Mohamed El Hosseny joined the famous Egyptian Reda Troupe in 1992. During his career as a dancer, he performed all solo parts also with Mahmoud Reda's private dance company, among them the male solo in the Rubabikiya operette in 1999. Besides Egyptian folk dances, Hosseny studied also ballet and performed with the ballerina Diana Calenti for several years. Also featuring in many TV-shows, he got to be known to the Egyptian audience as the #1 male dancer of Egypt!
Mohamed El Hosseny teaches weekly classes in Helsinki and gives workshops in other locations in Finland as well as other countries (see Events). He has taught in many festivals, among them Yalla! Festival of Oriental Dance in Helsinki and Ahlan wa sahlan festival in Cairo. Teaching is for Hosseny a vocation. His students know him as a demanding and minutious, yet encouraging and friendly teacher, who plans his classes carefully and is able to take care of each student. No student is left alone with the steps and combinations, Hosseny explains patiently and friendly, speaking clear English, making sure that everybody gets to enjoy dancing. In his classes the students don't only learn a choreography, but get a solid basis of technique as well as many useful advises for developing their own dance.
Hosseny's repertoire includes both different Egyptian folkloric styles and traditional as well as modern Oriental dance. He masters all commonly known Egyptian folk dances, from Saidi to Alexandrian, Nubian to Fellahi, and naturally Simsimiyya, which is in his blood as he has danced it since his childhood in his hometown Suez.
Ballet training of many years has given him power, body control and dancing technique on which he builds his charismatic stage expression, and also his systematic way of teaching classes. A strong eager in developing himself as a teacher as well as a choreographer can be seen in his oriental, baladi and fusion dances, where his own special style consists of always suitable combinations of emotionality, lightness and drama. Hosseny is the director of El Hosseny Dance Company, founded in 2005.
ARTICLE
Northern California Chronicle
Mohamed El Hosseny Dazzles Audiences on Premier American Tour
By Elaine Pasquini
On his first U.S. visit, Egyptian dancer Mohamed El Hosseny teaches students at San Francisco’s Mission Dance Theatre. Staff photo P. Pasquini
Following the moves of master choreographer Mohamed El Hosseny, students of Middle Eastern dance gyrated to the beat of folk music from the Suez at San Francisco’s Mission Dance Theatre on July 19. Possessing a personality as dynamic as his original choreography, the Egyptian-born dancer directed his class of 12 women and one man twisting and spiraling around the wooden-floored studio during his five-hour workshop organized by Zsuzsi, a dancer, music student and the founder of Santa Cruz-based Mediterraneo Productions.
Renowned Middle Eastern master dance instructor Nourhan Sharif sponsored El Hosseny’s U.S. tour. He was a featured instructor in Sharif’s 12th annual Intensive Egyptian Workshop in New York City July 24 through 26. El Hosseny also traveled to Kalamazoo, MI, Miami, FL and Washington, DC to teach and perform Egyptian folkloric styles, including his trademark Simsimiyya, the signature dance form of his hometown, Suez, where he was born in 1973 and began his dance career at age 13.
In 1992, El Hosseny joined the celebrated Reda Troupe in Cairo. He performed solo roles with the company, including the male lead in the operetta “Rubabiki.” Eager to expand his training and repertoire, he studied and performed ballet with Diana Calenti.
Since 2005 the dancer has been based in Helsinki, Finland, where he is the director of El Hosseny Dance School and Company. Along with instructor Tuija Rinne, he teaches weekly classes in Oriental dance technique, expression, and interpreting rhythms. “Besides dance,” he told the Washington Report, “my students learn a great deal about Arab music, rhythms and the cultural background of the dance.”
As a farewell to his new friends and students in San Francisco, El Hosseny gave an impromptu performance to the accompaniment of the Georges Lammam Ensemble at Pena Pachamama restaurant before heading east to participate in Nourhan Sharif’s dance workshop at New York City’s Ripley-Grier Studios. In addition to teaching folklore, Baladi and Simsimiyya technique, El Hosseny teamed with master percussionist Karim Nagi to introduce rhythms and maqams—a system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music—in order to increase students’ understanding of Egyptian music.
Nagi, also known as Turbo Tabla, is an Egyptian musician and composer who blends traditional Arabic music with modern sounds. “The Belly and the Beat” is one of his popular releases.
Following the final workshop, El Hosseny and Nagi performed July 26 in a gala event at Manhattan’s Lafayette Grill & Bar.
Mohamed El Hosseny in New York, July 2009
Mohamed El Hosseny has been referred to as the Reda of the 21st century by many American Dancers on this debut 2009 tour by Nourhan Sharif
I am not quite sure how to begin to review what transpired in America during Egyptian born dancer Mohamed El Hosseny’s first United States tour this Summer 2009 , except to say there was a phenomenal response and lots of tears from students, co-sponsors, and myself! The tour took Mohamed El Hosseny to five cities—San Francisco, New York City, where he performed with Karim Nagi, Miami, Kalamazoo, Michigan & Washington, DC. The tour lasted five weeks, shows & privates in every city and he proved himself to be a master of Egyptian Dance that we can only look forward to seeing more of in the coming years !
“Oh my god” is the best phrase any of us could find here!! I have not seen this much talent in one person in a long time!! In my lifetime, I have met only a few dancers that have blown my mind! Mohamed El Hosseny is the fourth one after a full lifetime of dancing! While there are many whom I respect, only a handful can offer the "entire package"! Watching him perform and teach was emotional as well as educational for all of us ! Dance is a language for him, and it was mesmerizing to watch the music lead him as he choreographed his dances with his own vocabulary. His work ethic is impeccable! His stamina is boundless! His love for the dance is infectious! He has incredible strength in his execution of movement and performance ability. He knows how to teach and how to reach the students. His skills in Folklore and Oriental are equally strong. He has a firm footing in both styles, and he has a great deal of training in ballet and jazz, which shines through, but doesn't overpower his Egyptian roots. He is not a carbon copy of other master teachers. His success as a dancer is a direct result of his hard work at creating his own distinct style! He has created more than 150 choreographies since he started living outside of Egypt and one can see his ability to choreograph will set the pulse of Raks Sharqi in the future ! He is quickly becoming an established pioneer of our dance form!
I first met Mohamed El Hosseny a few years ago Finland. We were both teaching and performing at the Masrah organized festival in Helsinki, where he lives (when not touring) and runs El Hosseny Dance School, which he founded in 2005, with long time Finnish dancer and promoter Tuija Rinne. When I saw him teach and perform at the Masrah festival I knew I finally saw a future leader for the dance form. I was simply mesmerized by the Layali Simsimiyya show/production he had choreographed, and I knew instinctively at that moment he was no ordinary artist. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to bring him to the United States to show American dancers something authentic and very real. I wanted them to see something pure from Egypt that was not jaded, tarnished or altered in any way, and yet would still appeal widely to the American market. What they would see was something very similar to Riverdance in energy, but not commercial in any form & extremely fresh, new & innovative!
In Egypt, Mohamed El Hosseny grew up in Suez and started dancing Simsimiyya when he was a young child. He joined the famous Reda Troupe in 1992, where he performed all solo parts, including the male solo in the Rubabikiya operetta in 1999. As a trained ballet dancer, he performed alongside ballerina Diana Calenti for several years. His string of TV appearances elevated him to national status in Egypt, where he is known as the first male dancer of his country. He continues to teach all over the world, including the Yalla! Festival of Oriental Dance in Helsinki & Ahlan wa Sahlan festival in Cairo, but more importantly he makes massive choreographic productions in Helsinki annually. The current production he is working on will have approximately 15 brand new choregraphies and be presented in Finland this November 2009.
I must admit that in the last few years, I have become a bit disenchanted with the amount of misinformation and confusion that circulates in the Middle Eastern dance scene. We already have some very strong leaders in the dance world right now, such as Mahmoud Reda, but I was starting to wonder who would take over when this generation passes on. It has been a disturbing thought for me. There are festivals that claim to represent the Arabic culture, but don't even use Arabic music. Recently, I stood in a large festival in America for four hours while helping a Sharifwear distributor, I was waiting for a piece of Arabic music to be played, and it never happened! Yet the festival was called an Arabic name, which is very confusing for beginning dancers. Fusion is fun, but it is still a departure from organic Egyptian dance, and without knowing what fusion is departing from, how are we supposed to also help to preserve the Raks Sharqi technique that brought us to where we are? What is becoming of our art form? Why are we not moving forward as a whole and learning more about Arab culture? Instead, the global community seems to be gravitating towards less understanding of the roots of the dance that I dedicated a big portion of my life to!
What we dance is not an isolated act in of itself! It comes from a country and a culture! If you don’t step away from the Western world, travel to the Middle East, sit with Arabs and learn about culture, customs, religions, you will never get the full picture of what the dance represents. When people ask me why I have been successful as a dancer, I tell them it is because I have worked hard in educating myself and immersing myself in the culture. Dance is not just what my body does. It lives in my mind as well!! With all of the ease and accessibility globalization and the internet offer in self-education, we should not be moving in the direction of ignorance. We should be taking advantage of it as an opportunity to learn more. Middle Eastern dance is becoming a joke in many circles because of this break from its culture. Why would you hire a non born Egyptian teacher when Mahmoud Reda is alive and still teaching? There needs to be more examination and discussion about indigenous dances and dance artists from Egypt. Dance artists at the top of their craft like Mohamed El Hosseny should be all over the internet! Saidi, Simsimiyya, Nubian, Muwashahat, etc -- every Middle Eastern dancer should know what these basic folkloric forms are and how to properly execute them as they are the backbone of Raks Sharqi! Sadly enough, many have no idea what I am referring to when I mention these forms in passing!!
The current USA dance population had never heard of Simsimiyya before Mohamed El Hosseny came this summer and many folks attended based on my referral ..not having any idea what I was indeed talking about !! (and loved it! ) So many times, I would ask myself, “Where is the next Reda?” Who will lead this dance form in a positive direction in the next century? Why doesn’t anyone inspire me anymore? Am I ready to retire? What is happening, I kept asking myself. The very dance I have loved and devoted myself to for decades was deteriorating before my very eyes. Where, I asked myself, are the great teachers of tomorrow? Then il hamdu lillah I met Mr. Hosseny who has immense talent & skills and I am indeed inspired to continue teaching and promoting this fine art form & artist in North America!! Without inspiration it is hard to continue in any art form and ours is no exception! I was in the desert and he was the water I needed to continue to create Enheduana, Mashuka, Zuzu and others touched by this tour whose comments are below felt exactly the same as myself ..
As an ambassador of dance and culture for Egypt and a lifelong dancer since I was two-years-old in diapers doing Raks Sharqi, I can count on one hand the artists I have met who have inspired me the same way Mohamed el Hosseny did. He is that artist!! He is a man who is in love with what he does! You can see his love for the dance in his eyes, and that love is infectious to all who experience it! He inspired me like no other person I have met since the millennium. His work is fresh, not jaded, from the road of the belly dance business without a trace of commercial corruption. I have no doubt that not only will he go to the top of the dance form like a rocket, but that he will also train a generation of dancers around the world that will be proud to represent "Hosseny Technique." Inshallah, I will be representing that group in the United States as his manager for North American affairs. I am proud to help disseminate & be associated with his work throughout the North American continent. He is strong, talented, speaks English well (an unexpected and pleasant surprise ), and he uses multiple layers of the music in his choreography. As interpreters of music, dancers are musicians in their own right, and his own musicality shines through when he dances and teaches. He has a strong understanding of rhythms and maqams, and he sings while he teaches! (Which is unusual in the USA) Principal Dancer from the National Folkloric troupe of Egypt Faten Salama met him on this trip in Washington, DC and she called me immediately to tell me she started to feel very emotional hearing him teach from outside the room ..she had heard no one since Mr. Reda behave that way in the classroom ...!! She gave him a firm thumbs up and agreed with everything I stated above so I know it is not just my perspective on this artist! He also spontaneously played piano for the NY students when they couldn't get the melody..the man is just bursting with energy and talent all the time !
In the studio, he is both demanding and encouraging of his students. His ballet and jazz training are evident in his repertoire. His attention to detail and dancing from the soul is so obvious, he told all of the students they are now his children and that dancing for him is his life which was quite evident! He captured his audience in all five cities in his first United States tour both in the classroom and on the stage !
From the USA dancers perspective ~Dancers in Finland are extremely lucky to have in Mohamed El Hosseny & his incredible contributions in their country, a man destined to become the 21st century’s star of Egyptian dance!! Mohamed El Hosseny & Tuija Rinne's school is one of the brightest & most creative in the world! Currently, he is working intensively on all new choreographies for his production "Egypt," due to premiere this November 2009 and I am sure it will delight audiences in Finland as much as previous performances he gave here in the United States. I am delighted for him & Tuija and the lucky El Hosseny Dance Company, that is getting invaluable training from him at his peak and will insure that they all continue to have careers in Raks Sharqi should they desire to teach his methods in the future!!
American & Canadian Dancers are eagerly waiting for his return in Summer 2010! Due to the overwhelming response from dancers here in the States, his tour next year will be expanded to ten cities throughout North America!.
