19 Facts About Nelly Mazloum

Nelly Mazloum, an Egyptian of Italian and Greek origin, was an actress, choreographer, dancer, and teacher of ballet, modern dance, Egyptian folkloric dance, traditional oriental dance and the creator of the oriental dance technique.

Nelly Mazloum was a pioneer, in that she was the first to apply Egypt's traditional legacy of Folkloric Dances into a dramatised artistic form.

Nelly Mazloum's father, who created jewellery, was an Italian from Naples and her mother, who was an able pianist, was Greek, from Asia Minor.

The 10-year-old Mazloum appeared in her first film, I prosfygopoula, which was made in the Greek language and starred Sophia Vembo with a screenplay by D Bogris.

In 1948 Nelly Mazloum became the prima Ballerina of the Royal Opera House in Cairo from 1959 to 1964 she was the choreographer of Al Masrah al Kaoumy, Koumeya troupe.

Nelly Mazloum liked the luxuries in life, and she enjoyed life to the full.

Nelly Mazloum met her first husband A Roussos in 1949, and this union produced a son, Emanuel and two years later a daughter, Marianna.

Nelly Mazloum was the pioneer who attempted for the first time to apply Egypt's traditional legacy of Folkloric Dances into a dramatized artistic form.

Nelly Mazloum was the director, choreographer, performer and teacher of her own company.

Nelly Mazloum was the first to present folkloric dances on stage and her dance company was the first Egyptian dance troupe to record Egyptian folk songs and dances from many different and remote regions of Egypt and perform them on stage and on television programs.

Nelly Mazloum was appointed by the Ministry of Culture to be his assistant for the protection of the Egyptian content of Classical dance.

Nelly Mazloum came to her in the morning, to learn the traditional movements of folkloric dances which he then taught to the students in the afternoon.

Nelly Mazloum became the official choreographer of the Cairo Opera, for opera and operetta productions.

Nelly Mazloum choreographed, among others, Mahr el Aroussa in 1963, the first all-Arabic classical operetta.

Nelly Mazloum replied "the troupe without me does not exist" and refused, remaining independent.

Nelly Mazloum developed her own system of working out called 'Vivicorporeal Psychosomatic Alignment Technique' in support of Oriental Dance; she started giving a series of seminars throughout Europe, where she was the first to introduce Oriental Dance Technique, Vivicorporeal and Pharaonic Dances.

Nelly Mazloum favoured the term Oriental Dance which has a positive implication instead of 'belly dance' which carries a negative charge.

Nelly Mazloum's main focus for teaching her method of Oriental Dance is to emphasize the value of Postural Awareness, along with the elaboration and correct performance of steps, musicality and expression; this working method has been an inspiration to many dancers and teachers all over the world.

Nelly Mazloum's structured pedagogical method of teaching and her excellent teaching skills, her patience and her humorous personality, as well as the passion for life made her seminars a great adventure in knowledge to her students; it brought in no time a drastic progress and an improvement in the dance quality of the participants in each seminar.