An afternoon of Egyptian Dance

Last week, Juliana Brustik together with dance troupe Chic Shake Shock presented a Sunday afternoon of Egyptian Dance and fundraiser for the Raqs Sharqi Society. 

I regularly attended Juliana's workshops for a number of years and was previously a member of her Edinburgh performance group.  Chic Shake Shock I know as a London based dance group that has entertained audiences for 10 years in a variety of arts and community settings.  I have seen this lovely group dance and worked with several of their members at previous Society events and courses, so knew to expect a wonderful afternoon.  Fortunately I had the chance to join them as I was also already down in London, for the Raqs Sharqi Society CPD event for Associate teacher members, which ran the day before. 

Al Malikat

The result was a wonderful informal community showcase, bringing together dancers of all ages to showcase the different types of Egyptian Dance that form the Raqs Sharqi Society style.  Set within the naturally lit space of the back room of the Earl of Chatham pub in South East London, we had cosy respite from the rain beating down outside and a warm crowd of dancers, friends and family across the generations, providing a supportive atmosphere to dance, watch, and be entertained. 

The showcase opened with Juliana's performance group Al Malikat, performing a skillful Baladi choreography with veil to the tune Gozy.  The three young dancers dressed in eye catching block colours moved around the stage with beautiful patterns and shapes and proved a lovely opening to the show. 

Next up, Maggie and Rebecca from Chic Shake Shock in a break from the Society's form, performed a fun Reda style duet.  This was followed by Sara with her first ever solo, performing a gentle classical piece to Raqs El Gamal by Farid El Atrash.

Sara

 Continuing the classical theme were duet Maggie and Sue performing a floaty veil duet to Mohammed Abdel Wahab's Nebtedi Menin el Hekaya (When did the Story Start).  Then it was my turn to take to the stage with my crowd pleasing Baladi solo to Alla Warag El Foull (the Petals of Jasmine), which I have performed on a number of previous occasions.  Then dancer Caterina followed this with her performance of a cheeky stick dance. 

Maggie and Sue

Closing the first half were Pauline and Doreen with a mesmerizing Baladi accordion duet followed by drum solo.  This was easily my favourite performance of the day, with two amazing women enjoying dancing together with their own unique blend of musicality, chemistry and comic timing. 

Doreen and Pauline

The second half opened with a soulful solo from Pauline to a qanun piece by Imane Homsy, fusing together classical technique with her training in Hilal Dance.  Then Doreen returned, this time for a veil duet with dance partner Brenda.  By this point in the evening Doreen had also built up the biggest and loudest entourage of family, including her children and grandchildren to cheer her on.  Al Malikat then returned to the stage and performed a Baladi piece and drum solo.  After this was an incredibly poised and delicate classical performance by Carmen to Farid El Atrash's Zeina. 

Pauline

The penultimate act was a solo from Juliana Brustik.  Dressed in red with Baladi head veil, Juliana's dance was a sensitive and beautiful choreo-improvisation, using all parts of the dance floor, with soft shapes, different levels and poised arms.  This was then fittingly followed by fellow organisers Chic Shake Shock closing the show with a lively Shaabi group piece to Music of the Ghawazee. 

Juliana

I thoroughly enjoyed this colourful community showcase of Egyptian Dance and especially to see a whole afternoon dedicated to the Raqs Sharqi Society style.  Key choreographic themes for the afternoon were connections between duets and groups, fluidity, and use of floor space, shapes and body direction.  All the performers were also connected through their training, every one having at some point taken lessons with Juliana.  But still, every individual found their own style within this and each stamped their own personalities onto their performances.

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An interview with Om Kalthoum

I've just come across this beautiful interview with Om Kalthoum, recorded just after her concert at the Olympia Théâtre in Paris, in November 1967.  This was the one and only time in her career that she performed outside of the Arab world.  It's a delightful, if short interview with questions asked by a star struck young interviewer.  The Star of the East herself presents as stately, somewhat reserved, entirely modest, and of course overwhelmingly patriotic.



As for the impact of the concert, judge for yourself.   Here is an extract of Om Kalthoum singing Enta Omri, "you are my whole life".  This is also subtitled in English. 



For any dancers new to Om Kalthoum who want to learn more, I should mention the lovely dancers resource complete with recommended listening and You Tube links on Candi's website.

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Classical Music for Egyptian Dance

Some of my students have been asking about which CDs I use in class and where to buy music.

So this blog entry is simply to highlight a handful of my favourite CDs focusing here on Classical Egyptian music, together with some handy links to where you might be able to purchase them from.  I've picked Classical for this blog as I recently used some of the tracks from these albums in my Golden Age workshop.

One of my all time Classical favourites is the "Layali El Sharq Ensemble Live, Classical Egyptian Music for Raqs Sharqi".

This double CD consists of live recordings from the 1980s of the Layali El Sharq Ensemble, a group of Egyptian musicians based in London and brought together by producer Jennifer Carmen, to tour with Egyptian dancer Suraya Hilal.  There are a beautiful selection of tracks to listen or perform to including beautiful songs like Raqs El Gamal, Tamra Henna, compositions by Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Farid El Atrash, and the Rahbani brothers, as well as taqsims and tabla solos. 

I find that the beauty of these recordings is in the balance between the different musicians.  This results in a production so very different from the more modern CDs made for Egyptian dancers which I find to often be overly dominated by percussion and keyboard.  There is simply space to hear the purer melodies of classical instruments like Violin, Qanun, Nai to be heard.

You can order this CD direct from Layali El Sharq Music.  You can also buy this from the Raqs Sharqi Society. 

Another CD I use, which contains live recordings of Classical pieces is called "Jewels".

These tracks are also taken from productions of Suraya Hilal's work, although a slightly later period than the Layali El Sharq album.  And, although there are a number tracks in common for both CDs I consider this to also be a worthy addition to the collection as I find the recordings to be slightly better quality.  You can order this CD from Tanz Raum. 

Hossam Ramzy has also produced some classical CDs.  The version of the song "Aziza" which I used in my workshop comes from the CD "Best of Mohammed Abdul Wahab".

This is a useful CD for some timeless popular tracks which are a good length for performance.  This can be purchased direct from the Hossam Ramzy online store and should be widely available from a number of other UK stockists, including as part of a double CD with the Best of Om Kolthoum, available from Aladdin's Cave.  

Finally, one of my brand new purchases is a live recording from a concert and Dance performance in Paris by Raqs Sharqi dancers Anne Benveniste and Lillian Malki - un "hommage à Mohamed Abdel Wahab".

This is a box set containing a DVD and CD.  I have listened to the CD over and over as it contains some beautiful versions of a number of classic tracks like Enta Omri and We Daret al Ayam.  This production is available to purchase direct from Anne, although I bought my copy from the Raqs Sharqi Society. 

Happy listening!

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A spring in my step - inspired dancing to live musicians

I'm just come back from Spring school, feeling inspired by the music and stars of the Golden Age.

Spring School is a course for Professional and Advanced dancers, run by Juliana Brustik and Judy Hammond, two of the senior teachers of the Raqs Sharqi Society.

This was set in the grounds of Haileybury College, a Hertfordshire boarding school with an uncanny resemblance to Hogwarts.  I joined a group of 24 women for four days of intense training including body work, improvisation, performance skills, video, tabla and dancing to live music.

This year we explored classical Egyptian Dance, drawing heavy influence from the stars of Egypt; Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca and Naima Akif, from 1940s and 1950s era of Egyptian cinema. 

I arrived on the Wednesday evening, just in time for dinner in the College's vast dining room, and this was followed by a welcome and relaxation session led by Judy.  This helped me to get into my body and spine, preparing it for the work to come.

Thursday morning was an early start. Thankfully after a cooked breakfast the first part of the warm up was mostly lying down - some relaxation followed by gentle movement to awaken mobility in the torso, joints and limbs.  Following this, we broke into twos for a quick standing massage, which to helped me to feel tall whilst still connected to the earth.  And after this we started to dance. 

Juliana and Judy made an efficient teaching tag team with seamless handovers to take us through the morning workshop. We worked on steps to create flow in the classical dance, we moved around the room, weaving and allowing the spine to lead the movement in the upper body and arms.  Samia Gamal leg lifts and turns were Incorporated to add drama to the dance, and then we focused on a single piece, the first part of Nebtedi Menen el Hakaya - a beautiful Abdel Halim Hafiz song by Mohammed Adel Wahab.  The music was taken from the new live recording "Hommage a Mohamed Abdel Wahab".  

In the afternoon, we were split into two groups.  I went along for the workshop with Judy which was all about the spine.  This is always the central theme in Judy's classes, a teacher with training both in Raqs Sharqi and Alexander Technique, with over 20 years experience.  It was good to explore the movement coming from the centre, as we worked with the support of a partner to find the dance and express the music with upper body.  The addition of small balloons, held in the palm of our hands for part of the workshop, made an interesting prop that reflects a somewhat experimental approach to teaching. 

After dinner,  I took the chance to go to a tabla (darabuka) class with Tim Garside, one of the foremost Arabic style percussionists in the UK.  Tim taught with a great deal of patience and a touch of deadpan humour.  With the din that we created, I couldn't even hear what I was playing (probably a good thing), but it was certainly amazing fun.  After this, there were videos to watch in the common room and a chance to relax and have fun with the rest of the girls - and I even came away with some really handy tips from some of the other teachers on the course.

Friday took the same format as the previous day, but in the afternoon I attended Juliana's workshop.  We started in the common room in small groups analysing and interpreting video footage of Samia, Tahia and Naima.  Then inspired by the greats, we put on some more glamorous attire and went through to the dance hall to work on the playful and sensual side of the dance.

Friday night was party night, but before that was our second tabla class where we put together a short group performance for later on, we made quite a sound.  Tim played Tabla for us at the party, and and a few of us took a turn to perform a piece.  Highlights included a lovely duet between Kim Hall dancing to her 12 year old daughter Poppy playing tabla and a beautiful duet from Italian dancers Federica and Paolo.  I also really enjoyed Lise Szwann's stick dance, Pauline Blackwood's classical piece, and a hilarious character piece by Maggie.  I performed too and with no chance to practice beforehand, chose to improvise to Tahtill Shibbak - one of my favourite songs.  I really enjoyed dancing to such a supportive audience. 

Saturday morning we awoke in eager anticipation for the arrival of our musicians, Emile Bassili on violin, Gamal Awadi on keyboard, Abdul Sahklam on oud and Tim Garside on tabla and reqq.  And with a bit of persuasion Gamal's son and Poppy also joined in the percussion.  A six piece ensemble, playing just for us!  The musician's played Nebtedi for us and we practiced the moves we learnt earlier in the week, with Juliana leading us through the dancing.  We also danced to some out of this world violin and oud taqsims. 

In the afternoon there were some solo opportunities and I took the chance to improvise a small solo.  As I've never had the experience of dancing to live oud before, I selected to dance an oud taqsim.  I let the gentle tones of the oud music inhabit my body and experienced the interaction between dancer and musician.  Wow, what an incredible and exhilarating experience! 

This video of Juliana leading the dancing shows a small window into the day:

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Flirting with tradition

I had a wonderful evening at the Filmhouse tonight, watching the Egyptian film Ghazal el Banat (The Flirtation of Girls). This is a 1940s Egyptian comedy musical with a story that could easily translate to a Hollywood setting - but with an emotional intensity in the acting and characterisation that could only be reflective of Egyptian cinema and culture.

The film features Leila Mourad, a hugely popular Egyptian singer who was of Jewish origin. A beautiful opening sequence features Leila (who happened to be playing a girl called Leila) riding through the forest with her friends singing Etmakhtari Ya Khail (Sing and Dance with the Horses).

Here it is:



It also starred the great comic actor Naguib el Rihani, who incidentally was married to Badia Masabny - the founder of the famous nightclub which featured dancers like Samia Gamal and Tahia Carioca.

Comedy sequences, chorus girls that appear out of nowhere to tapdance in stilletos, the beautiful sound of Egyptian Arabic, music, poetry and song, all given a sensitive translation, made this film an utter delight.

There was also an appearance of Mohammed Abdel el Wahab who strangely happens to be rehearsing at two o' clock in the morning, along with his 100 piece orchestra complete with choir, inside the house of film director Youssef Wahbi.

You can read a particularly nice review of the film here.

Thanks to Neill Walker at the Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace, and the Filmhouse for bringing this film to Edinburgh. Merci!


Photo shows Leila Mourad

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