A Strange Day of Dance (10.25.07)

Flower vendor in Dokki, Giza

Raqia Hassan's living room Atalier with "Princess", women, & Raqia
"Shokolade"
Raqia & Shokolade
Tee-shirt in Market. Too small :(
New costumes!

Owner of store - Mohammed Kamel
Manager & designer - Mohamed Ali
Band at Semaris Intercontinental

Moustapha, my very sweet waiter
Dina and 25-member band
Dina
Birthday wishes

I am writing the draft of the Thursday blog on a scrap of paper pilfered from my waiter, Mustapha, and the Semiramis Intercontinential Hotel's nightclub, where it is well after midnight and I am at a table for one waiting to see the famed Egyptian dancer, Dina, perform. I have to admit that after the Marriot show with Randa, so far I am disappointed and am afraid it is not going to be worth the hefty pricetag ($100+). First, while there was not a bad seat in the horseshoe shaped theater at the Marriot, here I am second tier in a club with very low risers. Secondly, the music is AWFUL. Whereas the other club had a very energetic band and great music, the 4 singers and one keyboardist are regaling us with the Egyptian version of soft rock into an amplification system that gives their voices a cheesy dramatic echo. I think they are using the Karaoke versions of many songs, since at one point the backup singers stopped singing, and there were still at least two voices coming through ;).

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At this time of night, there are only 15 other people in here, and one of them is Kay Taylor, a woman that I met at Raqia Hassan's house this morning (more on that bizarre experience to come) and leading a tour group from England around Cairo. Perhaps I have been in the South too long, since this is the second time that I have been disappointed by the reaction I am getting from other dancers I have met in Cairo. She was also cool, but also is shouldering a big responsibility for shepherding a dozen brits around Cairo, so perhaps she just has other things to worry about than giving me a few tips about where to go and who to see.
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As for my strange day: This morning was to be a $60/hour (expensive) technique class with Raqia Hassan, a very famous teacher of Egyptian dance who organizes the now behemoth Ahlan Wa Sahlan dance festival each June in Cairo and is one of the principal teachers of many well known dancers here, including Astryd Farah DeMichele and Randa. We have been going back and forth over email since May and over phone since Tuesday, and I took a $5 taxi ride out to her house in Dokki at the appointed time for my first lesson. I was invited warmly into the apartment and sat down opposite Ms. Hassan in her living room to get aquainted. We chatted 15 minutes or so before the room starting to feel like a subway platform at rush hour, with people coming in and out. I think there was a son, a brother, a daughter-in-law, a granddaughter, and a cleaning lady. None of these people seemed to acknowledge my presence as they stepped over me and my bag, and finally at 11:45 a British woman walked in, gave kisses all around, the next thing I knew I was in the back of a small Fiat or something like that with Raqia, strange British woman, and Shokolade the dog, with two women and a 2-year old in the front seat. I figured out we were on our way to Raqia's atalier/costume designer and we entered yet another decrepit building with an elevator installed sometime in the 30s and last inspected in the 50s.

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The costumer's shop was on the 5 floor and consisted of several rooms with couches and worktables and ~8 women sitting around hand-beading costumes. There were three men there as well, two of which were gluing costumes on a new costume for Egyptian dance star Soraya, and one of which, likely head honcho, cutting fabric. The whole costuming thing over here is fascinating, because in the US if it sparkles, it is a completely acceptable bellydance costume. But in Cairo, there are clearly fashions and trends. This year it is minimal beadwork, with bras that are less to cover and protect and more to act as a shelf for the breasts to rest inside (see photos above of Dina for case in point). A lot of the dresses have big slits in them, and include matching shorts underneath to prevent it from being too scandalous. We were taken into a locked back room with a couple of old couches and plastic bags piled 2 feet high on a shelf overhead and two of Raqia's girls started pulling costumes off the shelves and showing them to the other woman and myself. I learned that this woman is named Kay Taylor and is a buyer from the UK who is interested in taking several costumes back with her to see how they sell. I tried on a couple for myself and a couple that Kay wanted to see on, but they don't fit as well on me (I don't need a shelf for my breasts as much as something that makes me look like I have some ;-)), but the base price was $600 and I don't think this style of costume would go over well at 6th and Vine! During our stay, another woman named "Princess" came in to try on something she had ordered, but in the end seemed unhappy with it and left sans costume but with one of Raqia's sergers to finish creating drapes for her apartment.

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Kay left first, and then Raqia and I left at around 2:30. She mentioned having a student coming later, and that was finally my opportunity to ask about my class. She looked at me and said with surprise, "You want a class too?" Umm...YEAH. I thought that was why I came out there in the first place. We got back to her house and I had to run to a bank machine so that I could afford both a class and the recently produced technique video, and when I entered her living room for a second time I was handed a plate of food and sat for another hour as another group of half a dozen people came in and out of the apartment. At one point I was sitting in the middle of a conversation between Raqia, her brother, and two 20-something young gentlemen who I have no idea who they are. Finally, at 3:35 I meekly asked whether she was going to have time for my class and she said, "Maybe Saturday better....can you come back Saturday morning." Ugh! I have to admit that I was extremely annoyed, but keep telling myself that I had a lot of interesting experiences anyway. I have a class with Mohammed on Friday night from 10 pm-midnight, so I am not sure I am going to be up for a 10 am class in Dokki.

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I went straight from Raqia Hassan's to the Khan el Khalili to try to track down the "famous" costumer Mahmoud Abn Ahfar's store. I got lost a few times, ended up in another store buying some presents for people, and finally ended up there after an hour of wandering. It was a huge store - three levels of costumes. The first level was coin bras and belt; second level dresses and folkloric; third level cabaret costumes. The place was dark, quiet, and hot, and the kid who turned the lights on for me didn't speak much English. What he did say when I asked about prices or other colors was that he had to ask "Mr. Mahmoud, big boss." I tried on several costumes over the course of an hour, but when Mr. Mahmoud finally arrived from his evening prayers to talk to me about prices, I found him completely uninspiring and a bit rude. Not the person I want to fork over several hundred dollars to. I was still in a costuming mood, so I headed back to the main area and then spent the next 3 hours completely turning Mohamed Kamel's store upside down. I think I tried on about 15 and picked out 5 that I would like to purchase, plus he has many bedlahs that I am going to look at for my troupe. I am concerned that they might all be "standard size", so I am not sure they will fit everyone in the group, but I'll go back again and check it out. Both Mohameds (the owner and the manager) are really super guys, and if I am going to spend any money in Cairo, it is going to be with them.

Ladies who are reading this, let me know if there is anything you see that you want. I tried on a bunch more but am not posting photos. I could possibly post them on tribe if you want.

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I only had about an hour to get back to the hostel to get cleaned up for the show, so I had to forego the much needed nap. On my walk to the Intercontinental at 11:30 pm I stayed on the phone the whole time because I seemed to be turning heads walking outside in a black tee-shirt and knee length skirt and sandals.

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After the band finished, I had a good time at the show. I was invited to sit at a table of semi-drunk middle-aged men, and I accepted their offer because they had a better view than I did. I am not sure what they expected when they invited me over - one gentleman kept trying to push more whisky on me and wanted to put me up in one of his hotels. He must have figured out that he was barking up the wrong tree, because right after the show began he disappeared, never to return again. Alas. I ended up having to pay my own tab. Through one other the other men at the table, after the show I sat for a few minutes with another group in their mid-30s. They were planning to go out clubbing and invited me to go along, but it was 4:00 and I had a feeling that I was being mocked more than anything, so I bowed out and walked myself home. It was so pleasant to be on the streets of Cairo with no traffic and no noise!

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As for the show itself, with the exception of the band, it was more than I expected. I had seen clips of Dina on YouTube and wasn't so impressed with her dancing. However, she is one of those people whose stage presence is completely captivating and completely takes over. She is a good dancer, but what you experience at the show is her smile and the depth of her expressions and emotions as she sings along to all of the songs she dances to. There was a birthday among the 30-somethings that I mentioned above, and Dina came out into the audience, helped the birthday girl cut the cake, and then fed her the first piece. It was actually quite charming. I still want to see Soraya, Katia, and Lucy, but I may try to go back to Randa's show at the Marriot. No cover, no minimum charge! ;). And a really good complete show.