Tahia Carioca dancing with a sword

A very rare picture of Tahiya Carioca doing some dancing with a sword. Little is known about Taheya's performances with sabre.

The sword dance became very popular in the west from the sixties on. Especially in North America. Although the dance with the sword was part of Tunisian belly dance shows as well. The dance with a dagger or a sabre seems to be a heritage of the desert culture. Some accounts of western visitors to Egypt and Libya relate of a dance in which a sword took on a prominent place. One dance was executed around a sabre fixed upright in the sand. The belly dancer moves around it and at a certain moment puts her forehead against the tip while she circles around the sword. After the performance was finished, no marks on her forehead!

Some movies or videos featuring Tahia:

• "La Femme et le Pantin (1958)" after the french author Pierre Louÿs
• "Khalli Belek Min Zuzu (Watch Out For Zuzu or Méfie-toi de Zouzou)", co-starring Souad Hosni
  "Khalli Balak min Zouzou" of 1972 was directed by Hassan El-Imam with the screenplay by Salah Jahine and starring Hussein Fahmi and Tahiya Caryoca and Hassan El Imam (1919-1988).
• "Ah ya balad" of Hussein Kamal (1986)
• Le Costaud by Egyptian director Salah Abou Seif (1957)
• "Chebab imra'a" or Shabab Imra'a. (A woman's youth) of Salah Abou Seif, starring Taheya Karioka, Shoukri Sarhan and Shadia (1956)
• Tahia appeared in the play Yahya Al-Wafd (Long Live the Wafd), written by her then husband and much younger co-star, Fayez Halawa. This wasn't really a highlight in her carreer and the play received bad critics.