The roots of oriental dance, (Egyptian dance) are obscure. Some place it back to ancient times, at pharaoh’s era, as a way to pay a tribute to fertility and maternity. For others, it only appeared during the 18th century (as reported by literary chronicles) as an entertainment, a sensuous dance, expressing foolish things such as love and partying. Oriental dance has become, all along the last century, more and more modern, and more and more technically difficult.

We know very little about Ibrahim Akef, Cairo’s mythical figure of the last fifty years oriental dance. Born on the 28th of June 1928, Akef started as an acrobat at the family circus. When it closed, he began dancing with his cousine, the famous actress and dancer Naïma Akef, and worked as a choreographer in cabarets and for movies. Akef became a master, and rejuvenated oriental dance, shaping it into a specific dance, with its own technique, its own musical style, emotion and interpretation. Akef successfully overtransmitted these qualities to many dancers of the next generation. Some of them became great dancers like Naïma Akef, Fifi Abdou, Dina and Nabila Abet.

Juliette met Ibrahim in July 1999 in Cairo. At the time, he was giving lessons in a second class cabaret, called « Le Palmira » on a stage on which, at night, dancers worked in their turn.Ibrahim was 70 years old. From all around the world, dancers came to Cairo to learn his choreographies. The old man tried to teach his pupils some repertory’s pieces of which he was the single custodian during private lessons. This meeting has been essential for Juliette, and, between the master and the pupil, complicity soon started growing. Thanks to him, she understands more deeply what dancing means. He devoted himself to dance but never gave his approval to « orientalomania ». Juliette often went to Cairo in order to study with him until July 2004, when she found, Ibrahim Akef confined to bed and weakened. They agreed to start again the private lessons during her next stay but their story has been different.

Ibrahim Akef died on the 9th march 2006 ; the very day we created the work in progress version of the show. His death, his teaching’s end, mean an important part of dance’s memory is threatened. It raises fundamental questions about transmission, and, fundamentally, the authenticity of this dance.It’s as an occidental woman who pratices oriental dance and as a Ibrahim Akef’s teaching’s custodian that Juliette proposes to pay a tribute to Ibrahim Akef, a man who has remained in the background, too often forgotten by his own pupils who omit to acknowledge him when they perform his choreographies. This homage is possible thanks to very rare videos which show him dancing and teaching his art.

Our goal is to pay tribute to oriental Dancing at a time when it has become fashionable. We want to break the streotype which aims at reducing oriental dancing to simple belly dancing, where only a few hip movement s would allow a professional practice.