No Place Like Home & Gaby Shiba

Here I am, back in Seattle!  It's beautiful here, and the weather has been pretty darn nice.  A lot of people reading this blog probably know how sick I was my last few months in Cairo, so I'm pleased to report that coming home to the cooler climate seems to have done the trick.  I'm feeling much better and happy to be home!

New dance stuff is that I'm working on sort of processing and consolidating everything I learned in Cairo, as well as going over lots and lots of choreography to memorize and rehash.  I'll be adding a couple Shaabi pieces to the few choreographies I have on hand, and next week I want to do two melaya pieces. I'll memorize everything sort of as I go this fall, but I wanted to get them marked out. Most of these were choreographed by teachers at Nile Group, but I found myself wanting to build on and adapt their choreographies to my style.  This has been really interesting as a project actually, because I have previously been very squeamish about trying to choreograph as well as having some kind of mental block.  Building on and changing around someone else's choreography has been a nice midway point since I have a lens for looking at the structures of the music and help me to see things like how verses repeat and where the changes are. I'm having fun making these choreographies into my own, and of course if I use them I'll credit the originators, except where most of it really has been changed in a significant way.

Otherwise. I'm going through music I got ahold of in Cairo and sewing a melaya dress!  Pics to come, it looks like the construction may be done by the weekend and then I'll go on to doing the beading either next week or when I return to Oakland.

Next up on the list is a website overhaul, a haircut, and a photoshoot!  I have lots of new pretty costumes that need some nice photos online!

Gaby Shiba
I just wanted to talk about another excellent teacher I took private classes with while in Cairo since I'm already writing this blog post.  Gaby is originally Lebanese, and is one of Lebanon's most famous debke dancers.  Of course he has expanded in his life into doing oriental style, Shaabi, and Egyptian folkloric as well, and now he teaches at Nile Group on a variety of topics (I took debke from him at the June 2009 festival, but he was teaching Khaleegy in 2010 for example).  Since his studio was close to me in Maadi, I had the chance to take a series of lessons with him, which was interrupted a couple times by festivals or work.  I did manage to go over 5 times though over the course of the month that I prioritized studying with him, and that gave me lots of food for thought.  I did buy a couple CDs from him, since he has nice Debke music and I was curious about his theatrical production of Salome which I haven't had time to watch yet.

We covered some Shaabi, Oriental, and Debke.   It was nice to have the variety, and Gaby is strong on all of those, however taking Debke with him is particularly special and I found his Shaabi style to be a bit more relatable than his Oriental style, which sometimes was too flamboyant for me.   He charges pretty reasonable rates for his classes compared with other big stars in Cairo, and is a kind, patient teacher although he does tend to try excessively to make sure you aren't worrying about if you are making progress quickly or slowly, etc.  I just smiled and nodded when he encouraged me to just keep trying and it was no problem if I didn't get it right away, etc.  I guess it's his way of soothing students.

Gaby does base most of his teaching based on choreography, but he will do technique corrections which I found to be always useful and delivered fairly clearly (and yes, he will gently physically correct you with his hands when appropriate, which I actually found useful because a lot of stuff can be hard to communicate verbally).  The choreographies were for me more of a device to show him in a comfortable framework how I was doing things so that he could give me corrections on technique but also attitude and musicality (especially for debke).  I felt much less self-concious following his short choreograhies for each style and like it freed me up to focus on technique within a context, so I didn't mind studying choreography.  He did give me a really difficult debke one at first since he's seen me in his workshops before though, but I had fun with it after chewing on some of the combinations a bit.

I would recommend Gaby hands-down if you want debke instruction.  He's solid for both Oriental and Shaabi too, but if you can afford to get one of the-big name female, Egyptian dancers it's probably a better bet in some ways since Gaby mostly focuses on group-style choreographies for those styles.  He's good if you want someone reasonably priced that you can go to a lot and get consistent corrections to take into workshops with big stars or private lessons.  If you drop in, his studio is right across from Sakanat El Maadi Metro station (oh, my old Metro stop, how I miss it.....sort of?) and tell him Nicole said hi!

Dance, dance, more dance....Ilhamdulillah

Just as I was getting set to put up the last photos of my vacation, here we go again--internet outtage!  This time, however it was the neighbors who hadn't paid their bill, not us (as we've been being moochers) so there wasn't much my room mate and I could do except check out email frantically in between classes at school.

My article is finally out on Gilded Serpent here, do check it out and leave a comment!  The editing process took a lot longer than I thought, so I feel a bit silly finally posting the link here after giving that teaser piece of writing so long ago, but that's life I suppose.  Part 2 is to come later, at some point, which is entirely up to the editor I think, and frankly I'd rather leave it in her hands anyway seeing as how I'm too busy to even do my laundry at the moment!

Return to Reda
I have had next to no free time lately pretty much owing to the fact that I accidentally joined the AUC folkloric dance troupe.  I'm totally happy about it, of course, but it was a bit of an accident and has been fairly rigorous.  That's especially in light of the fact that I joined up after they'd been working on choreography for a couple months and now am being asked to learn several choreographies by Mahmoud Reda in a very short amount of time.  My legs hurt due to going from minimal dancing to over 7 hrs in two days, but don't let me fool you into not thinking I'm pleased to be doing this and working on these particular dances. 

So how did I join accidentally?  I was wandering around the deserted parts of AUC that no one hangs out in, as per usual, and happened to be walking by the dance studio when I saw someone doing tahtib or a man's stick dance from upper Egypt.  So of course I stuck my head in after going back and forth in my mind about it for awhile, and asked the group inside how I could get the room unlocked so I could practice sometime, which is something I've been wondering for awhile. The girl whose attention I got told me you  had to be a student organization--bummer!  Oh well, nevermind, but since I had a bunch of free time at that moment I asked if I could stay and watch their practice, which I ended up doing and then being persuaded into joining once I let slip I had studied with Reda himself last summer at Nile Group.  The trainer (who spoke no English) told me to come back the next practice, so I assumed I was pretty much in.

Thus begins my re-entry into studying Reda folkloric style, which is always fun and a good challenge.  He has some lovely choreographies, and I do like the style more now that I "get it" from living in Egypt and seeing him teach.  When I first took a workshop with him last summer everyone seemed miffed that we weren't learning "folkloric" style, but then I went and watched videos of the Reda troupe myself.  What everyone at the workshop sniffed at and called "oriental" is actually completely folkore--don't let the elegance, arabesques, and fancy footwork fool you, this is real REDA folkoric style.  As I recall from taking a workshop with Sahra Saeeda (the excellent dance ethnologist and just general authority on much folkloric style due to her research), Reda was always a bit famous for showing a very presentable, elegant style of folkloric dance that would honor the people it was showcasing and not portray them as in any way backward or simple, etc.  Call it controversial or not, this is the style that the Reda troupe is famous for, and it's what I'm studying now and hopefully it can inform my oriental style a bit more too.  In any case it's great practice and really fun, despite struggling through translations and orders given in Arabic!

Nile Group
I went to Nile Group a bit last week with Hallah Moustafa to sell costumes and hang out, which was a good time, aside from the lack of people because everyone typically comes for the June festival. It was actually pretty tragic how few people showed up compared to that one.  It seems that Nile Group has perhaps stretched itself too far, because the vibe just wasn't as fun and exciting as the June festival I went to last year which was great because of the masses of people at the opening and closing parties, as well as the totally diverse group of dancers you would be with in a workshop.

Just to see a bit of the community, feel like part of an industry was fun though and it was nice to see some familiar faces.  Lots of famous, semi-famous, and wannabe faces glided by over the week which was interesting.  People watching at a dance festival is always good entertainment, if a bit discouraging to see how many big egos are being brandished around in between the few genuine kind souls.  Gaby Shiba was good to see and was as always a total sweetheart, and I was reminded that--helloooo--he has a dance studio just a 10-minute walk away in my own neighborhood if I want private dabke lessons or even oriental style. No idea how I forgot about that when I've been meaning to drop by. Aleya, another American living and working here, was there quite a bit so we got to finally meet offline and face-to-face which was totally fun, and she wore one of Hallah's costumes for the open stage night.  It was great to see Hallah's work as it's meant to be presented on-stage!  I have an article coming out next month maybe on Hallah for Gilded Serpent, so stay tuned!

The last part of my vacation pictures in Abu Simbel are coming soon, just as soon as I can get the internet at home sorted out!

Swine Flu Vacation

Vacation?!
Just as I was getting settled into a regular schedule of classes, private lessons with Hallah Moustafa, and homework the Egyptian government decided to clamp down on the foreign colleges that were open. Apparently all the colleges were supposed to be delayed several weeks in opening because of swine flu, but AUC ignored them at first and now we have had a two-week vacation. This has resulted in general insanity, traveling, and chaos meaning that I haven't exactly felt like sitting down and blogging much.

I suppose it's a good idea in theory to keep people from congregating in a university to reduce the chances of swine flu...but seriously? Every. Single. AUC Student. Is. Going. To. Travel. Did the government and AUC not consider this at all? Not only does that mean they will not be reducing their risks of bringing back the flu to AUC, but that if they have it and don't know yet (or don't care) they'll be spreading it around the country or the world depending how far afield they go. Add that fact to two weeks without Arabic lessons and the disruption of my gear-change back to college mode from lazy-ass-sitting-around-Cairo-all-summer mode and I was PISSED.

Therefore the day they told us, I decided to host an iftar at my house.

Dinner Party
Remember in my last entry the not-so-hot state of my cooking skills? Well, for some reason that I think may be related to being incredibly angry over the vacation, I decided to invite some people over for Iftar or breakfast despite not really having cooked for other people in my life. During Ramadan you have Iftar right at sunset when you break your fast for the day, and things had worked out that I had attended only one here during Ramadan so I figured I would have my own.

Another AUC study abroad student invited me to her place and I was unable to attend, so I invited her and her room mates over, so that was three people. Tim was of course invited, along with Autumn and Carolyn's friend Andrew. I ran into a friend from Economics class at AUC that day who was just as distressed about the vacation as me, and wasn't sure what to do with himself so I invited him and his friend over too. I texted Ramy on the way home, who inquired in disbelief if I was cooking or ordering food before he said he would come straight from work to help me cook. Add me and my roomies and suddenly I was hosting an 11-person dinner. Whoops! Oh well!

I did a massive grocery shopping trip on the way home, which is a major feat here as we live a couple blocks from the grocery store and thus insist on just carrying everything home instead of having it delivered. It can get to be very heavy, sweaty work in 90 degree heat. I forgot a few items, including dates and milk for the traditional style of breaking the fast, so I was leaving to go out again when I ran into Ramy on the steps of my building carrying a bag. What was in the bag? Oh, dates and milk of course! That boy seriously does read my mind on occasion.

All things considered it went great, but I couldn't have done it without Autumn, Carolyn, and Ramy traipsing in and out of the kitchen to lend many helping hands. Dinner was served slightly late, the ma7shy wasn't quite great, but everything else seemed like it was tasty and we rounded off the evening eating chocolate chip cookies while everyone figured out where they were going for break.

Having just ordered a $900 costume from Hallah Moustafa I resolved to remain in Cairo and save my cash, so I politely listened to these vacation plans until it got too frustrating and went to clean up the plates and the kitchen. The rest day I woke up to a deserted apartment as my roomies had headed out to Jordan.

Sharm El Sheikh
Well, okay I meant not to go on vacation and spend money...buuut...after being bored in Cairo for a week I was worn down enough to be convinced to go along with my roomies to Sharm for the weekend and stay in the five-star comfort of the Sheraton resort there for Carolyn's birthday. Hats off to my mother for this one for helping me out financially a bit so that I was persuaded to go! I am so, so glad I did go because it was beautiful, relaxing, and considerably better than tromping around the apartment for a few days and bitching at my boyfriend on the phone about how I was bored!

The place had like 8 swimming pools, several of which have their own swim-up bars. I never knew I particularly liked swim-up bars until this trip, but then I went nuts on them! There's something about sipping a mojito not just beside the pool but IN the pool that tickles my fancy I guess!

Staying in Sharm was well...like being at a resort. We swam in the ocean, then laid on the beach in chaise lounges, then migrated to the main pool, then the lower main pool, then the pool bar, then the poolside restaurant, then one of the other pools with a cave and a waterfall (and a bar!) then one of the five-star restaurants...rise, repeat pretty much. The Sheraton was gorgeous, and really an unusual design for a hotel. The thing is sort of situated on a shallow cliff above the sea, so the hotel lobby sits on the cliff, and is wrapped around a man-made grotto in the center rimmed with a network of wooden walkways and pavillions--it really is totally cool! What confused us is that because the lobby sits on the cliff (along with the resort areas and villas which make the complex soooo huge), you go downstairs to go to your rooms, which line the facing of the cliff down to the beach level. It's a neat and unusual design that I found very refreshing, because in Cairo the hotels simply go UP, because they have nowhere else to go!

I was shocked at how much everything looked like Hawaii there, and am pretty sure everyone got sick of my remarks to that point. It seriously weirded me out though, because even the plants looked straight out of Hawaii, not to mention the beautiful tropical fish we observed in the sea! Here we are, on the Red Sea on the other side of the world from Hawaii and I was so surprised to see fish that looked exactly like the rainbow, iridescent, fuscia-faced fish I had seen as a child in Honolulu! There were a few different varieties hanging out in the shallows at the beach, forming a swirling treasure trove of color that got close but not quite close enough for Ramy to grab one like he wanted.

Ramy and I grudgingly returned to Cairo from our lovely weekend outing a couple days ago so that he and I could go back to work, and yesterday my roomies arrived back after visiting Mt. Sinai which apparently was great.

I probably have more to say and update since my last post, but I have to write a couple things for Gilded Serpent so it's over and out for now--stay tuned!

Costumes and Alexandria

Alexandria:
I ran away to the beach again this week, which I'm sure is hardly a big surprise by now. I don't think I've managed to stay in Cairo for more than about 2 weeks solid here, but this time was great! I spent the days on the beaches, the nights in cafes, and lots of time just hanging out with my friend who dragged me along. It was a lovely little vacation!

The beaches were a little crowded and it was definitely boiling out during the day, but the sea was perfect and at night it was great to just walk along the shore when things were more quiet. Apparently this time of year is popular with Egyptians looking to go on vacation somewhere nice. It IS nice too, the beaches have lovely white sand and the water is perfect if a bit choppy. If you like seafood, I also hear the best thing is to kick back on the beach with some Alexandrian fish...but for me I was sticking to chicken as I'm "just not a fish person," as I had to explain over and over to different people.

The train back was a good idea too, I definitely recommend it! Air conditioned, kinda quiet, and I was actually able to nap even. This is a major point to note as normally anything that moves over like 10 miles an hour renders me sleepless! When we were at the station it looked like there were trains going back to cairo every hour give or take, so even if you miss one you can hit up a cafe across the street for a little bit while you wait.

Of course when I got back to Cairo I was definitely getting antsy to get some stuff done!


Mamdouh:
Finally I have been not too sick and not too lazy to go visit one of my favorite designers: Mamdouh Salama!

I made friends with one of the designers that works with Mamdouh at Nile Group, which was forever ago, and had been kicking around the idea of trying to go find their workshop for awhile. I had the address (12 Ahmed El-Melehy St. in Dokki) and Hathem's phone # but had just somehow gotten too tied up with traveling and getting into a new relationship to get off my lazy butt and go visit them. Out of the blue Hathem texted me to see if I was still interested in coming by, which was enough to make me jump up the next day and head over to Dokki!

Just to forewarn everyone, the place is freaking hard for taxis to find. I jumped in a cab and got Hathem to give directions, but the poor cabbie still got lost along the way and then I got a bit lost trying to find the building. Definitely call ahead to get directions (Hathem speaks some English and is super helpful) before you go!

The shop is really nice, and definitely has more of a showroom feel than places like Eman Zaki's that feel like more like a factory. Hathem got us drinks and we hung out in the living room (most costumers take over an entire flat, so you end up with all the ammenities of a house) and chatted about their new collection and getting me a dance contract. Yes, I am starting to search now, but that's for a post all of itself I think! I viewed their current line that they were showing at Nile Group and AWS, but I had told Hathem before that I really don't like wearing costumes that other people own copies of. I have to be in love with a costume to buy it and I want it to feel unique and special. It's part of my very limited funds that I can't just throw around money buying costumes that don't feel completely right. So I showed him some of my own designs and he said I should just design something myeslf and they would make it happen! Since then I've been pawing through their collection online and the designs up on Belly Dance Store trying to figure out exactly what I want and get an idea of how I can get the most out of their style.

In an interesting coincidence, when I got home I saw that Ozma of Japan had posted on her blog saying she had traded a costume to Amber (a dancer I'm pretty sure I've met before in Seattle, but that's another story) in exchange for a Mamdouh. I don't think the post is public, but she is saying that while she likes some things about the Mamdouh she has now, the workmanship leaves something to be desired, and that Mamdouh produces the type of costumes that are fun to wear a few times but don't hold up over time. I can't say myself per say since I haven't owned a Mamdouh before, but it raised an interesting dialogue in my head about costuming in general.

I am so, so sick and tired of classically beautiful "princessy" costumes right now. Maybe it's just the phase I'm at in life and in dancing but I want something really kind of sassy and ghetto at the moment--maybe I'm missing oakland! I've always been a little more flash over function I guess, but Ozma's comment made me think about what I'm looking for in costumes lately. Which is great as I'm probably going to buy more costumes in my time in Egypt than I have since I started dancing, so I want to know what I want. Yes, I am a working dancer, but I don't find myself caring too much how long a costume is going to last as much as how larger-than-life I feel in it when I'm doing a performance. For crying out loud I made a costume out of stark WHITE lyra with gold and white FEATHERS sticking out of it...clearly it's not durability and longevity I'm looking for in my costumes! Why am I willing to sacrifice durability for looks? Because costumes are obviously an essential part of making ourselves into a dancer, but also because if you want to be a larger-than-life dancer you have to look the part and chances are you don't want people to see you in that same over-the-top costume more than a couple times anyway. Plus, sometimes durability and longevity ARE mutually exclusive if you really want something unique--not always, and it's great when they coincide, but still. Not only that, but I know that I personally use costumes to support myself in creating a performance...without a unique, crazy costume I don't quite feel the part. It's a crutch for me still in my dance life, because I'll admit that sometimes I still feel like someone pretending to be a pro dancer even though I've been doing this for several years now. Again, what's going on in my head about dance could probably take up an entire extra post, so I'll stop there.

In Egypt I have seen the most ghetto-fabulous-off-the-hook-out-there costumes ever! These girls are NOT wearing bellas, let me tell you! That's something I love about the dancers here, their costumes are unusual, just check out the ones I saw at Nile Goup. fresh, unique, and almost a little too crazy is just how I like my costumes! Get a load of the 3 foot fringe on that black costume of Asmahan's...I mean come on!

HoT Show and VDP Costume Workshop

Wow, what a fun past couple of days!

Friday night was my last show in the US for quite some time featuring Najla and me with House of Tarab, who are not only a fabulous band but some of my favorite people that I try to spend time with whenever I'm in town. As I tell everyone, I feel like they're family to me, and am so glad to be part of their circle of friends!

My family (adopted and biological) all came out--in fact we made up pretty much the entire audience as lots of people seemed to be busy that night. My parents were also there, which was a real treat since they rarely get to see my dance these days as we live two states apart.

HoT didn't care about the limited audience though, they still delivered a fun and engaging show of classic cabaret music that everyone raved about! My family has heard their music before, we all agreed that HoT has made great strides this past year as a group. I have always been moved by their music and they are sounding better than ever now, especially with the inclusion of new member Andy Zadrozny on bass. In addition, my parents were particularly impressed with drummer Erik Brown's skills on the doumbek, remarking that he's sounding, "much sharper and cleaner than ever before."

Sallah Ali performed a wonderfully elegant and soulful violin taqsim, which I'm pretty sure I did not do full justice to, but definitely enjoyed. Stephen Elaimy and David McGrath also played wonderful solo sections, and fed into the great chemistry this group has. I haven't worked with a band as cohesive and with such good group dynamics as HoT. To me, their teamwork and friendship lays the foundation for not only great music, but an engaging attitude that keeps the audience clapping and cheering all night. Everyone there had a blast!

As for my dancing, I ended up somewhat underwhelming myself, but I'm feeling good over all about the show. I've been dancing with the wonderful Georges Lammam Ensemble for the past two years, and it's true that one can get easily attuned to a certain band's style. This can be an advantage, but not always in this case, as I didn't get as tarab-ed out as I was hoping for. Still, I was just happy to see them again and enjoy the company of friends and family! Both my awesome teachers Dahlia and Delilah were there and I was beyond glad for their support! They've both given me a lot over the last few years I've been dancing and are such inspirational dancers--definitely catch any shows of theirs you can!

Here's a short youtube vid of me dancing to HoT's version of Ana Fi Enta Zarek--by the way the costume is one of my original creations, and you can read more about my costuming here



Today, I dropped by Delilah's costume workshop for participants in her group for the Fremont Solstice Parade. The parade is special to me because seeing Delilah's group of over 100 dancers there inspired me to take belly dance lessons myself! I've participated each year since, but as I won't be able to attend the actual event for 2009 I've been popping in to practices and workshops to help out and stay connected. This year the theme for her group is water, and they're coming up with some gorgeous dances so far, including Dahlia's Khaleeji group who will be doing dances from the gulf region.

I was dropping by the workshop to say hi, put in a few words on costuming, and show a few original costumes as well as my portfolio! Here's a sneak look at my portfolio, which will be published online at some point in the future: