance. Some dancers interact too
much and you don’t see much dancing. I prefer interaction in a way that doesn’t take away from performing.
Camelia’s style is Egyptian in movement, but more continuous. She is fast, but she still incorporates the slow
and medium tempo movements when appropriate. She never bogs down a performance.
The last time I had seen Camelia was in March of 2003. She was young and I didn’t expect her to change much,
so when she entered to do her first number on the cruise, I was surprised to see a more mature looking
Camelia. She had been incredibly thin before, now she was more Egyptian-like in body style and her face had
rounded out. To me she looked better this way. She looked too Western when she was thin. The beauty of the
Egyptian body is that it is womanly and soft, with rounded curves. There are no hard bodies with defined
muscles here in Egypt. Yet, this is not to say Camelia was out of shape. Camelia’s dancing was more of a
workout than anything I had ever seen. She had to have rehearsed her show for months to be in shape for her
fast, hit-every-beat dance style.
Camelia never stops. In fact, I found it hard to take a clear picture. Most of my pictures came out a blur. But
her fastness is not a negative thing. She is choreographed perfectly and her movements are clear and defined
and 100% Egyptian. She had graceful arm movements, at all the distinctly perfect Egyptian angles and
positions. Her hip accents were powerful, yet not obscene. Her shimmies were isolated and emotional, and
her pelvic pop accents were not overused. Her dance movements were varied, but with enough repetition to
make the audience see and remember what she was doing so that her movements made an impression. She
used her eyes frequently to show excitement and occasionally did small head slides.
Like Lucie and Dina, the most famous dancers of the last ten years, Camelia causes gossip in the Egyptian
tabloids because of her costuming. Lucie was famous for her outlandishness and Dina was famous for
costumes focused on sex. Some of Dina’s costumes looked like they would fall off, the bra top barely hanging
on her breasts. Egyptians did not like Dina because they felt that she focused on sex instead of good dancing.
Most of Camelia’s costumes are traditional and tasteful, but she often includes one costume that is innovatively
modern or slightly shocking.
Camelia opened to the famous Um Kolsoum song Alf Leyla weh Leyla (composed by Mohammad Abdel
Wahab). She wore a black A-frame skirt with enormous sequined roses across the hem and around the hip of
the skirt. The ones across the hip made a ‘belt-like’ look to accent the hip movements. The bra top was black
with a large rose on one bra cup. It was elegant and sophisticated.
Camelia’s second performance was to the song I had heard the band tuning up to, the classic Kolsoum and
Wahab number, Lesa Feker. She wore a leopard bandeau bra top with a leopard bikini pant bottom. A
transparent rectangular scarf-like white cloth with leopard spots was wrapped around her hips at an angle. The
angle created an off-the-hip look that showed one side of the bikini underneath. The rectangular cloth was skirt
length, above the knee. Basically it looked like a sophisticated two-piece bikini bathing suit covered with a see
through hip wrap.
The beauty of this costume, and the most entertaining part, was that she entered and started the performance
wearing a black non-transparent cloth draped in a way that made her look like a Saudi Arabian woman in full veil.
Only her eyes showed. It completely hid the daring costume underneath. When she removed the black Saudi-
style covering, she used it as a prop, holding it in positions while she posed. But she did use it for some
twirling as we do in the west with our veils, but not much. Camelia mostly used the cloth as an accent while
she leaned back and did Egyptian beledi style hip swings and one-sided hip drops.
In this second performance the music segued into a Kaleegi number in which Camelia did some Saudi steps.
She used her hair as the Saudi Arabian women do, bending her body at the waist and swinging her hair in large
half circles and full circles.
Camelia’s last performance was to exhilarating Egyptian beledi music. She entered playing the zils and
wearing a basic white two-piece costume complete with candelabra on her head. She danced the candelabra
dance and then did a basic cane dance. She did some wonderful big Egyptian hip circles—bending deep at the
waist—and using her hair to accentuate the drama of it. She interacted briefly with a couple that were at their
wedding party and then ended the show with more Egyptian movements and a good spin.
Camelia put on a perfect show. It was tasteful and polished. If you ever come to Egypt it is worth seeking her
out. She has an excellent reputation without any bad gossip or scandals like the one that Dina was involved in
which resulted in her exile from Egypt and ultimate tour to America.
Camelia’s good reputation will assist her in continuing to play the 5-star hotels and she should not be hard to
find. She is now a mature dancer, and in Egypt, maturity also keeps a dancer popular. Most importantly, you
will not be disappointed in Camelia’s dancing. Her dancing is powerful and professional and very entertaining.
And you will definitely go home breathless from watching her incredible energy and pace.
During summer I go around to all the major 5-star hotels in Cairo to see where my favorite singers are
performing. This time as I did my rounds, I noticed that Camelia, who is considered to be the top dancer in
Egypt at the moment, was dancing at the Marriott in Zamelek three nights a week and at the Grand Hyatt in
Garden City three nights a week. At the Grand Hyatt she was also performing on their private cruise boat for an
early dinner show seven nights a week.
Normally I don’t like dinner cruise boats, the buffet food is mundane, the opening band is always boring, the
dancer’s band is usually small and not very stimulating, and the dancer is always a disappointment. But this
was the Grand Hyatt, and if you’ve ever seen their new improved hotel on the Nile (connected to the old
Meridian), you would be impressed with the hotel’s offerings. They offer several 5-star ethnic restaurants plus
a revolving roof top French restaurant that turns 360 degrees in an hour and 15 minutes. It has the most
spectacular view of all of Cairo. Their cruise boat doesn’t limit itself to the regular dinner show. It also has an
evening sunset cruise before the dinner show and after the show, an all night Egyptian disco cruise.
I decided to take the dinner cruise. It was $30 for a dinner show. Alcoholic drinks were extra. A typical
nightclub usually starts at $50, but my experience at the better nightclubs is that they usually cost a lot more—
up to $150. So this was a bargain, especially considering I was going to see Camelia.
As expected, the first show and dinner were uninteresting, but when I heard Camelia’s band tune up behind the
curtain while we were having dinner, I could tell Camelia’s show would be a good one. I was hearing a very
exciting version of Lesa Feker, complete with heavy tabla accents. I was quite moved, so much so, that my
hips were twitching in my seat.
I had seen Camelia dance twice before. She is very fast, but hits every beat and nuance. Most Egyptian
dancers on the cruise boats do the slower style with frequent pauses to interact with audience members.
There are lots of gaps in actual dancing. Camelia is dynamic, and although rarely gets near an audience
member in her 5-star hotel dancing, she interacts with the audience from a distance. Some dancers interact too
much and you don’t see much dancing. I prefer interaction in a way that doesn’t take away from performing.
Camelia’s style is Egyptian in movement, but more continuous. She is fast, but she still incorporates the slow
and medium tempo movements when appropriate. She never bogs down a performance.
The last time I had seen Camelia was in March of 2003. She was young and I didn’t expect her to change much,
so when she entered to do her first number on the cruise, I was surprised to see a more mature looking
Camelia. She had been incredibly thin before, now she was more Egyptian-like in body style and her face had
rounded out. To me she looked better this way. She looked too Western when she was thin. The beauty of the
Egyptian body is that it is womanly and soft, with rounded curves. There are no hard bodies with defined
muscles here in Egypt. Yet, this is not to say Camelia was out of shape. Camelia’s dancing was more of a
workout than anything I had ever seen. She had to have rehearsed her show for months to be in shape for her
fast, hit-every-beat dance style.
Camelia never stops. In fact, I found it hard to take a clear picture. Most of my pictures came out a blur. But
her fastness is not a negative thing. She is choreographed perfectly and her movements are clear and defined
and 100% Egyptian. She had graceful arm movements, at all the distinctly perfect Egyptian angles and
positions. Her hip accents were powerful, yet not obscene. Her shimmies were isolated and emotional, and
her pelvic pop accents were not overused. Her dance movements were varied, but with enough repetition to
make the audience see and remember what she was doing so that her movements made an impression. She
used her eyes frequently to show excitement and occasionally did small head slides.
Like Lucie and Dina, the most famous dancers of the last ten years, Camelia causes gossip in the Egyptian
tabloids because of her costuming. Lucie was famous for her outlandishness and Dina was famous for
costumes focused on sex. Some of Dina’s costumes looked like they would fall off, the bra top barely hanging
on her breasts. Egyptians did not like Dina because they felt that she focused on sex instead of good dancing.
Most of Camelia’s costumes are traditional and tasteful, but she often includes one costume that is innovatively
modern or slightly shocking.
Camelia opened to the famous Um Kolsoum song Alf Leyla weh Leyla (composed by Mohammad Abdel
Wahab). She wore a black A-frame skirt with enormous sequined roses across the hem and around the hip of
the skirt. The ones across the hip made a ‘belt-like’ look to accent the hip movements. The bra top was black
with a large rose on one bra cup. It was elegant and sophisticated.
Camelia’s second performance was to the song I had heard the band tuning up to, the classic Kolsoum and
Wahab number, Lesa Feker. She wore a leopard bandeau bra top with a leopard bikini pant bottom. A
transparent rectangular scarf-like white cloth with leopard spots was wrapped around her hips at an angle. The
angle created an off-the-hip look that showed one side of the bikini underneath. The rectangular cloth was skirt
length, above the knee. Basically it looked like a sophisticated two-piece bikini bathing suit covered with a see
through hip wrap.
The beauty of this costume, and the most entertaining part, was that she entered and started the performance
wearing a black non-transparent cloth draped in a way that made her look like a Saudi Arabian woman in full veil.
Only her eyes showed. It completely hid the daring costume underneath. When she removed the black Saudi-
style covering, she used it as a prop, holding it in positions while she posed. But she did use it for some
twirling as we do in the west with our veils, but not much. Camelia mostly used the cloth as an accent while
she leaned back and did Egyptian beledi style hip swings and one-sided hip drops.
In this second performance the music segued into a Kaleegi number in which Camelia did some Saudi steps.
She used her hair as the Saudi Arabian women do, bending her body at the waist and swinging her hair in large
half circles and full circles.
Camelia’s last performance was to exhilarating Egyptian beledi music. She entered playing the zils and
wearing a basic white two-piece costume complete with candelabra on her head. She danced the candelabra
dance and then did a basic cane dance. She did some wonderful big Egyptian hip circles—bending deep at the
waist—and using her hair to accentuate the drama of it. She interacted briefly with a couple that were at their
wedding party and then ended the show with more Egyptian movements and a good spin.
Camelia put on a perfect show. It was tasteful and polished. If you ever come to Egypt it is worth seeking her
out. She has an excellent reputation without any bad gossip or scandals like the one that Dina was involved in
which resulted in her exile from Egypt and ultimate tour to America.
Camelia’s good reputation will assist her in continuing to play the 5-star hotels and she should not be hard to
find. She is now a mature dancer, and in Egypt, maturity also keeps a dancer popular. Most importantly, you
will not be disappointed in Camelia’s dancing. Her dancing is powerful and professional and very entertaining.
And you will definitely go home breathless from watching her incredible energy and pace.
