Here are some fabulous photos by Philip Welsby of my performance at the
NADA AGM with the Baladi Blues Ensemble, in Lancashire last week.
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| Dancing at the NADA AGM, Lancashire |
The pictures also show off my new Baladi dress by costumier
Wendy Holyer. I love how it turned out, especially the sleeves. The main fabric is from
my recent trip to Goldhawk Road. And the blue trim is fabric I bought back form Cairo a few years back.
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| Performing with the Baladi Blues Ensemble |
I performed a solo Baladi progression to Amint Billah, which I chose as I knew Sheik Taha would be playing the accordion, who was instrumental in his contribution to the Ashra Baladi structure. Although I'd practised to various versions of this song beforehand, the music on the night turned out completely different and so my performance was entirely improvised. I truly love how with Baladi music, the combination of musicians and dancer brings out a completely different result every time. It was also a lovely and welcoming crowd of fellow dancers and the whole evening was a joy.
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| New Baladi dress |
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| With Sheik Taha and Ahmed El Saidi |
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| Dancing with the Baladi Blues Band |
It was an amazing night and a fantastic privilege to dance to such wonderful musicians. A big thank you to
NADA for the opportunity.
you look fab in that dress!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
DeleteGorgeous costume. I love the sleeves especially, too! I'm trying to see how they're made - I assume the sleeve and the hanging part are two separate pieces of fabric? I can see the hanging section seems to come to a point? I'd love sleeves like that!
ReplyDeleteHi Thea
DeleteThanks!
It's made with the sleeves are all in one piece, with a split to the elbow - tight fitting in the top half, then trumpeting out slightly towards the wrist. The end of the sleeve is cut into a diamond or 'V' shape. They're also cut very long - down to my knuckles.
If you end up creating something like this, I would love to see the results...
Susanna