|
Just Horsing
Around ……
Visiting Brits at
the Rakkasah Festival West.
As a UK teacher with
strong links to Cairo, I am always interested in how this dance form
develops differently in different areas. There is a huge variety of
style & interpretation just in the UK so I was intrigued as to what I
would find in San Francisco.
I take dancers to Cairo
four times a year – two of the trips are study courses where we take
classes with the top teachers & choreographers in Cairo. I have also
worked for Raqia Hassan at four of her Ahlan wa Sahlan festivals. If
you have been with one of Lucy’s (Scheherezade Imports) groups, you may
have seen me on registration duty. I tell you this so you will
understand that I have some knowledge & experience of the Egyptian
style. When the Bellydance Superstars came to the UK, the show created
strong feelings amongst the local belly dance community. Some loved it,
others hated it. I admired the technical skill of the dancers – and
they can do some entertaining tricks too – I enjoyed it as a show. I
did not go to see ‘authentic Egyptian dance’ and so was not
disappointed. It reached a much wider audience than our local haflas do
so helped generate interest in local dance classes.
My personal love is the
‘Egyptian’ style but I believe there is room for everything. When I
lived in Cairo for 3 months I shared an apartment with an American
dancer, Leila (check out
www.leilainegypt.com). I was there to learn Arabic & take classes.
I was in the fortunate position of being able to accompany Leila round
auditions, give her moral support & see how the whole system worked. A
fascinating insight. Eventually she got a contract and is still working
there today having made quite a name for herself. She told me that the
first time she danced to an Oum Kalthoum song, she was practically booed
off stage. She had to go and take a choreography from Raqia Hassan to
learn how to dance to it. Leila found she had to change her dance style
quite considerably in order to make a name for herself. Not because she
was a bad dancer – in fact she was very good – but didn’t have that
‘Cairo accent’.
Leila Haddad was the
one who kept telling me I should go to the Rakassah Festival in San
Francisco. I have never really had any desire to visit the States. The
idea of 10/12 hours in a plane is just too much & the timing was never
right. When a workshop I was due to teach in Scotland was cancelled, I
jumped at the opportunity as it was the same weekend as Rakkasah. My
lovely assistant, Christine, was horrified when she heard I was thinking
of going for 3 days. ‘You won’t even have adapted to the time zone
before you are heading home’, she pointed out. We agreed on 5 days &
she came with me. ‘Do you think we should take Desiree?’ she asked.
(Pronounced De-ZEE-ray) Desiree is Christine’s Egyptian pantomime
horse. At every opportunity we take her to unusual places & photograph
her. It seemed like a good plan to me!
I was very pleased we
had that bit of extra time. Christine had done some research & found
out that her favourite band ever, Sisters of Mercy, were playing in San
Francisco the night we arrived. She managed to get a ticket. I decided
there was a photo opportunity – I could imagine the colourful Desiree
queuing up with black clad groupies. I was right – it was a great
contrast. The guy in the queue wasn’t quite sure what to make of it
when we dragged him into Desiree’s back end! There were a few language
anomalies – English and American really are different.
On arrival we met up
with UK vendors Irene & Edwin Wood from Aladdins Cave. Slightly bemused
at having a pantomime horse in tow on our sight seeing jaunt to
Alcatraz, they were non the less a great help when it came to dragging
her around. The other sight seers weren’t quite sure what to make of
us. She appeared on deck on the boat journey over, in a cell in jail,
being arrested by a prison warden. Our day was complete. And, back on
the main land, a photo opportunity in the Hard Rock Café. Excellent.
Over to Richmond & the
Rakkasah Festival. There is nothing on this scale in the UK. I have
been to the Orienta Festival in Germany but this was on a bigger scale
than even that. Our biggest event is Fantasia run by one of the UK’s
leading dancers, Josephine Wise. This has around 25 traders at it –
compared with over 100 at Rakkasah according to the program listings.
Excellent for the attendees – talk about choice! Good for the vendors
as long as there are enough people through the door. The Friday night
seemed fairly quiet – but it did get busier through the weekend. I am a
vendor in the UK so looked at the stalls & wares with interest. I was
astounded when Lucy told me she had to ship her stock 4000 miles to get
here. The UK is so small by comparison. I think that is about how far
Cairo is from me. No wonder prices were more – as a vendor you have to
ship from Cairo – then have those same costs again when you travel
somewhere to an event.
I loved the
performances going on through the weekend. For me, Friday nights
highlight was Leila Haddad – I love watching her perform as she brings a
unique quality to her performance. The standard generally was very
high. When we got back to the hotel, Leila called and invited us to her
room to catch up. We donned Desiree & trotted through the corridors. I
think we were met with shrieks of delight from Leila as opposed to
horror! We stayed to chat for a bit then took Desiree home to bed. As
we were turning the corner to the lift, I heard a voice saying ‘Honey,
theres a horse out here!’
On Saturday it was
interesting to note the amount of veil work – single, doubles, Isis
wings of assorted types. Very colourful & picturesque – not something
you see at all in Cairo – though to my great entertainment, last time I
was there in February, dancer Asmahan incorporated Isis wings into her
show. A first so far as I know. America’s influence on Cairo! I
watched Zeina with interest having exchanged magazines – and enjoyed her
show. Ansuya was completely different – nothing Egyptian in what she
was doing yet it was great – I was riveted. Other highlights of the day
for me were Hannah – Turkish gypsy dance, ‘Underbelly’ – Australian
tribal group, Michelle with her sword & best of all Bal Anat – Souhaila
Salimpours performance group. They were fantastic. The energy of the
group and variety within the dance held me riveted. Seeing mother,
daughter & grand daughter on stage was a joy. Leila introduced me to
Shukriya who invited us to dance after her troupe on Sunday. Yes!!!!
Desiree had done it again – she would perform in San Francisco. Very
excited about our coming debut we went to bed early.
Christine had offered
Biram, Leila’s partner, the opportunity to be Desiree’s back end. ‘Do
you want to come inside Desiree?’ were her precise words which nearly
made Biram choke. When we go on stage I lead her - the rest of the time
I am that back end! He agreed far too readily – I was fairly certain he
didn’t understand! Anticipating him backing out, I was delighted to
find it was JimBoz who had spotted Desiree in the corridor Friday night
& he was game to be her back end. All sorted. It meant we were back
stage getting ready when JimBoz & then Shukriya’s group performed - I
was disappointed I didn’t get to see them. It meant JimBoz was all
nicely warmed up for his starring role. He had had a few dressage
lessons with Christine but had been thrown in at the deep end.
Our music started – I
led the way on stage by myself. Then I could hear people going ‘Look’
and pointing as Desirees head appeared from behind the wings. I pulled
the reluctant horse on stage. We did a few carefully rehearsed steps
together then I took her down to mingle amongst the audience. She is
such a good entertainer and frequently steals the show. I just bow down
gracefully – she is the star! I believe she now has an American fan
club. Later this year she plans to take Norway by storm! She has
already conquered most of the UK. Christine says ‘She is my best
costume ever’. And I have to say I think we get far more wear out of
her than most costumes! She is also a really good way of making
friends. JimBoz excelled as the back end adding a sexy wriggle as she
left the stage. ‘The pinnacle of my career’, I heard him comment, ‘as a
horses arse!’ I do like people that don’t take themselves too
seriously.
The program on Sunday
afternoon included some fab shows. Leila with Tunisian – she is
mesmerising and becomes that playful young girl again. The energy &
feel of Tunisian is truly unique. Christine overheard one person saying
‘Awesome, Tribal’. We fell about laughing and from now refer to Leila
as ‘Tribal Queen’. Fortunately she thought it was funny too. On a
serious note, I do think it would help if they style of performance were
put in the listing too. It would have helped me decide which ones I
wanted to see. This is probably the main thing that could have been
done to improve the weekend – but the logistics of it may be too big a
nightmare.
Other highlights:
Groove du Monde – Kayaa & Sadie with their troupe. This was surely good
enough to be a Las Vegas show – pure fantasy with snakes and eunuchs,
fabulous undulations & perfect synchronisation. Slick, visual &
entertaining. I was rendered speachless! I loved Suhaila Salimpours
teenage troup & their first number – talk about dance with attitude!
The Arabesque Dance Company from Germany with interesting turns and
twists and intricate floor patterns. Momo Kadous and Yalia with a
comedy duet that was a great change of pace – and brought some more
humour to the afternoon. It was, I felt, the only truly Egyptian camio
of the day.
So, my overall
impression. An incredible weekend – nothing like you would see in
Cairo. The only group dancing in Cairo tends to be Folkloric – here
there were some great shows – most based on Oriental Fantasy. American
dancers have added their own blend of style to this dance form & given
it a different direction. Not right or wrong, just different. I was
impressed by the energy & polish of most of the shows. Rakkasah seems
to encourage creativity & dance development. It was well worth the 12
hour flight & jet lag. I would encourage others to travel here and see
for themselves. I am so inspired I am considering setting up something
similar in the UK. Similar yet different!
Many thanks to all
those dancers who made us feel so welcome. We will be back. And if you
are ever in the UK, e-mail me or call. My web site has lots of details
of events on it – though I am based in the North of England (nowhere
near London).
www.faridadance.com
www.faridaadventures.com
kay@faridadance.com
0044 191 519 0305
|
