Cairo cabarets and pimps

I want to share a story with You! It happened to me in the September 2012, now almost year and a half ago.
It was first published in Finnish oriental dance magazine "Shimmy" by Laura Zaray. It taught me a lot about the true colors of the Cairo nightlife and bellydance scene. Read, be surprised, disgusted and informed! And please share your thoughts and comments!

Meeting a stranger

This article will focus on my experience meeting one of the hundreds of bellydance managers and pimps in Cairo bellydance scene. He’s name is Pola and I got his contact from a dancer in Sharm El Sheikh. She warned me she has never met this man and he had contacted her in the internet looking for bellydancer from russia. These two words put up the red light for me - internet and only russian belldancers…but every meeting is an experience and opportunity so i decided to call him after returning Cairo from Sharm. He answered straight away, asked to meet me the same evening, to pick me up and show me his clubs and talk business. I had no idea how big lesson I would be learning from this guy!

Sharing a car with dance officers

Already on phone he started speaking russian to me, obviously having no idea Estonia was not a russian city…So sharply at 01.00 (yes, thats perfectly decent hour for business in Cairo nightclub scene) he picked me up from my home, there were two more men in the car. They were supposed to be officers, who check for dancer permits and ID’s. This most probably was his idea of showing me he’s „clean“, has official lutenents working side-by side with him. Fair enough…but I wasn’t very thirilled still to get into a car with 3 strangers, especially with two checking officers and me being a young lady with no work visa but I did get in the car because that was only the start and here I have to take risks.

Only foreigners

Pola was a 25-year old guy owning a musical-equipment rent company and dancers being side-business, most probably a kid of a rich family doing the business for hobby and other nice side perks that come with it (read: sexy dancers and money). He said he only works with foreigners, because all Egyptian dancers are sharmuutas (prostitutes) and he can only trust foreigners. For me it seemed too obvious sweet-talking.

The cabaret tour

For the first 2 hours we drove around making stops in various clubs in Giza so the officers could go and do their regular checks. He asked me to get up and perform one dance in one club and I did, i asked for Warda „Fi You we Leila“ and obviously amazed the room and shaded the official „i can only walk“ kind of dancer – I think the worst I’ve ever seen. When I got off stage Pola told me „Ashanti!“ (great job) the lutenent sitting opposite table was very happy for me and invited me to dance in his daughter’s wedding. Finally we landed in one of the clubs Pola’s dancer Amira was working for, sayd to be his best one! We sat down and she entered the stage. Skinny blond classic russian beauty with a sexy violet costume. Dancing the style of a typical lazy but still skilled cabaret dancer – the type I never want to become. I didn’t spend 12 years learning oriental dance and culture to leave it all for this kind of cabaret work.

Don't dance, collect money!

While watching Amira Pola advised me not to trust other dancer, they only get jealous of me, he will teach me all I need to know – which in the cabares means getting people to throw money at me. He asked me to perform again, to a shaaby song. I did my best and had fun with the audience (joking and singing along the song, not going around tables but paying attention to them), who as usual were surprised and enjoying. Again Pola congratulated me but said I need to slow down, because I will have to work much and need to save my energy. He told me to absorb what Amira is doing - going around tables with the singer who appearently can „smell money“ and then to dance for the specific table or a man, flirt, smile, joke and be sexy-cute. Then the next table, then the next table and so on, and money showers kept coming. Money showers is an old tradition to appreciate a dancer – a customer goes op to the dancer and while she’s dancing showers a pack of money down the dancer. As Pola put it, if it doesn’t shower, the club doesn't what this dancer any more. Dancer goal is to bring money in! So 2 reasons I don't want to be this dancer is – I want to dance with energy, I dont want to manipulate people out of money. What about skills and art?

Finally our club tour finished and we started talking details. This is what Pola offered:

• Every night 3 hours of work, that is divided between 6 clubs! Yeah, makes sense to keep my energy now!
• 1 day off per week
• Monthly pay of 8000 LEU (851 EUR), which sounds a lot but if I calculate that makes 1 club salary 50 LEU (5,3 EUR) and this is completely undercutting even the lowest market rates! (200 LEU is considered little money for a show)
• Cover my rent, cover my food (!)
• Pay my work-permit
• Put together and pay my orchestra
• Should I take a vacation to pay my ticket back to Egypt.

Can you get me more girls?

He kept insisting for a quick reply the next day and I kept insisting I need time to think and that is an important decision. At one point he even dared to ask me, can I bring her dancers from Estonia? Like I am not enough, or I am just another dancing body for him. Importing dancers to this guy would actually make me a sort of a pimp too….but I didn't burst out laughing…I politely told him no, I couldn’t help him…everyone who wants to dance in Egypt is already here, that’s me and im not bringing anyone. This showed me his true colors - he doesn't care at all who is dancing for him, just any white girl from Russia or around who could be sweet-talked and willing to work like a slave while undercutting the market rates and Pola is filling his pocket!

During the cabaret tour he kept calling his dancers princesses and he cares for all his girls, works with „white and transparent“ business and everything is official and with him I will be safe. I asked him if he has so much work and so little dancers why he hasn’t asked the current foreigners working here, the famous ones, Lorna, Outi, Joana, Caroline, Magda etc. He had never hear of them…

My final decision

The next morning he sent me a contract in English on e-mail, all the conditions as discussed in it. I told him I will have an answer by the night. Something inside me was keeping me from jumping into this first real work offer.

I decided to discuss this with a dancer friend from Sharm el Sheikh. Also in her opinion everything about Pola smells like a pimp! I personally thought this can either be an extremely lucky offer for a new dancer in town or a real big mistake. The same night he called. I turned him down polity, saying its not for me, all this cabaret work. He didn’t try to re-convince me either and told me if I change my mind to call him back.

After the call i received a text message: „Just remember that all the stars, also Suheir Zaki start from these places“. How dare him mention this name, without having any respect for the art! I saved the text just to one day look and have a good joke!

Trying to change my mind

The next day he called again asking if I’d still like to work for him. With some good recommendations from my friend, I told him, I can work for special occasions only. If he needs me for a private party or a wedding in a 5-star hotel, I will come and take 1000 LEU (106 EUR) for it. He said im only a beginner dancer and its not possible, I said that's too bad and again he finished the call telling me if I change my mind, call him…then again he was the one to call back for the second time.

And a day passes, the same story, same phone call. Copy-paste…

And a week passes and I get the same call, this time he offers salary for one club not 50 but 100. I smile in my head and thank him, saying my condition for special occasion performances is still valid and I dont need anything else from him.

I believe listening to my inner voice and feeling and advice from my friend saved me from getting into a bad deal that would have killed my energy and love for my art. Pola is only one guy from hundreds. I was warned from his type by other working dancers here and I finally had my own experience and learnt a lot with these 2 days.

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Looking back to it

It has now been more than year and a half from this situation. I think back then was also the last times I danced bellydance in Egypt, publicly and on stage (I still dance for fun as soon as I turn on the TV with 24h Arabic music going on :). I have learnt enough to know my successful and respected oriental dance career can only continue in Europe or elsewhere in the world. Its not good time for oriental dance in Egypt, for so many reasons, I should make another post about it. Im more than happy to have the chance to keep dancing (theater and opera work), keep growing as a versatile dancer, keep learning about the Egyptian culture right in the middle of it! I truly believe it worked out well for me.