Titled The Legendary Ballet Dancer, the performances honoured Kamel's profound impact on Egypt’s ballet scene.
The galas brought together artists from the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Mohamed Saad Basha. The programme featured a selection of scenes from both international and Egyptian ballet productions—works that Kamel had integrated into the company’s repertoire over his 25-year leadership and beyond, as part of his lifelong dedication to developing Egypt’s ballet scene.
The evenings included excerpts from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, Le Corsaire by Adolphe Adam, Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus, The Nile by Omar Khairat, and Oriental Steps by Attia Sharara (also known as Atiya Sharara). Additional pieces, including Giselle and Lorquiana, featured choreography by international artists as well as Erminia Kamel, the company’s artistic director.
This was topped with Hassan Sharara taking the stage to perform violin segments from Oriental Steps, a composition penned by his father Attia Sharara.
The performances relied in big part on the projections inviting the viewers into the many locations in which the ballet scenes take place. Additionally the projections of photos presenting Abdel-Moneim Kamel reminded us of the different stages of the artist's creative career.
Since his passing in 2013, the Cairo Opera has held several commemorative galas in honor of Abdel Moneim Kamel—a testament to the lasting impact he had on ballet in Egypt and his enduring presence in the company's artistic repertoire season after season.
The spiritual father of Egyptian ballet
Often called The Knight of Egyptian Ballet or the Spiritual Father of the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, Abdel-Moneim Kamel played a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s ballet tradition.
Although Egypt had a national ballet company in the 1960s—where Kamel was a leading dancer—the 1971 fire that destroyed the Old (Khedivial) Opera House left the troupe without a home. This event dealt a major blow to the development of ballet in Egypt, disrupting the careers of many dancers. The departure of Soviet instructors further deepened the uncertainty surrounding the future of the art form in the country.
In the 1970s, while pursuing his career as a dancer, Kamel also tried out acting in films. Among his noteworthy contributions to Egyptian cinema was Al-Hobb Taht Al-Matar (Love in the Rain, 1975), an adaptation of the Naguib Mahfouz novel directed by Hussein Kamal. In it, Kamel had an important role, acting alongside several Egyptian stars such as Mervat Amin, Magda Al-Khatib, Ahmed Ramzi and Mona Gabr.
The challenging artistic climate for ballet in Egypt turned out to be a blessing in disguise, opening up opportunities for Kamel to travel and refine his craft abroad. He gained widespread recognition on international stages—including in the Soviet Union, where he earned his PhD in 1979. He danced in Germany and at Italy’s prestigious La Scala. In the latter he danced for two years as a soloist and received a certificate in Practical Ballet Studies in 1980.
Kamel was at the peak of his career when he returned permanently to Egypt in the early 1980s, only to find that the arts scene had changed drastically and that Cairo’s ballet—then affiliated with the Academy of Arts—was in a severely deteriorated state. Supported by his wife, Erminia Kamel (former dancer at La Scala), it took Kamel a few years to rebuild the basis of the troupe.
Paralleling the strong backbone of the Cairo Ballet Company's artistic recovery, Kamel managed to incorporate the troupe under the new Cairo Opera House (which opened in 1988) and changed its name to the Cairo Opera Ballet Company.
But the change was not reflected only in name, as the troupe kept growing artistically, and soon started being recognised on the regional and international arenas. The internationally-renowned choreographers, such as Joseph Russillo from La Scala, Lorca Massine, not to mention Maurice Bejart, among many others, have worked with the company. In his turn, Kamel, as director, brought the many renditions of the known ballet gems, infusing the performances with his unique vision.
From the late 1980s and throughout the 2010s, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company was praised in its home country and internationally. Many works bacame the troupe’s staples, such as Zorba that toured Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey etc, always leaving the critics and audiences in awe. Its choreographer Massine himself underlined that Zorba by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company is the best version of the ballet.
Abdel-Moneim Kamel steadily climbed the ladder of success. In the 1990s, besides heading the Ballet Company, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Cairo Opera House, and in 2004, he became Chairman of the National Cultural Centre (Cairo Opera House), a position he held until 2011. Meanwhile, Erminia Kamel was appointed Artistic Director of the ballet troupe—a role she holds to this day.
Throughout his career, those who crossed paths with Kamel recognized him as a visionary artist, deeply dedicated to his craft. His unwavering belief in ballet as a powerful art form was the driving force behind the troupe’s pursuit of excellence and its growing success under his leadership.
Abdel-Moneim Kamel died from a heart attack on 25 February 2013 in Alexandria, shortly after attending the general rehearsal of Swan Lake. With his passing, Egypt lost not only a remarkable artist but also a devoted guardian of one of the most graceful and enduring forms of human expression.
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