Soheir zaki biography channel

  • Mohamed emara

    • Ah.. SOHEIR ZAKI – The sweetness of Belly Dance..

    Who is Soheir Zaki?

    Soheir Zaki (Arabic: سهير زكي is an Egyptian belly dancer and actress. She appeared in over 100 Egyptian films from the 1960s to the 1980s.

    SOHEIR ZAKI was born in Mansoura, Egypt on January 4, 1945. When she was nine, her parents moved the family to Alexandria.

    She began her career as a wedding dancer in Alexandria. Television producer Mohammed Salem saw her dancing and decided to launch her as a TV presenter on Egyptian television. However, she showed more skill as a dancer and became known for her appearances on shows like Adwoua El-Madina. She then moved to appearing in Egyptian films.

    She played minor roles in most of her films, concentrating mainly on dancing. She also performed frequently in Egyptian nightclubs, particularly at the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo. In 1964, she became to first belly dancer to dance to Umm Kulthum‘s music when she danced to “Inta Omri“.

    She retired in 1992, although she later taught belly dance at Raqia Hassan’s Egyptian Academy of Oriental Dance in Cairo.

    (Source: Wikipedia)

    Scroll on below for more Suheir Zaki geekery… and tons of videos 🙂 

    OK, Let’s see her DANCE!

    Go to 2:04 to see her famous ‘Soheir Zaki Hips‘ movement (still taught in belly dance classes today!)

    (If the video doesn’t play, try tapping here)

    BONUS GEEKERY – About Soheir Zaki:

    For the Time Travel/Online Class Lovers:

    Soheir Zaki happens to be the first (but not the only!) muse for Season 2 of my online ‘Time Traveling with the Stars‘ BOOST Feel-good Program ☺️

    Each BOOST Season is an 8-Week series where we focus on the moves and attitude of my fav stars of that era 💫😎✨

    Our Themes for #BOOST2024 are:

    ⭐️ Season 1: Favs of the 40ies/50ies (winter)
    ⭐️ Season 2: Stars of the 60ies/70ies (spring) -> we are here! 🤓
    ⭐️ Season 3: Legends of the 80ies/90ies (summer)

      Soheir zaki biography channel


  • Naima akef

    • Interview with Soheir Zaki

    We are very glad to present a translation of an interview with Soheir Zaki. The interview comes from Al Kawakeb Magazine (February 6th, 1990), and Morjana kindly provided it. The interview goes about the spread of Raqs Sharqi to other parts of the world and its evolution during 1980'.

    by Mary Ghadban

    "This was what critics and journalists in Europe, the USA and the world wrote about me in a book about dance… [This book] has chapters about me, and it was published in Germany… I was on the cover page of the American magazine “Arabesque” which teaches and analyses dance around the world… In Japan, one of the daily newspapers also published pages on me… The famous Newsweek magazine published an article on belly dance (“al-raqs al-sharqi”) through my performances…"

    This was how Soheir [Zaki] illustrated herself in words before our interview...

    It is for sure that “dance” (“al-raqs”) is not belly shaking (“hezz batn”) anymore... It has started to have its own rules and schools where dancers learn the right moves, styles and what is new in this field. Soheir Zaki is one of the “dancers” (“al-raqisat”) who have their own huge impact and influence in developing belly dance and bringing it to regulated styles and ways, and when I met her, she confirmed this fact and said:

    A new development has happened for sure, in both the shape and content [of the dance], and I had a role in this development process as I mixed the performing art (“esteradi”) and belly dance (“raqs sharqi”). This is what critics admired in the European newspapers and said that I was the only one who could do this mix in a style that kept the oriental flavour and wasn’t far from it.

    I asked her: Through your various European tours, to what extent the westerners accepted belly dance and how did they look at it; do they consider it one of the fine arts as we look at “ballet”?

    There are those who received it in a nice way, and I r

    Soheir Zaki

    Egyptian belly dancer and actress (born 1945)

    Soheir Zaki

    Soheir Zaki performing

    Born

    Suheir Zaki Abdullah


    (1945-01-04) January 4, 1945 (age 80)

    Mansoura, Egypt

    Occupation(s)Dancer, actress
    Years active1960–1992
    SpouseMohamed Emara
    Children1

    Soheir Zaki (Arabic: سهير زكي, born in Mansoura, Egypt on January 4, 1945) is an Egyptian belly dancer and actress. She appeared in over 100 Egyptian films from the 1960s to the 1980s.

    Early life

    Soheir Zaki was born in Mansoura, Egypt on January 4, 1945. When she was nine, her parents moved the family to Alexandria. Her father died when she was young and her mother remarried. Her stepfather later became her manager. Zaki first learned how to dance by watching films featuring Taheyya Kariokka and Samia Gamal.

    Career

    She began her career as a wedding dancer in Alexandria. Television producer Mohammed Salem saw her dancing and decided to launch her as a TV presenter on Egyptian television. However, she showed more skill as a dancer and became known for her appearances on shows like Adwoua El-Madina. She then moved to appearing in Egyptian films. She played minor roles in most of her films, concentrating mainly on dancing. In interviews, she has stated that Nagua Fouad was her "biggest rival" at the time.

    Zaki also performed frequently in Egyptian nightclubs, particularly at the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo. In 1964, she became to first belly dancer to dance to Umm Kulthum's music when she danced to "Inta Omri".

    Over the course of her career, Zaki danced for many politicians, including Anwar Sadat, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Richard Nixon. She retired in 1992, although she later taught belly dance at Raqia Hassan's Egyptian Academy of Oriental Dance in Cairo.

    Personal life

    She was married to Egyptian cinematographer Mohamed Emara. She gave birth to their son Hamada in 198

    Soheir Zaki – The ‘Truly Oriental’ Performer (5.5.2)

    (Continuing the section on Raqs Sharqi in Egyptian Cinema and TV (1970s and Early 1980s)

    Soheir Zaki’s Background

    Soheir Zaki (سهير زكي), Nearing (2012a) and Sullivan (2002) report, was born in Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, and moved to Alexandria with her family when she was nine.

    During her career, Soheir Zaki performed for famous people and heads of state, including President Nixon. Sullivan (2002, para. 1) reports that ‘President Nixon named her “Zagreeta,” when he learned that the word referred to an expression of joy. She received accolades and medals from the Shah of Iran, the Tunisian President, and Gamal Abdel Nasser’.

    Soheir Zaki, as opposed to what happened to most Raqs sharqi dancers, even when Raqs sharqi was at its peak in Egypt, was perceived as respectable by the public.

    According to Evanoff (2012, para. 6), ‘Souheir Zaki is one of the few Egyptian dancers in history who is referred to as a lady or “mokhtarrama,” meaning respectable’.

    Soheir Zaki’s Dancing Style

    This may be due to Soheir Zaki’s dancing style and attitude on stage as ‘she seems to float in and through the music, queenly, unperturbed.

    She soothes the eye rather than exciting the senses’ (Nearing, 2012a, paras 8, 9).

    Or it could be due to her private life as she married only once (unlike most Raqs sharqi dancers who married several times) and carried a quiet private life ‘with a good reputation to preserve’ (Marlyz, 2010, para. 4).

    This aura of respectability could be due to Soheir Zaki’s personality but it may also be a conscious decision to create a presentation of self-identity, in order to position herself in the field and create her own image and niche.

    In 5.5.4, I will analyze Soheir Zaki’s style in more detail using the sociological theories from my conceptual framework, while comparing her to the other dancers from the same timeframe.

    Her Early Career and Dancing

    Soheir Zaki was danc