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Born on the 7th of October 1932 in
Tanta on the Nile Delta to the Akef family. A famous circus where
the whole family participated whether in performance or
preparation, young and old alike.
The Akef Circus was famous with it's animal training and taming
of the wild ones and cunning tricks with the not so tame, as well
as amazing dance performances and acrobatic extravaganza shows.
This is the family atmosphere in which Naima Akef was born and raised,
indicating a unique star being developed in this appropriate and
ideal surroundings to be brought up in.
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The Akef family were based in Cairo
in the Bab El Khalq district however they travelled across the whole
country as well as most of the world on their tours especially Russia
in 1957 where Naima presented her dancing in a and international
youth festival there and won the first prize for best dancer in
the whole festival in which dancers from over 50 countries performed.
A photo commemorating that prise winning exists on the walls of
the Bolshoi Theatre's Hall Of Fame.
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Naima's grandfather, Ismail Akef
who was the gymnasium teacher and trainer in the Egyptian Police
Academy created the Akef circus after his retirement. Ismail took
Naima under his wings, having recognized her talent as a dancer
and performer since a very young age and helped her shape her uniqueness
into a historic artist who rose the heights of stardom within the
Egyptian cinema. Naima was first discovered for the cinema by the
director Abbas Fawzy who presented her to his brother the also director
Hessein Fawzy who realised Naima's natural talent for the screen
and gave her a leading role the first time she ever appeared on
the screen in the film "El Eish Wel Malh" (The Bread and
Salt {{ in Egypt once people have broken bread together, i.e. eaten
together it is considered sacrilege to digress against the unspoken
oath of loyalty, El Eish Wel Malh, the bread and salt}} ). Naima
starred in that film with the singer Saad Abdel Wahab, the cousin
of the legendary singer and composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. the film
was a great hit and it was also a big success for Nahhas Film Studios
where it was filmed as the very first production there. This was
a brilliant start for the young Naima who had various dance routines
in the film which she was very careful to present in all her future
films side by side to her leading acting and singing role. |
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After her first film, Naima's success
in her films came one after the other like "Lahalibo"
[how does one translate that] (The one who is so hot that he is
the fiery equivalent of Speedy Gonzales), "Baladi We Kheffa"
(Baladi and light hearted), "Baba Aaris" (My dad is the
Bride's Groom), "Noor Oyouni" (The Light Of My Eyes).
This one came after Naima presented a dance sketch with legendary
Dr. Mahmoud Reda, creator and dancer of the Reda Troupe. The sketch
was called "Leil We Ein" (Instead of saying Leil Ya Ein
as they sing in the Egyptian Mawwals [Laments]. Leil, being the
night, and Ein being the eyes that are spending the night without
a wink, thinking of the beloved. The sketch was done or the Egyptian
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Naima's film credits extended further
than that to appear in the following films "Forigat" (At
last it eased off), "Fataah Wel Sirk" (A Girl and the
Circus), "El Nemr" (The Tiger), "Halawet El Hob"
(The sweetness of love), "Gannah We Nar" (A heaven and
a hell), "Melyon Geneih" (A million pounds), "Arbaa
Banat We Zabet" (4 girls and an officer), "Madraset El
Banat" (The Girl's School), "Tamr Henna" this is
the name of an Egyptian flower, which was Naima's name in the film,
"Aziza" and "Ahebbak Ya Hassan" (I love you
Hassan).
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Egyptian
dancing ran wild in the blood veins of Naima. It was her first love
and best way of self expression and she used her circus life and
performance as a launching platform for her dancing as well as trying
and presenting new ideas, choreographies and music. She never cut
short any corners as far as expenses, training or costuming for
herself or for her chorus dancers or singers and performers who
accompanied her in her shows. She was very conscious about her weight
and kept under strict control so that she maintained her young and
supple figure and looks. Naima even sacrificed the motherly pleasures
of having her own children until she gave birth just before her
departure from our world.
The experts of Egyptian dance are certain that Naima was not affected
by the styles of other dancers, but created her own unique style
and had her personal feel of dance interpretation to Egyptian music
to the point of creating THE NEW on stage and in rehearsals. Very
often, Naima choreographed her own routines, but was very famous
for being a very obedient to her trainers and technical advisers
and choreographers.
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In the world of art, of that era
in Egypt, Naima was very famous for her friendliness, kindness and
helpfulness to all her close friends and associates as well as her
film crew and members of the same film set. Never selfish, and would
always put others before herself. There is a famous story of one
day on a film set, after a very exhausting morning of filming on
a lunch and rest break, Naima noticed that a fellow dancer in the
film was struggling with an acrobatic move that she had to make
and was clearly having difficulty executing that move, which had
to be filmed straight after the break. Instead of taking her lunch
an her very needed rest, Naima went to the girl, showed her how
the step should be really done with ease, and did it for her many
times and trained and coached her until she did it successfully
to the delight of the girl and the massive almost none stop applause
of all the film crew, actors and director alike.
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Naima rarely ever danced in nightclubs
but more through her films and theatre dance tableaux's which she
regularly organised in Egypt as well as abroad. Those were not purely
Egyptian dance performances, but more of a free expression and more
of a music and dance extravaganza. She used movement to express
emotion and feelings, gestures, direct or indirect, with bodily
expression which was a witness of Naima's wide range of artistic
talent and body suppleness agility and physique.
Naima was very proud of her success which she achieved on her own
merit and without having to slug it in the night clubs for a long
time. She recalls how when her mother and father split up, she formed
an acrobatic and clown act that performed in many clubs until she
got the chance to work in Badeia Masabny's famous nightclub, in
which, the young Naima shined like a star and was one of the very
few who danced and sang. |
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Naima also recalls how being favoured
by Badeia caused major jealousy in the hearts of other chorus dancers
in the club until one day they ganged up on her and beat her up
but because of her strength and agility she managed to defend herself
and beat them up instead. But as those dancers were the source of
good income for Badeia, Naima was fired from the club and went to
work in the other famous night spot, The KIT KAT Club, where she
met the film director Abbas Kamel, who introduced her to his brother,
who was also a film director, Hessein Fawzy, famous for his musicals
show films. This partnership was a big success for them both and
hey got married for nine years, but without any children. A few
years after that divorce, Naima married her accountant to whom she
gave a son who worked in the field of music.
As Naima entered the history books of Egyptian dance as one of it's
innovative, creative and renewing dancers, she also entered the
history book of Egyptian cinema as the first woman to star in the
very first full colour film in Egypt "Baba Aaris" (My
father is the bride's groom) directed by her first husband Hessein
Fawzy in 1951. |
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