...an excellent combination for the week! I decided to really pile it on during and now post-Nile Group. I'm down to about two and a half weeks now, so I'm going to go hard with the dance lessons until I head out!
Shareen El Safy
I met Shareen at Nile Group through Hallah Moustafa, who studied with her back in California in the day. It was interesting, because she's told me about Shareen and I've been studying Shareen's technique through Hallah in a way. I was glad to meet the lady herself finally, and we spent a lot of time together during Nile Group chatting, hanging out, and me helping to decipher her new cell phone.
I took a private lesson with her during the insane Nile Group week up in her spacious hotel room to try it out and see if I wanted to try and catch more classes with her when we're both back in California, since she's down in Santa Barbara. It was a really interesting lesson, and I would definitely recommend her to anyone interested in getting at the heart of real Egyptian dance. She talks about the body in a way that is pretty unique, and again was something that reminded me of Alexander Technique with her descriptions of directing the energy in one's body and the energetic relationship between the different parts of the anatomy.
Shareen's technique involves a differentiation between skeletal movements and muscle movements, but not in the so literal way of the Suhaila butt-shimmy. What she's talking about is not just dancing by moving the bones into the right form, but having the muscles active and supporting the movement on a different level. This has, in my case, a lot to do with moving with "purpose" instead of just going through the skeletal motions. I enjoyed her discussion also of different ways of using the muscles in something as simple as walking on to the stage.
One other thing that Shareen talked to me about concerning movements is the preparation that comes before the movement itself. She was saying Egyptian dancers actually do the preparation and then the step, and they may show it clearly or not depending on the styling. It's a deliberate thing, that that sort of fed into what Farida Fahmy was speaking about in her workshop of how Egyptian dancers keep a "flow" in their dancing instead of moving in chopped up steps. It's a whole series of movement, not just individual movements, and I think the preparation plus the movement means there is more continuity. The other purpose it seems to serve is when you have a real belly dance drummer watching your every move in order to play the accents with the dancer. They then have the preparation and the movement itself to watch, which gives them more information about how the dancer is moving and how they will accent the rhythm. Interesting stuff...I will definitely be trying to corner Shareen for some private lessons back in California.
I did take her workshop as well at Nile Group which was a great choreography to Alf Leila, and I liked her enough to buy her DVD which I usually never, ever do! Will be writing about the workshop in my Nile Group report for Gilded Serpent!
Freiz
Everyone who goes to Nile Group Festival knows who Freiz is. She, Abou Shebika, and Aida Nour run the whole deal, but Freiz is kind of the big mama, the older, semi-retired dancer, the one who sits through all the shows every night until 5am cheering everyone on. I always liked Freiz, she seemed like a no BS, real down-home, Baladi girl with a big attitude but piles of sweetness. I decided it was about time to catch a lesson with her, so I did a a couple this week.
I arrived at her place in Mohandiseen right on time for my first lesson, and the place was luckily easy to find. I was ushered into her huge flat by her very quiet son, and the lady herself soon came out to kiss my cheeks, offer me a drink (I was swiftly cornered and told to drink tea so it wasn't exactly an 'offer' as one might think), and chit chat a bit in her limited English and my limited Arabic about the festivals and if was going to "Raqia's festival" Ahlan wa Sahlan. We got along and Freiz seemed to find me amusing to chat with, so we got down to business a bit later after establishing that I wanted to study anything she cared to work on and she smiled, saying we were going to do Shaabi at her suggestion.
We then dove straight into a Shaabi choreography loaded down with quick changes and combinations of moves! Luckily, I was familiar with most of the moves as she assumed, and was able to hold my own. After awhile though my brain began to implode with the sheer amount of choreography I was learning in a short amount of time. The breaks to swig some tea came more frequently with Freiz saying, "no, tea, tea!" if she thought I didn't seem ready to practice more. I was impressed at how much she gave me her full attention though and danced alongside me to show the moves, considering she's not exactly young and a lot of the grand Egyptian dancer figures like her have a reputation for not engaging physically in the private lesson as much as one would hope. Not Freiz, she was there beside me, watching me like a hawk or dancing right next to me holding my hand to emphasize her movements the entire time.
I really enjoyed the choreography as it was quick and clever, but with a very clear sort of chorus combination to bring it home that was solid and spunky. Freiz didn't do a lot of technique instruction for me, but I think that was partially due to the language difficulty. Luckily from training with the AUC folkloric group I know some dance terminology in Arabic, so I understood when she asked things like, "btlefi izzay??" She did show me some ways to make the moves more Shaabi, after shaking her head at me for being, "too oriental" a few times and shaking her finger at my foot pointing. That was helpful to see and encouraged me to get a taste of the Shaabi flavor from a real Egyptian, which I think will prove invaluable. If anyone plans on taking lessons with her, don't let her stern facial expressions fool you, she's actually pretty sweet.
To sum up, Freiz is excellent for choreography, and actually I made up my mind to take classes with her because she did several of the choreographies I saw in the opening and closing shows at Nile Group. I remember chatting with her daughter, saying that I found Camelia's shamadan segment of her show to be the best, when Su laughed and said, "well, actually my mother did that one!" She's got a great ear for the structure of the music and putting together clever combinations which I like, and if you have a pretty good eye you can pick up some of her Shaabi styling. Not only that, but because she choreographs for some big names, she is one of the sources of contemporary trends on the Cairo dance scene so it's important to go right to the source to see what's new in moves, styling, and music choices.
To other English-speaking dancers, be a bit warned that her English isn't fantastic, which led to some confusion at times, but she does make herself understood if she wants to. Su, her oldest daughter, translates at the lessons if you have one at a time she's awake and not at university, and her English is excellent. Her lessons are at her flat in Mohandiseen which is fairly easy to find on a major street, and she treats guests with Eygptian hospitality of course. She expects you to take tea or coffee and it's a bit rude to refuse, and she'll make sure you have biscuits or fruit after the lesson, saying, "eat, eat!" until she feels you're sufficiently stuffed of snacks and dance.
Still to come, a meeting with Karim Nagi and some great music discussion, and a lesson with Randa Kamel!
Showing posts with label Nile Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nile Group. Show all posts
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Return to Nile Group
I attended Nile Group Festival in full again this week, opening, closing, weeknight parties, workshops and all. I will be writing a review of the event and everything on Gilded Serpent soon--it was a big week so it may take a little time! Great festival though, I love the teachers and the atmosphere of all the organizers, teachers, and their students being a big family. Wonderful stuff!
I'd like to share with you one experience I won't include in my recap for Gilded Serpent, because this is an especially vulnerable experience I had, but I want to share it here on the blog. It was very interesting to be sure.
I danced in the second dance party on Saturday night, which I've been semi-frantically trying to practice for the last couple of weeks. In a way it was supposed to be a sort of culmination of the technique I've been studying with Hallah for the last months, so I was hoping to pull everything together and do a great show for the five minutes I would be granted in between masses of other girls and their friends taping them. The open dance evenings are always set up so the girls with the CDs dance first and then the band, which usually ends up playing on into the not-so-early hours of the morning, so I was prepared to be up quite late.
After ranks of girls from around the world showcasing their hottest moves and costumes, I was beginning to get a bit hungry after the band finished setting up by about 1:30am. By 2:00 I went to change and found out the order of the dancers had been changed around and so we were all getting on the list again, first-come-first-serve. I waited around in costume, slowly crumpling with hunger and tiredness, as some people wimped out as time rolled on from 3:00 to 3:30, and those of us who were still to dance kept on our game faces and shimmied around to warm up.
It was around 4:00 when they called my name, and I waited through the first opening bars of Lissa Fakir. I tried to let myself fill up with energy to that special, tingly, brimming, performance-ready place before I slowly walked out and up on to the stage.
The stage lights combined with those from the video camera guys were blinding, which always seems to make me instinctively look down, but I did my best to not bow to the assault on my tired eyeballs and keep my head up and smiling as I began to move. It felt difficult, draggy, and something was not quite clicking. I couldn't get the reverberation in my locks that I had practiced over and over at home, and my floor patterns felt repetitive and uncreative. I did things I hadn't rehearsed, and left out moves I had really wanted to use. I felt small out there alone with the wooden stage reflecting the lights back at me so I could barely see Madame Friez and Abu Shebika smiling at me like they so graciously do at everyone, all night. In my loneliness I knew my posture was collapsing, I was breaking my back posture in a habit I've tried for years to get rid of it. I tried to bring my arms up, keep the light, airy feeling of the song, but I honestly can't remember whether I succeeded or not.
I looked at the band, hoping for some anchor, some encouragement, some feeling. I always try to "feel" the music as my inspiration and listen to what it says, but in this case I couldn't connect. I imagined, from seeing many other dancers in Egypt and their bands, that dancing with a real Egyptian band would feel powerful and uplifting and encouraging, almost like riding an avalanche with that amount of power behind you. Instead, we politely smiled at each other and I felt nothing but polite indifference and fatigue from playing for hours on end. Even though there were smiles, there was no connection, and I couldn't grab on to any performance personality of substance, besides kind of classically pretty and emotive.
I did not impress any one, and most definitely not myself. Suddenly it was over, and they were not playing me a drum solo, like they do for the best dancers, but simply playing me off.
I went and grabbed my camera from my friend, feeling horrified and let down about my performance, and brushed off the compliments people kindly offered. I knew I was capable of better dancing, I had rehearsed several times and done good work back at home and at Hallah's studio. I didn't understand what had went wrong, and felt helpless and discouraged. I changed and plopped down in the dressing room to ponder on a forgiving sofa.
I realized I was starving. It was after 4 am. I looked around at other dancers when I crept back into the hall, tired and haggard-looking but hanging in there for their chance at a dance with the band. We were all just doing our best, everyone wanted everyone else to do well, and it WAS hard to stay up that late and dance well on an empty stomach. I wanted to be hard on myself, and I think I was, but I ended up forgiving myeslf a little bit for not giving the most riveting performance. Let's be honest, I haven't been on stage actually since I came to Egypt a year ago, so I am unsurprisingly rusty outside of rehearsal.
I watched the video later, and I found my dancing to be not great, but decent and passable. Maybe that's enough for me for now, but I am still disappointed. However, it was humbling to be reminded that I'm not the hot shot yet, I'm a student and I'm supposed to be here to soak up all the learning I can. We're all on a dance journey, and right now I'm in a particular place where I can't dance on stage at the level I want, so I will keep working. Intellectually everything is there, which is at least a step. It's in my private rehearsals too, so that's another step. I understand how I want to be dancing, and my body is starting to absorb my new learning (its been a whole week of new learning!) but it hasn't become second-nature yet to the point where I can get up on stage that tired and hungry and just do it. This is the goal I think, accustom and teach the body a new way of doing things, so that no matter how crazy the circumstances it can move beautifully and naturally with the technique I've been working on.
The main thing I need is self-confidence, which has been a slippery subject for me. While Cairo has toughened me up in some ways, it's also made me realize how young I am, that 20 actually isn't that old really. Amusingly, the memory flashed up after my performance of how a close friend in his 30s did call me a fetus awhile back just before I left for Egypt. I still have a lot more living to go through though for sure, and a lot more experiences to have, so I don't get to magically jump the line and have tons of self-confidence and assurance about the world because I am still exploring who I am as a person and a dancer. That's fine, I've been trying to embrace that and half self-confidence while in motion on my exploration of myself, which is definitely a work in progress.
Well, Nile Group is over, and that was probably the most personally intense part of it, but the journey continues. After the show I rode home across town in a taxi with some Oum Kalthoum music playing. The sky began to lighten gradually over the bright, neon lights of Cairo, which pierce the darkness until all the club-goers are ready to have a smoke and head home. I sipped on some tea the driver offered me and tried to just relax and enjoy where I am, because what else is there to do when you find yourself in Cairo?
I'd like to share with you one experience I won't include in my recap for Gilded Serpent, because this is an especially vulnerable experience I had, but I want to share it here on the blog. It was very interesting to be sure.
I danced in the second dance party on Saturday night, which I've been semi-frantically trying to practice for the last couple of weeks. In a way it was supposed to be a sort of culmination of the technique I've been studying with Hallah for the last months, so I was hoping to pull everything together and do a great show for the five minutes I would be granted in between masses of other girls and their friends taping them. The open dance evenings are always set up so the girls with the CDs dance first and then the band, which usually ends up playing on into the not-so-early hours of the morning, so I was prepared to be up quite late.
After ranks of girls from around the world showcasing their hottest moves and costumes, I was beginning to get a bit hungry after the band finished setting up by about 1:30am. By 2:00 I went to change and found out the order of the dancers had been changed around and so we were all getting on the list again, first-come-first-serve. I waited around in costume, slowly crumpling with hunger and tiredness, as some people wimped out as time rolled on from 3:00 to 3:30, and those of us who were still to dance kept on our game faces and shimmied around to warm up.
It was around 4:00 when they called my name, and I waited through the first opening bars of Lissa Fakir. I tried to let myself fill up with energy to that special, tingly, brimming, performance-ready place before I slowly walked out and up on to the stage.
The stage lights combined with those from the video camera guys were blinding, which always seems to make me instinctively look down, but I did my best to not bow to the assault on my tired eyeballs and keep my head up and smiling as I began to move. It felt difficult, draggy, and something was not quite clicking. I couldn't get the reverberation in my locks that I had practiced over and over at home, and my floor patterns felt repetitive and uncreative. I did things I hadn't rehearsed, and left out moves I had really wanted to use. I felt small out there alone with the wooden stage reflecting the lights back at me so I could barely see Madame Friez and Abu Shebika smiling at me like they so graciously do at everyone, all night. In my loneliness I knew my posture was collapsing, I was breaking my back posture in a habit I've tried for years to get rid of it. I tried to bring my arms up, keep the light, airy feeling of the song, but I honestly can't remember whether I succeeded or not.
I looked at the band, hoping for some anchor, some encouragement, some feeling. I always try to "feel" the music as my inspiration and listen to what it says, but in this case I couldn't connect. I imagined, from seeing many other dancers in Egypt and their bands, that dancing with a real Egyptian band would feel powerful and uplifting and encouraging, almost like riding an avalanche with that amount of power behind you. Instead, we politely smiled at each other and I felt nothing but polite indifference and fatigue from playing for hours on end. Even though there were smiles, there was no connection, and I couldn't grab on to any performance personality of substance, besides kind of classically pretty and emotive.
I did not impress any one, and most definitely not myself. Suddenly it was over, and they were not playing me a drum solo, like they do for the best dancers, but simply playing me off.
I went and grabbed my camera from my friend, feeling horrified and let down about my performance, and brushed off the compliments people kindly offered. I knew I was capable of better dancing, I had rehearsed several times and done good work back at home and at Hallah's studio. I didn't understand what had went wrong, and felt helpless and discouraged. I changed and plopped down in the dressing room to ponder on a forgiving sofa.
I realized I was starving. It was after 4 am. I looked around at other dancers when I crept back into the hall, tired and haggard-looking but hanging in there for their chance at a dance with the band. We were all just doing our best, everyone wanted everyone else to do well, and it WAS hard to stay up that late and dance well on an empty stomach. I wanted to be hard on myself, and I think I was, but I ended up forgiving myeslf a little bit for not giving the most riveting performance. Let's be honest, I haven't been on stage actually since I came to Egypt a year ago, so I am unsurprisingly rusty outside of rehearsal.
I watched the video later, and I found my dancing to be not great, but decent and passable. Maybe that's enough for me for now, but I am still disappointed. However, it was humbling to be reminded that I'm not the hot shot yet, I'm a student and I'm supposed to be here to soak up all the learning I can. We're all on a dance journey, and right now I'm in a particular place where I can't dance on stage at the level I want, so I will keep working. Intellectually everything is there, which is at least a step. It's in my private rehearsals too, so that's another step. I understand how I want to be dancing, and my body is starting to absorb my new learning (its been a whole week of new learning!) but it hasn't become second-nature yet to the point where I can get up on stage that tired and hungry and just do it. This is the goal I think, accustom and teach the body a new way of doing things, so that no matter how crazy the circumstances it can move beautifully and naturally with the technique I've been working on.
The main thing I need is self-confidence, which has been a slippery subject for me. While Cairo has toughened me up in some ways, it's also made me realize how young I am, that 20 actually isn't that old really. Amusingly, the memory flashed up after my performance of how a close friend in his 30s did call me a fetus awhile back just before I left for Egypt. I still have a lot more living to go through though for sure, and a lot more experiences to have, so I don't get to magically jump the line and have tons of self-confidence and assurance about the world because I am still exploring who I am as a person and a dancer. That's fine, I've been trying to embrace that and half self-confidence while in motion on my exploration of myself, which is definitely a work in progress.
Well, Nile Group is over, and that was probably the most personally intense part of it, but the journey continues. After the show I rode home across town in a taxi with some Oum Kalthoum music playing. The sky began to lighten gradually over the bright, neon lights of Cairo, which pierce the darkness until all the club-goers are ready to have a smoke and head home. I sipped on some tea the driver offered me and tried to just relax and enjoy where I am, because what else is there to do when you find yourself in Cairo?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wedding Bells
This post is brought to you courtesy of "GOAL!" cafe down the street from me. Thank god for their free wireless, because this marks day 3 or 4 that we have had no internet at home. We have started the process of hassling the bawwabs at home, which my friend Mina says may work out in the end providing we continue to get on their case for a few more days. Insha'allah.
My Nile Group review I have decided will just be the official one I give to Gilded Serpent! No need to write two different versions of the same thing it seems like, so I will post a link when it's up...I'm still writing it of course.
What have I been up to since the last update...
The "regular" exploits
Hanging out in the cafe is a norm for us these days. Usually I can be seen at this cafe about once (or twice!) a day or every other day by now, sipping my Lipton tea with a ton of sugar and enjoying the air conditioning. It's a nice little place, with shisha pipes and cute waiters all around who now greet us with smiles and handslaps. It's about half-and-half English and Arabic spoken here as we are near to the Zamalek AUC dorms and many foreign students come here to hang out. Directly behind me right now there are two Egyptian guys speaking heavily accented English with a girl who sounds Australian for example, and there's some platinum blond hair glinting off to the left. Arabic music videos, much to my enjoyment, are played constantly on the big TV when there isn't a soccer game on! I was amused to just hear a pop version of one of my favorite Fayrouz songs, "Zourouni."
When we're joined by my various Egyptian friends (mostly students and their buddies) we usually engage in some backgammon, which results in hilarious bets as they love to up the risk factor a bit, especially since I'm new to the game! My friend Islam just lost the other night to my flatmate Kara, so he has to take us on a dinner cruise tonight with a GOOD belly dancer. We're quite excited--when he lost the whole cafe was staring at us for screaming and carrying on!
On the fly a couple nights ago at the cafe we decided to hop in the car and speed over to the Corniche--the street that fronts The Nile on the downtown side--to catch a felucca and sail the river at 1am! Pictures are forthcoming, but let me tell you that it involved some clambering over cobblestones and then outright rocks by the waters edge in 4" heels on my part! I could only have done with with the gracious help of Islam's friend accompanying us who ensured my impractical footwear didn't lead to my doom. That's what you get when you do things on a whim!
AUC
Completely failed regarding going there this week because my friend called me at 8:30 AM (beyond early for Egyptians) and asked if I still wanted to come as he was going to leave 6 October shortly. Needless to say I barely answered the phone with a modicum of grace, having been out until 3am (typical for Egyptians) the night before, and therefore attempted to politely decline as opposed to demanding if he was completely insane.
Will retry an AUC visit on Monday, stay tuned.
Wedding!
Abdu, our gracious friend who picked Kara and I up from the airport two weeks ago (!) now had extended an invite to us for a friend's wedding last week, but I had no idea what a grand affair it would be! We drove out to Heliopolis (near the airport) last night in absolutely crushing rush hour traffic, which was not so fun, as was waiting around for a couple hours because Abdu sometimes forgets that 8:30 in Egyptian time is bound to be more like 10:30, but once things got going it was a total blast!
The zeffa is a traditional part of the wedding party, where drummers and dancers usually put on a special show for guests and to escort the couple into the reception hall. You can see some pictures of zeffa performers here, courtesy of Amina Goodyear and the Aswan dancers. This zeffa was lovely and incorportaed a tannoura, as well as drummers, and saiidi dancers. Once we were IN the hall, a popular singer ("from TV!" as Abdu said) Amina took the stage with a horde of about 20 male backup/go-go dancers to lead us all in some loud, crazy music, dancing, and general revelry. As foreigners we were the center of attention, and Amina pulled Kara up in front of everyone, having her give a mini-interview over the mic! Then we both were pushed into the center of the group to make fools
of ourselves with saiidi stick dancing...pictures and videos of which I'm sure will be circulating around soon enough! "Silly foreign girls being idiots with sticks," or something like that. We had a complete blast, dancing and carrying on until the huge buffet!
What we were most struck and touched by was how hospitable and welcoming everyone at the wedding was, even in the face of our obvious stand-outishness. On the contrary, because we stood out as foreigners (and because we hadn't brought any fancy clothes to
wear) we were even more welcomed and encouraged to participate. The bride was so friendly to us, even having us stand in the big group photos, that how could we not enjoy ourselves? We had a fun evening, and returned home in a great appreciation both for Abdu inviting us and for being treated so well.
Well, if you're still following so far, it is time for me to return to my flat and prepare for the dinner cruise! I'm sure I will have something to say about it, but it will probably have to wait a few days if my internet at the flat still isn't up.
My Nile Group review I have decided will just be the official one I give to Gilded Serpent! No need to write two different versions of the same thing it seems like, so I will post a link when it's up...I'm still writing it of course.
What have I been up to since the last update...
The "regular" exploits
Hanging out in the cafe is a norm for us these days. Usually I can be seen at this cafe about once (or twice!) a day or every other day by now, sipping my Lipton tea with a ton of sugar and enjoying the air conditioning. It's a nice little place, with shisha pipes and cute waiters all around who now greet us with smiles and handslaps. It's about half-and-half English and Arabic spoken here as we are near to the Zamalek AUC dorms and many foreign students come here to hang out. Directly behind me right now there are two Egyptian guys speaking heavily accented English with a girl who sounds Australian for example, and there's some platinum blond hair glinting off to the left. Arabic music videos, much to my enjoyment, are played constantly on the big TV when there isn't a soccer game on! I was amused to just hear a pop version of one of my favorite Fayrouz songs, "Zourouni."
When we're joined by my various Egyptian friends (mostly students and their buddies) we usually engage in some backgammon, which results in hilarious bets as they love to up the risk factor a bit, especially since I'm new to the game! My friend Islam just lost the other night to my flatmate Kara, so he has to take us on a dinner cruise tonight with a GOOD belly dancer. We're quite excited--when he lost the whole cafe was staring at us for screaming and carrying on!
On the fly a couple nights ago at the cafe we decided to hop in the car and speed over to the Corniche--the street that fronts The Nile on the downtown side--to catch a felucca and sail the river at 1am! Pictures are forthcoming, but let me tell you that it involved some clambering over cobblestones and then outright rocks by the waters edge in 4" heels on my part! I could only have done with with the gracious help of Islam's friend accompanying us who ensured my impractical footwear didn't lead to my doom. That's what you get when you do things on a whim!
AUC
Completely failed regarding going there this week because my friend called me at 8:30 AM (beyond early for Egyptians) and asked if I still wanted to come as he was going to leave 6 October shortly. Needless to say I barely answered the phone with a modicum of grace, having been out until 3am (typical for Egyptians) the night before, and therefore attempted to politely decline as opposed to demanding if he was completely insane.
Will retry an AUC visit on Monday, stay tuned.
Wedding!
Abdu, our gracious friend who picked Kara and I up from the airport two weeks ago (!) now had extended an invite to us for a friend's wedding last week, but I had no idea what a grand affair it would be! We drove out to Heliopolis (near the airport) last night in absolutely crushing rush hour traffic, which was not so fun, as was waiting around for a couple hours because Abdu sometimes forgets that 8:30 in Egyptian time is bound to be more like 10:30, but once things got going it was a total blast!
The zeffa is a traditional part of the wedding party, where drummers and dancers usually put on a special show for guests and to escort the couple into the reception hall. You can see some pictures of zeffa performers here, courtesy of Amina Goodyear and the Aswan dancers. This zeffa was lovely and incorportaed a tannoura, as well as drummers, and saiidi dancers. Once we were IN the hall, a popular singer ("from TV!" as Abdu said) Amina took the stage with a horde of about 20 male backup/go-go dancers to lead us all in some loud, crazy music, dancing, and general revelry. As foreigners we were the center of attention, and Amina pulled Kara up in front of everyone, having her give a mini-interview over the mic! Then we both were pushed into the center of the group to make fools
of ourselves with saiidi stick dancing...pictures and videos of which I'm sure will be circulating around soon enough! "Silly foreign girls being idiots with sticks," or something like that. We had a complete blast, dancing and carrying on until the huge buffet!What we were most struck and touched by was how hospitable and welcoming everyone at the wedding was, even in the face of our obvious stand-outishness. On the contrary, because we stood out as foreigners (and because we hadn't brought any fancy clothes to
wear) we were even more welcomed and encouraged to participate. The bride was so friendly to us, even having us stand in the big group photos, that how could we not enjoy ourselves? We had a fun evening, and returned home in a great appreciation both for Abdu inviting us and for being treated so well. Well, if you're still following so far, it is time for me to return to my flat and prepare for the dinner cruise! I'm sure I will have something to say about it, but it will probably have to wait a few days if my internet at the flat still isn't up.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Doorbells and Dancers
It's been a handful of days now since I hit town, and a big dance festival, Nile Group is starting up, so I'm about due for a blog update!
Here are more views from our flat, just to give an idea of what it's like being here. Egyptians are masters of parallel parking! The major news in the last hour is that my flatmate Kara figured out that the sound (among all the other sounds) that I thought was a loudish bird is actually the doorbell. In
this case it was also a rather miffed electrician guy with a bill so I had to use my very limited Arabic to sort out with the bawwabs that the lady we're subletting for had left money for the bill with a friend who was supposed to give it to one of the bawwabs. In the end, it all got sorted. Luckily I know the words for "friend", "money", and "has," but still had to repeat myself several times to get the point across!Nile Group is a big dance festival that happens here in Cairo a few times a year (I think it's recently increased to four) at the Pyramisa hotel in Dokki. A piece of advice--if going by taxi and the driver doesn't know the Pyramisa, just keep saying Do'ii and then when you get to Midan al Gal'a, which is a giant roundabout look for the biiig Pyramisa sign atop the hotel and then point frantically! I'm not sure of a better way, but that's what we did today. Yesterday when I dropped by to register the taxi driver knew the hotel but dropped me off at the back entrance, so it's all hit and miss really.
The dance festival is fun in that there are people from literally all corners of the world. Chinese dancers are here, as well as girls from Scotland to Brazil. It's an amazingly multi-cultural event, but makes for a bit of a hassle when it comes to registering because the staff speak Arabic with varying levels of English mixed in. Everyone was in pretty good spirits though, since we're here to partake in workshops from the masters of belly dance who are all but legendary no matter where you're from.
Speaking of which, my first workshop was today with Mahmoud Reda, who is extremely venerated and respected in the dance community as one of the fathers of oriental dance and as someone who has presented Egyptian folkloric dances to the international community for the better part of a century. His Reda Troupe is beyond famous and many prominent dancers here are originally Reda-trained. This includes a lovely male dance Kazafy (picture at right)who was kind enough to be demonstrating in the workshop today (along with no less than three other female dancers) for Reda as the man is over 70! Never the less, Reda was definitely still up and about demonstrating the marking for the choreography we learned to the very generically-named song, "Warda" by god knows who. Didn't sound like the sin
ger Warda herself to me! Kazafy and the other dancers were a definite pleasure to watch though, as a ballroom full of over probably 100 foreigners struggled to keep up with the intense series of moves and not bash into eachother. After a 3 hour Reda workshop, let me just say my legs want to go quietly die somewhere dark and cold and I had several other people's sweat on me. It was a lot of fun though, and very enjoyable to get a taste of the Reda style, even though it was oriental and not so folkloric.Afterwards I stumbled out of the Pyramisa, and walked the requisite block away before catching a taxi to avoid being ripped off. Definitely best to stay away from those drivers waiting right out front of 5-star hotels, as they will charge you AT LEAST twice as much as you should be paying! Do NOT tell the doorman you need a taxi, just walk a block or two away and hail one yourself. Hailing a cab in Cairo is as easy as just standing at the edge of the street and looking interested (or lost)!
Yesterday I also went back out to 6 of October to watch the Egyptian soccer team play Brazil. Everyone was joking that Egypt had no chance and would lose like 3-0, but they actually BARELY lost 4-3. In the last two minutes of the game there was a penalty kick for Brazil, otherwise it probably would have been a tie! What a fun match, and I had a blast watching it in the cafe with all these guys around screaming and yelling and jumping around. Apparently in the city you could hear people cheering for the goals from the street. I think I was one of like two women in the place though, and certainly the only westerner so that was interesting. It was lots of fun though, even though twice the power went out and everyone freaked out because we were missing the game. Here's more pics of 6 October just to give you an idea:
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