With a heart for dance and a soul for art, Badia Masabani pioneered modern belly dance in Egypt. In the throes of 1920s Cairo, the dancehalls and stages saw Masabani, the actress, singer, and dancer known as the ‘godmother’ of oriental dance.Masabani was born in Syria in 1894, but moved to cosmopolitan Cairo in the first years of the 1900s. The buzzing capital opened its arms to Masabani, enabling her to act, sing, dance, and hone several instruments. In 1926, Masabani opened her famous Casino Badia on Emad el-Din Street, where she pioneered theatrical dance tools such as group choreography, movement-extending props, the deliberate use of space on stage, and many more elements of modern entertainment. Masbani’s sala, which is translated from the Italian word for “room” to describe performance halls, offered an array of entertainment like singing, dancing, and occasionally comedic bits and magic acts. She modeled it after European cabarets in order to attract both upper-class Egyptians and European audiences visiting Egypt. “She hired famous singers and the most eminent musicians to perform, and she sang the most enchanting songs to beautiful tunes, as well as taqtuqas from…
