maariku

Dear all! Yesterday I made it back from a two-week trip to Egypt including attending the Nile Group Festival. It was the biggest bd festival I've ever attended, and it gave more impressions and experiences than I was probably capable of observing and taking in. But, I'll try to share at least some of it with you.

Firstly, the festival was a great meeting place. They said there were over 20 nationalities present, but I can't really estimate the exact number of participants. A lot anyways. And, I had a great chance to meet quite a few of our own forum members - A'isha Azar, who is just as cool and fun in real life as she is around here, and Stella Zahir who is just the cutest person ever! I also met Prince Kayammer and Alexandros. And a whole lot of other dancers, of course.

I chose 6 workshops - Mahmoud Reda, mileya by Nesrin, Baladi by Tito, Oriental and khaleegy technique by Liza Laziza, Oum Kalthoum by Hassan Khalil and oriental by Aida Nour. I most enjoyed Liza Laziza - she is a great dancer, a great teacher and has a wonderful aura arround her. She was the only instructor who only taught technique and explained that dance elements don't go like "this is correct and this not" - everybody has their own style. Lovely lady (And thanks to Chryssanthi who recommended her workshop, I would have missed it otherwise)

I also loved Aida Nour. She has such a great presence - just put her in front of the crowd, and even without doing anything she leaves an impression! Of course, she is a good dancer and teacher as well.

Tito was cool too - although his English is limited (although a whole lot better than I expected based on what people said) and most of the time it is veery difficult to figure out what he is doing, I love his style.

Mahmoud Reda's workshop was pretty much what I expected it to be. I was surprised to see him get so involved and dance a lot himself. He taught a choreo to a wonderful piece of music, but I can't find the name right now. I'll post it when I figure it out.

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"[A good bellydancer] must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity." -Tahia Carioca,

Suheir

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Any photos?

taheya

Great to hear about your time in Nilegroup! I am really hoping to be able to go to the November one.

maariku

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!

__________________
"[A good bellydancer] must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity." -Tahia Carioca,

maariku

The competition actually impressed me less than open stage. Even though there were a lot of good dancers, there was a lot of tricks and acrobatics that I felt were unneccessary and every now and then even dangerous. And there wasn't really much sticking to the set time limitation, so I was too tired to stay around to see who won. In between there was a show from Khaled Mahmoud and we all love Khaled, don't we

On the closing there were performances by Shems (some odd costumes there, like the bedlah with her name embroided on the bra in sequins), Lucy (this woman feels so free on and off the stage), and Tito (love him, have doubts about his troupe though).

There are also pics, but the majority of them are taken by a friend, so I'll have to ask her permission first before posting.

Now, I hope others who were there will also chime in!

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"[A good bellydancer] must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity." -Tahia Carioca,

maariku

Oh, and if you are not completely tired of my posts on this thread, a reark on the bazaar at the festival. There were quite a few vendors and at the beginning the shiny-glitzy world will make you blind and want you to buy everything. However, I went there with a definite intention to buy a costume, but came back empty-handed. Firstly, I had a revelation that I prefer laconic, modern costumes which only have a decorated skirt and bra, and I like the "old school" heavy with beads and sequins less. I tried on a lot of costumes, but it was very difficult to find something that would fit me (mainly because I am so tall), required little modifications and was of a normal price. But luckily, Cairo is also the city of markets and relatively cheap stones and sequins, so when it comes to shopping it wasn't completely useless.

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"[A good bellydancer] must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity." -Tahia Carioca,

Maria_Aya

I'm soooooo sad that didnt make it (((
And seems that I cant make it on June also, as will be a crazy month with shows etc.
But November I'll be back lol

Thanks Maariku for sharing

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... www.orientalexpression.gr

Aisha Azar

Dear Maariku,
What did I attend? I think two events at the Nile Festival?? I was looking high and low for you and Eshta and Stella, and I stumbled over a short set of steps and practically fell in your lap!!
I agree totally about Liza Laziza!! She has been dancing in Cairo about 10 years and Hallah, who you met at the Festival with me, does many of her costumes! We went to a soiree at her house and had the best time. She had a takht there and she danced beautifully!! I am impressed with Liza on a lot of levels and only one is her dancing. She has a soft, lovely Egyptian style and a huge heart!
By the way, you might contact Hallah about used costumes that she has for sale if you are looking for something on a budget. If you can afford a new one, her stuff is incredible!! She has costumed most of the superstars at one tine or another, Dina, Liza and a whole bunch of other people. While I was there, she got orders from America, Egypt and France all in two days.
I LOVED meeting Stella and Maariku. We had a short time to talk and then went to the competition. I loved one of the Russian dancers, but I can't remember her name. She is slightly zaftig and has dark hair and the sweetest way of moving herself around... so connected to the music!!
Maariku is tall and red haired and Stella is short and dark haired. they looked so opposite side by side, yet they both had great senses of humor and fine intelligence that makes them a pleasure to spend some time with.. Stella really is the most adorable person ever. She is very much the Greek beauty. I loved them and hope to meet again some day.
I never did find Eshta, which made me feel sad.
I did not spend a lot of time at the festival, and in fact did not get to connect with Randa either, which was my only disappointment in Egypt. Liza kept trying to track her down for me, to no avail.
Regards,
A'isha

Caroline_afifi

Was there anything new in the bazaar this time. I was told it was bigger than usual. Apart from personal taste, what was the costume trend?

maariku

Hey, I haven't had the time to go through all the photos, so can't share them just yet. But the situation is not quite hopeless yet

Caroline, I don't know what the bazaar has usually been like, but I think there was at least 10 vendors. My impression of the "costume trend" was heavy embroidery on the bottom of the skirts on the "old-school" sequinned costumes and a lot of very odd cut-outs and assymetry, the latter especially in skirts. A lot of contrasting colour combintions, a lot of red costumes. And the most popular type of fabric was the one which basically came in any colour and pattern, but had these little shiny splashes reflecting in multiple colours. Geez, it is difficult to describe the stuff

__________________
"[A good bellydancer] must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity." -Tahia Carioca,