Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Fuʼād, Najwá.
2. Gamal, Nadia.
3. Jamal, Lyn.
4. Jamal, Lys.
5. Kochak, Eddie.
6. Lahm, Adam.
7. Reda, Mahmoud.
8. Saretta, Phyllis.
9. Zaki, Sohair.
10. Doris Duke Foundation.
11. Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group.
12. Mahmoud Reda Dance Troupe.

Description

1. 8.34 linear feet (21 boxes)

Summary

1. The Ibrahim Farrah Papers are comprised of correspondence, writings, teaching materials, promotional materials, clippings, research materials, and photographs that document the career of the eminent dancer and teacher of Middle Eastern dance, founder of Arabesqué magazine, and the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group. Perhaps because Arabesqué became such a central part of Farrah's life, there is considerable overlap among the six series that make up this collection. Throughout the collection can be found notes in Farrah's own hand (often addressed to Arabesqué editor, Adam Lahm) with some explanation of the significance of a particular item or suggestions on how to file it. Correspondence is almost exclusively of a professional nature and the vast majority consists of letters received relating to the editorial or administrative affairs of Arabesqué magazine. Farrah was an avid scholar of Middle Eastern dance and culture, and the collection is especially rich in its documentation of Orientalism as a motif in Western art forms, as well as in images of musicians, dancers, and practitioners of danse orientale (or belly dance, a term Farrah opposed). Particularly well represented by photographs are such performers as Nagwa Fouad, Nadia Gamal, the Jamal Twins, Soheir Zaki, and Mahmoud Reda and his dance troupe. Also of note are five folders of photographs from the collection of the influential percussionist Eddie (the Sheik) Kochak, which provide an interesting window into the flourishing post-World War II nightclub scene, which often featured performers of Middle Eastern descent.

Uniform title

1. Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)

Subject

1. Dance teachers
2. Belly dancers
3. Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group
4. Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)
5. Belly dancers > United States
6. Clippings
7. Belly dance
8. Nightclubs > New York (State) > New York
9. Correspondence
10. Photographs
11. Orientalism in dance
12. Farrah, Ibrahim
13. Periodical editors
14. Dance teachers > New York (State) > New York
15. Kochak, Eddie > Photographs
16. Choreographers
17. Orientalism
18. Periodicals > Publishing > New York (State) > New York

Genre/Form

1. Clippings.
2. Correspondence.
3. Photographs.

Call number

1. (S) *MGZMD 159

Biography (note)

1. Ibrahim Farrah (1939-1998) was a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar of Middle Eastern dance, who also became the founder and publisher of Arabesqué, a notable journal of international and ethnic dance, which became the primary vehicle he used to promote a greater public awareness and appreciation of belly dance and other traditional dance forms.

Language (note)

1. The Clippings and research materials series includes items in Arabic, French, English, German, Hebrew, Swedish, and Turkish.

Indexes/finding aids (note)

1. Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Author

1. Farrah, Ibrahim.

Title

1. Ibrahim Farrah papers, 1895-1998 (bulk 1967-1997)

Biography

1. Ibrahim Farrah (1939-1998) was a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar of Middle Eastern dance, who also became the founder and publisher of Arabesqué, a notable journal of international and ethnic dance, which became the primary vehicle he used to promote a greater public awareness and appreciation of belly dance and other traditional dance forms. He began his early teaching and performing career in Washington, D.C., where he worked in nightclubs with his first partner, Emar Gamal. Farrah moved to New York in 1967 where he continued to teach and perform. From 1968 through 1971 he danced with Phaedra (Phyllis Saretta). Using grant money received from the Doris Duke Foundation, he embarked on several related projects by the early 1970s, including an extended research trip to Lebanon, the establishment of his own school (later the Ibrahim School of Near East Dance) in a loft on 72nd Street, and he also began developing the components of a professional troupe that would become the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group (NEDG) by 1974. Through the NEDG, Farrah brought his own choreography, which presented a theatrical conception of Middle Eastern dance styles based on a rigorous study of traditional dance forms, to the concert stage. The company performed in New York and also toured throughout North America from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, when Farrah began to cut back on his own performing schedule. In 1975, Farrah began publication of the bi-monthly Arabesqué, the scope of which gradually grew to encompass a broader coverage of all ethnic dance forms. By the mid-1990s, Farrah was increasingly focused on giving master classes and producing educational videos before his untimely death.

Language

1. The Clippings and research materials series includes items in Arabic, French, English, German, Hebrew, Swedish, and Turkish.

Indexes

1. Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

1. Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material
2. Finding Aid

Occupation

1. Belly dancers.
2. Choreographers.
3. Dance teachers.
4. Periodical editors.

Added author

1. Fuʼād, Najwá.
2. Gamal, Nadia.
3. Jamal, Lyn.
4. Jamal, Lys.
5. Kochak, Eddie.
6. Lahm, Adam.
7. Reda, Mahmoud.
8. Saretta, Phyllis.
9. Zaki, Sohair.
10. Doris Duke Foundation.
11. Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group.
12. Mahmoud Reda Dance Troupe.

Added title

1. Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)

Research call number

1. (S) *MGZMD 159