Egyptian belly-dancer Fifi Abdo has requested scenarist Faisal Nada to transform the life of the late Egyptian legendary dancer Tahiya Carioca into a television drama series, in which she will play the leading role. Fifi has nominated a third class belly-dancer to play the role of Tahiya in her earlier years, but refused to reveal her identity.
According to the Qatar based daily, Al Raya, Fifi revealed that she will produce and star in the series, which will tell the life story of Tahia from her early beginnings and journey in the dancing world, her relationship with a number of figures from the political and entertainment world, and how she ended her career by resigning.
Fifi has always wanted to portray Tahiya on the big screen and so decided to begin works on the film herself. Fifi added that she is willing to financially pay for the making of the drama, wanting to do it as a tribute to the late legend.
Previously, inheritors’ of Tahiya threatened to file a lawsuit against Fifi if she went on with her project of making a television drama about the late dancer. The late dancer's nephew Osama Husni Al-Jiddawi threatened Abdo that the heritage of his late aunt belongs to him and his family and no one could use the story without the inheritors' permission.
Fifi claims that the late dancer gave her the permission before she passed away but Osama denies knowing anything about such a deal adding that he spent the last few years with his aunt who did not mention any form of an agreement with Fifi.
Actress Raja' Jiddawi , Tahiya's niece, added the family is not against doing a TV drama about their aunt but they want to make sure that the story is going to be fair regarding the history and great works done by her aunt. Raja' said its not important if Fifi Abdo performs the role of my aunt or Nadia Al-Jundi the most important thing is to do a good job that suit the great talent her aunt had.
Raja' concluded by saying that the most important thing is to show the last 25 years of her aunt's life when she became a devoted Muslim and settled at her house spending her time reading the holy Koran and going to Mecca for pilgrimage.
Tahiya Carioca, an oriental dancer of extraordinary range and daring, and a celebrated actress, died in 1999. Her original name was Badawiya Mohammed Karim Ali Sayed, but later on renamed herself after the "carioca" dance--a modified version of the samba. Her fierce choreography spectacularly merged the elements of baladi dance (the traditional form of women's solo belly dancing) with modern floorshow dance. This fusion of styles was her own innovation, and through it, she created a dance vocabulary of curves, arm movements, and resonating hip movements that became dominant forces in belly dance for decades.
