Review: Raks Adunya! Global Dance Fest
August 2001
Review: Raks Adunya! Global Dance Fest
Zarifa Sa'id's Global Dance Fest 2001 was a celebration of Egyptian dance, featuring Dr. Mo Geddawi (of Egypt) along with Habiba (of Philadelphia). I am SO glad I went.
Habiba (right) taught the Friday class.
I have taken workshops with Habiba on several occasions
in the past, but they were always for
her folkloric specialties (Ghawazee,
Tunisian, Andalusian).
Although I had seen her perform Orientale,
this was my first time to experience her teaching of it.
And what an experience!
She chose
a 15-minute Egyptian-style choreography to music by
Dr. Samy Farag.
It was hot. There were times during the class
that I actually cheered because I loved what she was doing so much.
And as some indication of how good a teacher she is,
we actually got thru most of the choreography
(I think about 13 minutes or so).
And even though we didn't complete the whole thing,
the music had a lot of stops in it so
we actually got several possible routines.
Saturday and Sunday classes were Dr. Mo's. This was my first workshop with him, and I was very pleased. On Saturday he taught a Melaya Leff--without the melaya. He focussed on the basic steps and movements and suggested we interpret the melaya part ourselves. The dance was lively and a lot of fun. On Sunday he taught a classical Egyptian dance, which was really very lovely.
There were shows Friday and Saturday, both of which were excellent and offered a lot of variety.
