Research Catalog

Title

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

Author

Farrah, Ibrahim.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Fuʼād, Najwá.
• Gamal, Nadia.
• Jamal, Lyn.
• Jamal, Lys.
• Kochak, Eddie.
• Lahm, Adam.
• Reda, Mahmoud.
• Saretta, Phyllis.
• Zaki, Sohair.
• Doris Duke Foundation.
• Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group.
• Mahmoud Reda Dance Troupe.

Description

8.34 linear feet (21 boxes)

Summary

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

Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)

Subjects

• Dance teachers
• Belly dancers
• Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group
• Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)
• Belly dancers > United States
• Clippings
• Belly dance
• Nightclubs > New York (State) > New York
• Correspondence
• Photographs
• Orientalism in dance
• Farrah, Ibrahim
• Periodical editors
• Dance teachers > New York (State) > New York
• Kochak, Eddie > Photographs
• Choreographers
• Orientalism
• Periodicals > Publishing > New York (State) > New York

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Correspondence.
• Photographs.

Biography (note)

• 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)

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

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 159

OCLC

NYPG06-A153

Author

Farrah, Ibrahim.

Title

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

Biography

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

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

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material

Finding Aid

Occupation

Belly dancers.

Choreographers.

Dance teachers.

Periodical editors.

Added Author

Fuʼād, Najwá.

Gamal, Nadia.

Jamal, Lyn.

Jamal, Lys.

Kochak, Eddie.

Lahm, Adam.

Reda, Mahmoud.

Saretta, Phyllis.

Zaki, Sohair.

Doris Duke Foundation.

Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group.

Mahmoud Reda Dance Troupe.

Added Title

Arabesqué (New York, N.Y.)

Research Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 159