Welcome to Cairo!

The taxi ride from the airport proved an exciting opening to my Cairo holiday.  After a minor collision and the taxi driver needing to ask half the residents of Mohandiseen for directions, we eventually arrived at Lorna's to find that the lift up to her apartment wasn't working.  Luckily for us the driver then proceeded to carry our suitcases up the 8 flights to her apartment.  It was only once the driver descended again that Lorna told us "nothing wrong with the lift", pressed the call button and then opened the door. 

BellyLorna is a professional dancer Edinburgh, working in Cairo.  She also rents out rooms to visiting dancers to help make ends meet and we were lucky enough to have selected this as our accommodation of choice for the visit.  After settling us into the apartment and giving us a good dose of tourist info, plenty of instructions and even a phone with an Egyptian Sim card, Lorna headed off to work her first sail. 

That night, we went to join Lorna's boat, the Nile Pharaoh, for a dinner cruise and show and most of all to see Lorna herself, perform with her band.  We got a bit of the VIP treatment there, what with being Lorna's guests and all.

 
It was a great show, including some beautiful Arabic music, the first Tanoura of the holiday, and of course 2 sets performed by the beautiful Lorna.  Something I really enjoy about watching Lorna is the warmth and humour in her dancing, which I think is summed up in these pictures. 

The food was pretty good too and there was even a Tabouli that I'm still thinking about.  After her performance, Lorna hung out with us for the rest of the sail and then we returned to the flat to chill on her balcony.  Unfortunately this was also my first introduction to the Cairo mosquito who seemed particularly drawn to limbs soaked in Superdrug repellent. 

Day 2 proved too hot for the pyramids (Lorna went as far as checking the forecast and putting a note under the door to tell us so), so we went instead to Il Mathaf il Masri, the Egyptian Museum.  It was a great day out and we took in pretty much everything in the Top 10 list, and along with eyeballing the great Egyptian Pharaohs we also saw enough jewellery to whet the appetite for the costume shopping later to come. 

Night time came the chance to take the second of our Nile Cruises, this time the Nile Maxim to see Randa, a dancer I previously knew only by reputation, and You Tube of course.  The show lived up to expectations and Randa was indeed amazing, although to reveal my guilty secret, I loved her band and her two singers even more - my heart does not lie with belly dance.  Here is Randa, complete with Randa costumes and Randa band.

 

After the cruise, we were met by Lorna and her friends and whisked off to downtown bar called Arabesque of all places and a chance to let my hair town. Personally, I fell in love with the kitsch interior decor.

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Habiba Dance Edinburgh Festival Workshops

Here are some dates for your diary.

I'll be running 2 brand new Egyptian Dance workshops at The Salisbury Centre during the Edinburgh Festival in August 2010

The Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema

Sunday 1 August, 1.00-3.00pm

Dance like the Stars of Egypt’s Golden Age in a workshop inspired by the stars of the 1940s and 1950s era Egyptian cinema – Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca and Naima Akif.

Classical Egyptian Dance is a new contemporary art form with ancient roots. It draws on the imagery and music of the Ottoman courts, the storytelling of Egypt's Golden Age of cinema, and the music of the classical Egyptian orchestras and famous singers whose radio broadcasts captivated the Arab world. You will find new ways to express this beautiful music and explore the playful and sensual sides of the dance.

This is a General level workshop and is suitable for those who are already familiar with the posture and basic moves of Egyptian dance or belly dance whether Improvers, Intermediate or more advanced students. Bring a full skirt if you have one and a silent hip belt.

Interpreting the Human Voice

Sunday 29 August, 1.00-3.00pm

This workshop will help you to connect with and dance to some of the classic Arabic Baladi (traditional) songs that form part of every dancers’ repertoire. We will also explore movements to interpret the beautiful Mawaal, sometimes considered the Egyptian Blues, a soulful improvisation of the voice that expresses feeling and emotion.

You will learn to find your own personal interpretation of this beautiful music, building on the moves and technique you already know, whilst emphasising the importance of musicality, rhythm and responsiveness.

This is a General level workshop and is suitable for those who are already familiar with the posture and basic moves of Egyptian dance or belly dance whether Improvers, Intermediates or Advanced students.

Bookings 

Both workshops each cost £12 full price or £10 concession.

To book contact the Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB
Telephone: 0131 667 5438
email: office@salisburycentre.org

Bookings will open as soon as the Salisbury Centre Festival Programme is out.

I hope to see you there!

www.habibadance.com

Learning the Language

It wasn't meant to be a New Year's Resolution, but since January I have been learning Arabic.  And the whole experience has just been so rewarding I want to share something about what I have learned so far.

I had a pretty bad experience learning languages when I was at school and it's not something I ever thought I would be able to do.  Several years later, as an adult, I faced my fear and started going to beginners French classes.  I found it very motivating to learn at my own pace without the school environment and I stuck at it.  We're not talking complete fluency, but after about 3-4 years of study I found that I could pass pretty well in France and Belgium using what I had learned.  A little bit after that, I built on my knowledge of French and even managed to teach myself to speak a little Italian too.  So why all those years spend thinking I couldn't do languages?  Just like learning any new skill, whether languages, dance, or anything there simply isn't a good or bad at, there's only learning in the way that suits you.

So what about the Arabic?  Well I like the sound of it, I love the music and the songs.  And when I listened to the music and read song translations I found I could start picking out the words that I recognised and some of the basic patterns in the language.  I thought about going one step further and learning it properly.  Yes Arabic is very different, but could it really be so difficult?

Around the turn of the year I had some happy accidents.  My friend posted a Facebook link to the You Tube channel Learn Arabic with Maha - containing a charming series of videos being made by an Arabic language teacher who had started teaching her Italian husband.  At the same time, I spotted a set of Beginners Arabic Adult Evening Classes run by the local council, starting that very week.  And all of this perfectly timed to happen right before the holiday to Egypt I had already booked.  All the pieces fell into place at the same time.  So with no reason to hold myself back I plunged in.

I want to say more about the different ways that I have been studying in a bit more detail, but I will have to come back to this at some point soon. 

It has been over 3 months now and I've been studying hard.  I won't be sure how much has actually sunk in till my plane actually lands in Cairo.  But I am very hopeful and I really do think, Insha'allah, that I will have something to say.

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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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Shimmying with old and new

I was really excited to start my new term of classes in Egyptian Dance tonight at The Salisbury Centre.

After a long wait for a slot to teach regular classes in the Centre, I've been offered a regular Thursday night slot for the summer term.  It's my favourite venue to come and teach a class.  The room is beautiful - it's a first floor drawing room with a smooth clean wooden floor and a lovely view over the Centre's organic garden.  And I'm looking forward to teaching on warm summer evenings when it will be possible to relax in the garden before class. 

It is a small group, but really nice to be teaching a combination of students who had been to my previous workshops and classes, those who were already familiar with the dance, and a few students who were entirely new to the dance.

We started with some walks, attitude and posture and then went through some basic moves including fluids, figures of 8, sharps, hits and of course some shimmies and variations - quite exciting as always when the students showed some real shimmy potential.  In the last part of the class we put these moves together to explore a piece of Baladi music, "Jalilah's Balady", from Amar 14:

Places are still available on the course which runs on Thursday evenings from 8.00-9.15 at The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB.  Cost for the full 10 week term is £60 full price and £50 for concessions.  To book, call 0131 667 5438, or email office@salisburycentre.org

Image is from Piranha Musik.

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