I didn't get much out of Nesrin's mileya workshop, because it was very crowded and people get flocking together. I just gave up at some point, and moved to the very back - didn't see anything, but at least I had space where I could throw around my mileya. Oh, and having that workshop was also a good excuse to get myself a new mileya - with green pailettes
I didn't enjoy Hassan Khalil's workshop that much, for me the music and what he taught did not quite fit together... But that could easily be my personal peculiarity.
As for the "social events" I attended four - the opening, the open stage, the competition and the closing. All the events were very long and it was easy to get an overdose of dancing, even though there were a lot of great dancers... then again, there was a lot of very awkward things as well
On the opening night my favourite dancers were Liza Laziza and Leila. A very impressive and long show was put on by Asmahan - a lot of flash and bling, but not that much dancing if you ask me. You can read more about her show in Lorna's blog
BellyLorna: Nile Group festival 2008- opening night
As for open stage there were a lot of very different dancers and unfortunately I can't recall many names. There did seem to be a lot of Ukranians and Greeks
I saw Pince Kayammer dance, and one of Maria Aya's students - Nelly. This girl has wonderful temperament!