Thanks to Taly HANAFY, oriental dancer, teacher and choreographer, for her fascinating and in-depth answers to our interview.

How did dance, and especially Bellydance, enter into your life? What is your artistic journey and career's highlights from yesterday to today?

Dance has always been a part of me. As far as I can remember, I have constantly danced and created choreographies. From the age of 5-6, I was already performing with great pleasure in front of my mirror while wearing a princess' dress. The slightest sound makes me move. Music is like an irresistible force to which I can only surrender. Sometimes, even though I don't like a song, my body can move on its own to the tempo without my mind agreeing!
I encountered oriental dance at the age of 14 thanks to the artistic workshop offered in my middle school by my assistant principal: Babeth (now a teacher in the Mayeba association). She was herself Ottilie Eucher's student. I continued my initiation with Najet Rejichi then I attended workshops with many Bellydance teachers, the main ones being Djamila Henni Chebra and Randa Kamel. I take this opportunity to thank them all for what they gave me and passed on with so much generosity.
All the encounters that I have been able to make in my journey as a dancer, teacher and choreographer in the learning phase have been of great help in advancing in my career and leading me to live from my passion. They guided me little by little on the way to realize this "crazy" idea of living from dance, a dream that I did not even dare to consider at the time of the Bac when we were asked to make a course choice.
I started teaching in 2003, I've organized trips in Egypt for Bellydance's fans since 2008, I co-organized an oriental dance festival in 2013 with Semsemah (Eshtah Ya Eshta) and created different shows mixing amateurs with professional artists "Ôde aux déesses mères" (2010), "Kesset El Sahara" (2012), "Dayret El Hayah" (2014), "Héroïnes" (2016).
The major meeting of my life was of course the one with my husband, the artist Kareem GaD.
A real genius in the matter… yes, yes! And I am perfectly objective… ;-) His cultural knowledge as well as his multiple talents have brought and influenced me a lot.
Together, we created the Compagnie Bell’Masry with 2 poles : teaching and performing. Our goal is to pass on Bellydance and share the living Egyptian arts. And we are happy to position ourselves as specialists in these fields with the creation of "Ramy and Julietta, lovers of Cairo", which we presented at the Bobino theater in 2015.
I like to offer complete shows that bring together different artistic families around the oriental theme: fire-eater, sword fighters, fire dancer, snake charmer, stilt walkers... Nothing excites me more than having a budget to create dreams. What I like is to think about the project of this type's overall design: the subject, lights, costumes, staging, choreographies, casting of artists...
Lately, we premiered our new show "Féérie des 1001 nuits" at Grande Synthe in northern France in October 2022 with a line-up of artists that included dancers, musicians and even stuntmen.
In 2020, I created a program of 30-hour online Bellydance classes, recorded and edited, with many themes, theoretical lessons and cultural knowledge included. It took me a lot of time. For example, the topic on the Ghawazi took more than 1 month of work alone.
Today, I still teach Bellydance while managing the Atelier Compagnie Bell’Masry, an amateur group dedicated to my most motivated student dancers and which can be a springboard to our company made up of professional oriental dancers.

For you, what's interesting in merging salsa with Bellydance to create the original fusion "oriental salsa"?

Fusion has always existed. Since the dawn of time, man has loved discovering and sharing arts. In the 1940s - 70s in Egypt, there were beautiful musical fusions with Latin instruments. Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, Ahmed Fouad Hassan left us some extraordinary musical pieces. Taheya Carioca takes her artist name from the fact that she was famous for perfectly executing a Latin step.
For my part, this desire came to me because I practiced salsa intensely in parallel with oriental dance for 10 years. Of course, I ended up merging these two styles because quite naturally, when I went out to salsa parties, these dances got mixed up in my body.
On the creative side, as pieces combining the two styles exist, I then let my instinct do the talking and then choreograph. These styles blend perfectly because of the rhythm and femininity's predominance and the importance of the pelvis. There are also similar movements such as the shoulder shimmy.
But there is no more interest in this fusion than in another. Fusion is always interesting whatever it is, as long as it is done with sincerity and the momentum comes from the guts. Everyone is free to express themselves, the most important thing is to know the codes, history, and to master what you want to merge.
In class, the fusion brings diversity and enriches the students' technique.

What are the peculiarities and characteristics of Bellydance and Salsa? What result does oriental salsa bring?

Oriental dance is mainly characterized by the extreme richness of its pelvic moves. As for salsa, it is primarily based on footwork.
Therefore with the fusion of both dances you can mix the legs and the pelvis. Also, the energy is different in these two disciplines: Oriental is sweeter and smoother while salsa has more zest and is bubblier. I love playing with the contrast between these dances. It's one of the loveliest sensations in the pleasure of dancing: getting drunk on the energies and having fun with them.

What is the perfect dance costume and type of music suitable to practice oriental salsa? Can you give us some examples of titles?

First of all it depends on whether the creation is just artistic or if it is intended to be used in a competition. If it is only a creation, all directions are good to take from the moment the intention has been reflected on and the artist knows where she/he is going. The audience will like it or not, but the artist will be able to defend her/his point of view.
In a dance competition, there are specific expectations. Therefore you have to fit into boxes to be rated. Recently, I attended a competition where I saw fusion candidates presenting creations where the fusion was not legible, neither choreographically nor musically, and who then missed out on the exercise.
For the costume, currently there is a fashion for a short fringed costume that would almost pass more for a salsa costume than for an oriental costume... So it fits perfectly within the framework of an oriental salsa fusion. And if you usually do footwork, it is also a good idea to have an outfit open on the legs.
For the music, as I said above, there are old Latin influenced pieces like "Hayaty" by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, or in the modern "Baladi" by Hanine Y Son Cubano. Both are superb and successful musical fusions.

What do you particularly like about Bellydance?

What I found and was attracted to in oriental dance was the warmth, the festive sharing and extreme femininity... 3 aspects that we find in salsa.
When I was young, I found contemporary dance lessons too cold. As soon as I started bellydancing, I liked being able to move my pelvis in a sensual way. Oriental dance is one of the most feminine dances there are, and the ultra feminine is a notion that I have always liked to explore.

What are your influences and where do you get your incredible creativity from?

First, thanks for the compliment!
In my youth, I practiced several types of dance and artistic physical activities such as figure skating, Rhythmic Gymnastics, traditional gymnastics, synchronized swimming, but also hands-on creative activities (pottery, drawing, painting on silk, sewing, embroidery, graffiti). My parents weren't artists, but they opened all the possible doors of exploration so I could blossom and discover the world (thanks to them). So I was always close to arts. In 2004, I attended a school of fine arts to become a teacher. But dance being more powerful than anything, I gave up this job to devote myself fully to it.
This past has fed my imagination and thus sharpened a talent for visual creation that I've had in me.
I am absolutely inspired by everything I see in life, I am very contemplative… I particularly like going to see shows and exhibitions.
When I create a Bellydance scene, either I start with music that I liked, or a concept, a visual, and everything else follows. Then, I like working with my dancers. They are like my paintbrushes that animate a blank canvas and sublimate it. And when we reach a moment of grace, I have like a "visual orgasm"! (laughs)
When I start creating, given that I am a perfectionist, I collect images, references, gather information and multiply the sources, all this to deepen and enrich my topic, my project.
For example, when I created my Golden Era scene, I immersed myself both in the fantasy of the Orient as seen by the West from the 19th century to the 1960s (especially Orientalist paintings) as well as in Egyptian cinema from the golden age and its stars, my favorites being Naemet Mokthar, Kitty Futsaty, Samia Gamal, Nabaweya Mustafa. I also watched videos from that time to find the essence, the real steps.
I completely immersed myself in this world. And I liked it so much, that after doing a Golden Era choreography and a photo shoot on this theme, this year we shot a video.

I thank your Bellydance store for this interview and wish all your readers a good dance!

Check out the incredible Taly and the Compagnie Bell'Masry in this stunning original video: