PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

Translator's Note: The page below appeared in a ladies' magazine called Al Arousa, the issue dated August 2, 1933. The picture shows the famous Egyptian belly dancer Amina Mohamed posing with a snake.

Amina Mohamed was a well known Alexandrian belly dancer who worked at Badia Masabni's casino. She was also an actress, and in 1935 she appeared with Taheya Carioca in Taheya's very first film Dr. Farahat. Amina Mohamed had the leading role in Dr. Farahat and Taheya had a secondary role. When the photo of Amina below was taken in 1933, Taheya Carioca was still a teen-ager who, that very same year, had just arrived at Badia Masabni's club.

My heart broke when I read the caption below the photo. I am very glad that dancers no longer treat their snakes in this way.

Click on the image below to see the article in more detail.

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Amina Mohamed in a Snake Dance. A wonderous dance.

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A picture of the artist Amina Mohamed who is a dancer at Casino Badia, as she performs the Snake Dance. You can see her holding a live snake and playing with him as she dances wearing a special dance costume with colors that match the colors of the snake. It's obvious that the snake's mouth has been sewn shut so that he can't bite her. The snake died last week and Amina has received condolences from the public. Madame Badia Masabni has invented shows starring humans and animals. We will see what she invents next.

Priscilla is a dancer of Lebanese heritage who enjoys researching the Golden Era of Egyptian dance. She owns a collection of more than one hundred classic black and white Egyptian films which is continually expanding.

Priscilla has also gathered a large library of dance related articles and clippings from Middle Eastern magazines and newspapers, many of which she has translated from the original Arabic to both English and Spanish.

Priscilla currently resides in Central America where she is a dance instructor.