Arab Dance Seminar--exhausted babble thoughts partway through
how did I still have energy to dance at the concert tonight? I do not know. I suppose it helped to discover that when it said "students of Kay Hardy Campbell performing Khaleegi" on the program, that meant *us* from the workshop, not a group of her regular students. I didn't have my thobe with me but one other woman also didn't, so we declared ourselves the modern girls who don't bother with thobes (something we did cover in class) and joined the crowd on stage. We didn't do any choreography, just danced. It was joy.
Everything is so amazing. Amel Tafsout is a force of nature. She doesn't exactly break things down, but I felt like her desire for us to learn things was strong enough to make us learn them. We did a session of North African dance with her. Then there was raqs sharqi with Cassandra, whom I now have tremendous respect for. It wasn't exactly anything new, but her ways of explaining the physical mechanics behind some moves was unique and highly useful. After the lunch break, we put on a couple of Egyptian weddings, with people in the class playing all the different roles, bride and groom, their parents, the raqs sharqi dancers, the troupe of shamadan dancers, the little kids with the candles and Quran, the drummers and the guests. It was enormous fun and I thought a pretty effective teaching tool in what goes on at a big huge wedding. On the first run-through I was a raqs sharqi dancer in a group led by Bhuz's Dahab (a fun lady to dance with) and in the second run-through I sat back and watched it all as a guest. Also sang a wedding song in Arabic over and over, clapped and zaghareeted my tonsils loose. Then to close the day, Kay Hardy Campbell taught Khaleegi technique and a choreography as a big group dance. I love love love my new thobe, and I really really enjoy the dance. Would love to find more opportunities to learn about it and perhaps perform it.
And then the concert--Cassandra is one of the best Egyptian style raqs sharqi dancers I have ever seen in person, maybe *the* best North American I've seen. Just my opinion, of course, but I found her hugely inspirational. Rachid Halihal's violin taqsim during her Leylet Hob-based set was breath-taking and her interpretation of it was exquisite. I kept forgetting to breath. The musicians were amazing (their Ya Rayah was a huge highlight for me). Amel Tafsout did a powerful guedra (using veil fans in place of scarves, funnily enough given all the talk about veil fans lately) which morphed into a high energy I believe Algerian piece. Dahab and Meiver did lovely performances as well. The khaleegi bit was the last dance performance of the show; as that ended we went off the stage into the space in front of the seats and everybody got up and danced for several more songs. I sat out much of that since there was a lot of dabke and I want to save my knees and feet for tommorrow.
Speaking of which, dabke at 10:30 tomorrow morning, so I really ought to put these tired bones to bed. Then Saidi, Bedouin, hadra and zaar. This weekend will knock the stuffing out of me, what with the Mass Morgue performance at the end of it, but my heart is singing and soaring with the exhaltation of it all.
Everything is so amazing. Amel Tafsout is a force of nature. She doesn't exactly break things down, but I felt like her desire for us to learn things was strong enough to make us learn them. We did a session of North African dance with her. Then there was raqs sharqi with Cassandra, whom I now have tremendous respect for. It wasn't exactly anything new, but her ways of explaining the physical mechanics behind some moves was unique and highly useful. After the lunch break, we put on a couple of Egyptian weddings, with people in the class playing all the different roles, bride and groom, their parents, the raqs sharqi dancers, the troupe of shamadan dancers, the little kids with the candles and Quran, the drummers and the guests. It was enormous fun and I thought a pretty effective teaching tool in what goes on at a big huge wedding. On the first run-through I was a raqs sharqi dancer in a group led by Bhuz's Dahab (a fun lady to dance with) and in the second run-through I sat back and watched it all as a guest. Also sang a wedding song in Arabic over and over, clapped and zaghareeted my tonsils loose. Then to close the day, Kay Hardy Campbell taught Khaleegi technique and a choreography as a big group dance. I love love love my new thobe, and I really really enjoy the dance. Would love to find more opportunities to learn about it and perhaps perform it.
And then the concert--Cassandra is one of the best Egyptian style raqs sharqi dancers I have ever seen in person, maybe *the* best North American I've seen. Just my opinion, of course, but I found her hugely inspirational. Rachid Halihal's violin taqsim during her Leylet Hob-based set was breath-taking and her interpretation of it was exquisite. I kept forgetting to breath. The musicians were amazing (their Ya Rayah was a huge highlight for me). Amel Tafsout did a powerful guedra (using veil fans in place of scarves, funnily enough given all the talk about veil fans lately) which morphed into a high energy I believe Algerian piece. Dahab and Meiver did lovely performances as well. The khaleegi bit was the last dance performance of the show; as that ended we went off the stage into the space in front of the seats and everybody got up and danced for several more songs. I sat out much of that since there was a lot of dabke and I want to save my knees and feet for tommorrow.
Speaking of which, dabke at 10:30 tomorrow morning, so I really ought to put these tired bones to bed. Then Saidi, Bedouin, hadra and zaar. This weekend will knock the stuffing out of me, what with the Mass Morgue performance at the end of it, but my heart is singing and soaring with the exhaltation of it all.