The Night I Learned to Dance

The night I learned to dance is a personal story about the 19 year old Lisa Hartt singing and playing in Egypt at the Cairo Sheraton. It is a story of falling in love with Egypt, the people, the music, the dance. The main star of the evening was the premiere belly dancer, Nagwa Fouad, and her orchestra. I used to sneak into the back row and sing the ululations with the BG singers . It was a thrill. One night after everything was over Nagwa asked if we wanted to come to the Oasis at the pyramids of Giza and have a dancing lesson. Off we went in to the star-filled night a band of English minstrels and this amazing woman. She wrapped a shawl around my hips and taught me to dance.
I was fortunate enough to find Mayada, of Mayada's Belly Dance School in Mississauga, who had studied with Nagwa, who is still alive, 87, and lives in Cairo. She, her dancers and I, along with Dance Plant records, One Dream Pictures and EMG Collectives filmed this evocative video at the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto on a cold wintry day, dreaming of the desert and the oasis where we danced.
Composed by Jonas Gideon, a new writing partner from Sweden-STIM
Lyrics by Lisa Hartt-SOCAN
Music Production : Chris Birkett for 2Mounties Media
THE NIGHT I LEARNED TO DANCE
We were high and dry in Cairo,
at the Sheraton Bordello.
There were fleshpots in the dining room.
Silken veils and fragrant night blooms, Tutankhamun’s golden tomb.
All night long the silken sand would blow,
While Nagwa twirled, the Stella biera flowed.
I was just nineteen, the desert wailed my siren song,
Play that sweet James Brown” get it up, get it up, get it on”.
I took a taxi to the pyramids,
and to oasis end
All night long the silken sand would blow,
While Nagwa twirled, the Stella biera flowed.
Chorus
It was so hot the night I learned to dance.
I was aware before the trance.
An aged scheming temptress
Placed a shawl around my hips,
She tipped the silver chalice, honey nectar to my lips.
It was so hot, the night I learned to dance,
The night I learned to dance.
Almond eyes salute me fresh,
scarab talons meet my flesh,
jaundiced spinsters teaching English wiles.
Sailing up the ancient Nile, in a boat, felucca style.
All night long the silken sand would blow,
While Nagwa danced, the Stella biera flowed.
Chorus
It was so hot the night I learned to dance.
I was aware before the trance.
An aged scheming temptress
Placed a shawl around my hips,
She tipped the silver chalice, honey nectar to my lips.
It was so hot, the night I learned to dance,
The night I learned to dance.