From tradition to modernity, Egyptian Oriental dance is a feminine solo in popular or classical dance, which developed in Egypt. Influenced by Muslim and Arabic art, Egyptian dance is also abstract and stylish; its language carries an ancestral and universal experience. It is very powerful and delicate and finds its roots in a very rich and creative past.

Anne Benveniste is inspired by the Egyptian dance tradition and carries it out in a more modern expression. The oriental movement lives and evolves in space, showing its real dramatic dimension. The traditional repertoire beholds all the elements of modernity allowing a new vision of this dance.
Thanks to her sense of freedom and the apparent easiness of her movements, Anne brings back to the Egyptian oriental dance its ancestral power.

Egyptian dance shares a common language with oriental music, which framework is richly embroidered. This dance shows opposite forces. It starts from the pelvis and evolves in delicate movements. The vigor of the hips accompanies the precise movements from the shoulder. The vibrations of the whole body are transformed into fluid movements.

It is a versatile dance, celebrating the body in a familiar way, talking to each of us through the whole range of emotions expressed by the music. It reflects the soul of the artist.

SHAABI

The Shaabi has two facets :
The Saïdi, comes from the south of Egypt, with heavy rhythms and a specific melody, and the Shaabi itself finds its roots in small rural villages throughout Egypt.
Shaabi is a vivid part of peasants’ life; it is rustic and proud. The center of gravity of the body is in the pelvis, showing an earthly sense of the dance.

BALADI

Baladi is an urban style with songs originating from peasants. It developed in the beginning of the century, when the economic crises forced peasants to come closer to the cities. From this exile comes a vibrant music expressing joy and pain. Between tradition and modernity, Baladi is close to the sensibility of the Egyptian soul. The pelvis is the center of heavy and fluid movements, the energy is more contained than in Shaabi. Baladi expresses an grounding sensuality full of contained, powerful and emotional forces.

SHARQI

During the Xth, XIth and XVIIIth centuries, this classical form became the dance of the court. Sharqi was very fashionable throughout the 40’s and 50’s, thanks to the Egyptian cinema artists like Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca or Naïma Akef. The Sharqi style is lyrical, with gracious arabesques of the arms and body and ample fluidity of movements.

BALADI VEIL
(USED WITH POPULAR MUSIC)

The dancer wears the Baladi veil on the head; this veil completes the traditional popular outfit. It is the subtle expression of the bust and face and beautifully reinforces the emotions of the melody and the voice.
It requires a constant flexibility of the pelvis; the dancer delicately holds the side of the veil as a continuation of her body.
The Baladi veil underlines the shapes of the body with beautiful curves and diagonal lines. It amplifies the dancer’s movements, enveloping her in a halo, thus bringing the audience closer to the story.

SHARQI VEIL
(USED WITH CLASSICAL MUSICS)

The dancer holds the Sharqi veil at the end of her extended arms; the veil floats behind her back like the sail of a boat. This makes the movement lyrical and elegant. Thanks to the powerful Ney flute, the veil is in harmony with the aerial and mystical Sharqi music.
The work of the veil requires strength from the center of the body, which is solidly anchored to the floor and the arms are like the wings of the back. The dancer sculpts the space with volumes and figures, seducing the imagination and inviting the audience to dreaming.

Anne has an extensive knowledge of the traditional middle-eastern repertoire; she encourages her students to pay close attention to the music. She teaches the emotional content of the music so that the student may improvise: improvisation is the key of Egyptian dance. Each student experiences the dance her own way while developing her own creativity.

Anne's pedagogy is nourished by her own dancing experience and by her desire to pass her knowledge onto the students. Her technique allows the student to immerse herself in the music. The music, in return, allows the student to intuitively understand the movement, just by following the rhythm.

The student is invited to follow the professor's movements through a mirror; the body is freed from the mind, considered as a whole; the movement is not isolated. When the body is free, hips, legs and shoulders follow intuitively the rhythm: no need to understand the movement mechanism.

Students stimulate each other. There is no competition between them. Beginners enjoy the kind atmosphere of the group and benefit from the more experienced.

We encourage small groups of students to work together: choreographies become stimulating and richer. They bring an individual dimension to the Egyptian dance.