'Tamr Henna' | Naima Akef | VINTAGE LOUNGE

This piece debuted at the Bangalore-based vintage bellydance production, "Vintage Lounge", which premiered at Alliance Francaise De Bangalore on July 19, 2019.

This piece is a tribute to Egyptian actress, dancer and singer, Naima Akef, who was not only remembered for her on-screen exuberance, but her innovative and playful dance technique and her ability to sing and dance within a performance. In this video, the dancers attempted some of Naima's signature movements, inspired by the original "Tamr Henna" performance by Naima and can also be seen playing the finger cymbals as they dance.

It has been bellydance artiste, Shruti Narayanan's passion, to revive and bring forth the styles of the yesteryear Egyptian legends to light. While change and development are inevitable in bellydance, Shruti believes in order to adapt, one should also have a basic understanding of the history and yesteryear artistes and their art, without which, there can be no basis or context to the ever-evolving styles of bellydance.

The dancers in this video are Hamsa, Sindhu, Anjum, Rhea, Pooja Rajpurohit, Pooja Shekhar and Shruti Narayanan.

Choreography - Shruti Narayanan

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Music: "Tamr Henna"