Diary of Egypt by Joana S.

2012-02-01T02:14:00.000-08:00

"All religions, all this singing, ONE song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.

Sunlight looks slightly different on this wall than it does on that wall....

and a lot different on this other one,

but it is still ONE light."

~Rumi

2012-01-29T06:37:00.000-08:00

Joana Saahirah of Cairo tableau "maalema"

2012-01-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the "maalema" side of me which has always been quite active due to my Life´s circumstances.

P.S. Notice how my "assaya" (stick) is too long for this stage hight so I break part of the big candelabrum above me with it. After that, I am dancing over many pieces of glass, not knowing if I will step on them, fall and get cut by them or be lucky and get way with it...
The dancers around me were going nuts with the subject and I had to give them subtle signs that everything was under control and I would not stop dancing just because of this incident.
Besides, I am a trained dancer/actress so NOTHING can make me stop on stage. No disaster, big or small, bra or skirt flying shame, falling flat on the floor or tantrums from musicians can stop me.

P.S.2
"Maalema" all the way. Notice how I orchestrate/correct the musicians WHILE on stage and give directions to the dancers so they move, act a bit and react accordingly to the music and situation...Only 5% of my attention and energy is, in fact, in my Dance. The rest of my energy is making sure that everybody else is doing their job.
LOL

Something's Got A Hold On Me

2012-01-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, let´s try to get over the horrible blond acrylic wig, the dress and coat that look like drapes from a 70s curtain. I propose we focus on the TALENT. With capital letters. TALENT.
Dedicated to all my friends and fans!

"Oh, some time...I get a good feeling...yeah...I got a feeling that I never, never, ever had before...no,no...
And I just tell you right now that I...I believe, I really do believe that...
Something´s got a hold on to me...yeah...oh, it must be love!"

2012-01-27T04:20:00.000-08:00

"Women of Egypt:

THIS is YOUR night: 5th February"

THE EVENT Cairo was waiting for a long time is, finally, arriving!

"Oriental Ladie´s Night" on the 5th February, at the Biancaffé (Mohandessin)

with JOANA SAAHIRAH OF CAIRO as your special hostessfor this UNIQUE

evening of Magic and Joy!!!

Here´s a little sneak peak of what you will find in this SPECIAL EVENT:

*** FREE CLASS (Oriental Dance Stravaganza by Joana Saahirah of Cairo) from 19.00h till 20.30h.

***"Oriental Ladie´s Night" with several activities JUST for WOMEN who enjoy themselves and LIFE from 21.00h till 24.00h!

***Oriental and World Dances Animation/Pratica to make us all move with Art and FUN.

***Special performance from Joana Saahirah of Cairo - Oriental and Egyptian Folclore - only for the ladies.

***Henna art available to make your hands and feet even more beautiful than they already are.

***Tarot cards reading - More than just "knowing what will come", the TAROT is an Iniciatic Art that combines Knowledge with deep intuition in order to help us deal with the past and the PRESENT in a CONSTRUCTIVE way so that our future is bright and HAPPY!

*** Cosy "souk" with selected items for WOMEN (jewelry, dance cloths, cds and dvds, etc).

***Many SURPRISES during the night.

********************************************************

Minimum charge for the night: 75 L.E.

Location: Biancaffé, Mohandessin (6 Gazayer St., beside Atlas Hotel & On the Run.)

Date: 5th February, Sunday night!

*********************

For further informations, please contact us through the mobile: 01066140001,

the Facebook (search for "Oriental Ladies Nights" or email: dancemagica@gmail.com

You can also find the event´s program and updates on Biancaffé´s page on the Facebook.

2012-01-27T04:11:00.000-08:00

Very Happy to announce my participation in this new and high QUALITY World Festival happening in Cairo
next July: "Salamat Misr"

Many great artists to learn and share with, including me *(performing with my orchestra and teaching a SPECIAL workshop you will not want to miss!).

More detailed infos will be given in a short time. Meanwhile, check the website of the Festival and plan your trip to Egypt for July. It will be worth it!

"Salamat Misr" official website: www.salamat/misr.com

2012-01-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

The beautiful cliché of the moment: 25th January!

Cairo woke up to a rather silent city, washed by the rare and beautiful rains that fell upon us yesterday night.

It is rare to experience a rainy evening in this city, as well as it was rare to see - as we saw one year ago - the EGYPTIAN PEOPLE united against the dictatorship of ex-President Hosny Mubarak.

Nothing is perfect and no JUSTICE is required without other powers which will do their best to STOP a positive CHANGE to happen. There is a Revolution and a COUNTER- Revolution. Not everyone has the goal of a POSITIVE change for egyptian people.

The tentacles of the octopuss are infinite and spread all over this country. To rip off the head of the octopuss doesn´t mean to kill all its membranes and yet one has to start from some point.

Time has flown, since a year ago...not much has changed, except a deterioration of an already weakened economy and the ever so precious gift of FREE SPEECH.

Despite all the negative consequences that came with the post-revolutionary period we are still living in, I keep my stance regarding the PRIDE I have on EGYPTIAN PEOPLE, the lives of the ones who gave them away in order to have a glimpse of the so long lost HOPE, the ones who gathered in "Tahrir Square" for one purpose: BEING FREE from a despotic Government that was sinking the country for around thirty years.

Egyptians deserve a fair opportunity to build honest, dignified, happy lives without having to escape from the country. They deserve to enjoy the fruits of their talents, work and creativity. They deserve to be treated like HUMAN BEINGS. For me, this is what the Egyptian Revolution was all about. It still IS.

Police forces have been reinforced today and lots of expectations are being fed towards this famous day. I just can honour the PEOPLE of EGYPT and feel proud of them, hoping that the Revolution will bring more LUMINOUS times to us all and not a regression to Medieval ages.

The eternal battle between Evil and Good is ON. As much as I would like to believe that JUSTICE always prevails in the end of every history, I´ve learnt that reality doesn´t work that way. Very often, the "bad guys" win over the "good guys" and, more importantly and disarming, the "good guys" are often THE "bad guys".

I will not go into political considerations as they will not serve any purpose right now.

Just wanted to POINT out THIS day as a SYMBOL of the POWER of EGYPTIAN PEOPLE and their born right to be HUMAN BEINGS with those famous smiles they carry for no apparent reason. Hoping for lots of reason to sustain those smiles.

The same I wish for me as I wish for all.

2012-01-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

Love declaration to my HIPS.

Egypt has a hip oriented culture.

Yes, it does. Not even the "abbayas" or the "burqas" can make the hips disappear. If only imagination could be eliminated but no despotic powers can ever go so far. Imagination is a right no one can take away from you.

The generous hips are considered sexy because they mean "FERTILE WOMAN". Oriental Dance, the national dance (so denied and repressed) illustrates this HIP centered culture.

Yet this "hip" oriented culture relates EXCLUSIVELY to the symbolic and literal ability of female procreation. PROCREATION. Get married and give birth to muslim babies. That seems to be the only accepted function of women´s hips around here.

Women´s generous hips are valued BECAUSE they represent the ability to give birth to actual human babies. FULL STOP.

Besides that, there is only REPRESSION and a sense of shame that is instilled in girls/women everytime they dare to expose the contours of their hips and their FREE expression. In this controlled expression resides the POWER of female sexuality and all its explosive effects. No one seems to be brave enough to deal with such thing, do they?!

A woman who loves and assumes her hips as vital and precious is also a sexually active person, a strong individual with awareness of her own CREATIVE power. Nothing more dangerous than this to a society where Men wish to rule over women as the stronger sex over the weakest.

Allowing the female hips to be FREE would mean allowing the WOMEN to be free...who wants that, for God´s sake???

As an Oriental Dancer, I put my own hips on the highest throne. Although Oriental Dance is all about the entire BODY and SOUL expression -not just the hips - there s no denying that the center of it all is lovingly resident in those round, pink pillars of LIFE.

I can now see, very clearly, that a Woman who does not feel proud of her hips is a person with low self-esteem, weak and very limited creative resources.

As I write, I use my hips on the process. Their power, striking energy and urgence to SPEAK UP, the passion half sleeping inside them, the sweet juices and waters that exist in this boat shaped divine part of my body are all PRESENT. Each word, as each movement arrive from the depths of my HIPS, not my brain. Or is there a special kind of brain IN MY HIPS?

As I dance, I obviously use them too. Jewels and diamonds hanging from the invisible belt I wear around them, proud of who I am, the potential CREATOR of babies but, most of all, the ESSENCIAL CREATOR of MYSELF, my LIFE, my ART, my REALITIES, my CHOICES, my STRENGHT.

I admit my pride over my HIPS. More than my brain, more than my borrowed talents, more than the physical aspect many focus on. My HIPS are my biggest asset, source of pleasure and knowledge, creation and destruction, after all: LIFE.

If I could, I would write my HIPS a love declaration. They don´t need it though.

They know all too well how I hold them between my hands as if I was holding a precious World of its own, the reason why I insist on going forward, the reason I LOVE my men passionately the same way I let them go passionately when love is not around anymore. The same reason why I DANCE passionately. It is ALL in my HIPS.

No Love declarations are required, after all. The JOY I carry with me on a daily basis is there to speak for myself as that joy is a product of the sensuous, real pace of my heart so cleverly used by the Queens of this story, my story, the story of every Woman who knows what it means to be a WOMAN. It is all there, no words needed, in my HIPS. In OUR hips.

2012-01-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

"Weekly Oriental and Egyptian folclore classes in CAIRO

by Joana Saahirah"

Here´s a luxury PLUS to be added to our first "Oriental Ladies Night" happening in Biancaffé (Mohandessin, 6, Gazayer Street, beside Atlas hotel & On the Run station) on the 5th February!

In this SPECIAL night dedicated to the WOMEN of Cairo, we will have a FREE Oriental Dance Class starting at 19.00h and then we will go on into an EVENING no one will forget!

Aside from the "Oriental Ladies Night", a New Course of Oriental and Folcloric Egyptian Dance will start from the 11th February on.

The course will happen every Saturday, from 17h until 19h at the Biancaffé.

Bring your energy and heart. We will do the rest!

Price per class: 50 LE with Pratica after class included.

For more informations, please contact Joana Saahirah of Cairo on the Facebook or through the email: dancemagica@gmail.com

Joana Saahirah Bellydancer in Nile Maxime - 2010

2012-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

A little bit of Acting, a little bit of Dancing, a little bit of my SOUL on stage.

2012-01-24T03:31:00.000-08:00

"You were born with potential

You were born with goodness and trust

You were born with ideals and dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You are not meant for crawling, so don't

You have wings

Learn to use them and fly!"

- Rumi

(Via: Exceptional Living page on Facebook)

2012-01-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Of WOMEN and other delights.

If you are a regular reader of my Blog or one of my close friends, you know my world is mostly male. My most generous teachers and supporters were, almost all, men, my best friends are male, I perform with a male orchestra and deal with 99% of men and just 1% of women.

Daring to organize my FIRST "ORIENTAL LADIES NIGHT" is a way to balance this matter. Entering the FEMININE world of Cairo women is an enigmatic pleasure that I am willing to learn from with all my guts and passion. As usual.

I know, in advance, that I will GIVE a lot of me to these women (first night on the 5th February, Biancaffé, Mohandessin, starting at 19.00h until 24.00h) BUT they will also TEACH me a LOT about what it means BEING a WOMAN in a wide sense of the word. I know, FOR SURE, that we will enrich each other in unexpected, wonderful ways and for that I am so excited.

For being the Teacher but, mostly, the STUDENT. Of beautiful women whom, like me, reach for a JOYFUL way of BEING themselves at their BEST.

For all the WOMEN who will JOIN us on the first "Oriental Ladies Night", this 5th February, here it goes - in advance - all my LOVE and LIGHT!

See u all there, soon...For the PROGRAM of this MAGICAL NIGHT, please check anterior posts of this BLOG.

2012-01-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

"Door men of Cairo: the moral gate keepers of a Nation"

You need a lot of waist work in order to circulate in this mad, fascinating city without going totally bananas! And I don´t mean waist work as in for "the stage" or for my work as a professional Dancer. I mean waist work to go around all the mentality issues I just can´t manage to accept because that would mean saying to my brain: "Hey, dude, just stop working for a while, will you?! Thank you."

The 25th of January is after tomorrow and the country is holding its breath towards what might happen as it will be a year after the FIRST STEP of the Egyptian Revolution. A year just flew by like a minute but ACTUAL changes did not come to the light of day yet. Sure there is, apparently, a FREEDOM of speech that was unthinkable before the Revolution yet the same corrupted system and the old prejudices and refusal to QUESTION illogical things still remain untouched.

Muslim brotherhood is on the horizon and, with it, LOTS of doubts and fears regarding the future of Egypt. I say nothing, see nothing. Just FEEL it and OBSERVE.

One of the things that DID NOT change with the FIRST STEP of the Egyptian Revolution was the mentality towards Oriental Dancers - who are seen, more and more, as prostitutes and cold blooded men eaters - and the way WOMEN are still perceived and controlled, even by strangers.

Examples of this are right here, in front of my eyes, on a daily basis.

One of my doormen has been in a spy mission to catch me with male visitors inside my home for quite a while. He waits up for me late at night to check with whom I arrive and if he goes up to my flat with me. He looks dirty at my two cups of cappuccino I buy in the morning, imagining for whom it is the second cup.

He knocks on my door and tries to sneak a peak inside of it every time I receive male friends, giving me that same "dirty" look that warns me : "You bitch, you better be careful about who you invite to your home ´cause I am watching you."

Then there are the less than sublet warnings from neighbours to whom the doorman relates my comings and goings. It seems they are all so worried about the salvation of my soul and the threats of contact of the male part of the population.

Being a FREE Woman, a Foreigner & a DANCER living in Cairo seems to offend lots of people who recognize for themselves the right to put their nose in my LIFE as if I was their possession.

Feels like grabbing a mircrophone and yelling to the building´s residents:

"You folks...GET a LIFE!!!"

Having gone through the start of the Revolution in Egypt and many other personal and professional trials that 2011 brought me, I cannot help but wonder WHERE is all this going.

Change never comes from imposing new LAWS but, first of all, from a shift of consciousness in each individual. That KIND of Revolution is still on the way with no previewed time of arrival.

Hope it will arrive soon. For the sake of Egypt and my mental sanity!

2012-01-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. "
Mahatma Gandhi

Miss Representation 2011 - Full Documentary

2012-01-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

Essential, Revolutionary messages in a great documentary.
Hands ON the DEEDS, making a change by myself, one step at a time.
WOMEN and MEN, wake up!!!

2012-01-18T02:44:00.000-08:00

"Women of Egypt: THIS is YOUR night: 5th February"

THE EVENT Cairo was waiting for a long time is, finally, arriving!

"Oriental Ladie´s Night" on the 5th February, at the Biancafé (Mohandessin) with JOANA SAAHIRAH OF CAIRO as your special hostess
for this UNIQUE evening of Magic and Joy!!!

Here´s a little sneak peak of what you will find in this SPECIAL EVENT:

*** FREE CLASS (Oriental Dance Stravaganza by Joana Saahirah of Cairo) from 19.00h till 20.30h.

***"Oriental Ladie´s Night" with several activities JUST for WOMEN who enjoy themselves and LIFE from 21.00h till 24.00h!

***Oriental and World Dances Animation/Pratica to make us all move with Art and FUN.

***Special performance from Joana Saahirah of Cairo - Oriental and Egyptian Folclore - only for the ladies.

***Henna art available to make your hands and feet even more beautiful than they already are.

*** Cosy "souk" with selected items for WOMEN (jewelry, dance cloths, cds and dvds, etc).

*****Many SURPRISES during the night.

*******************************************************************

Minimum charge for the night: 75 L.E.

Venue: Biancaffé, Mohandessin (6 Gazayer St., beside Atlas Hotel & On the Run.)

Date: 5th February, Sunday night!

*********************

For further informations, please contact Joana Saahirah through the Facebook or email: dancemagica@gmail.com

You can also find the event´s program and updates on

Biancaffé´s page on the Facebook.

2012-01-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

Blessed contrasts.

It is me, in these photos up here. I was very young but my tough side was already visible.

I was a smart kid with a taste for marginal people. My best friends were gipsies and africans from the portuguese ex-colonies. I was a favourite of the drug gangs of our neighburhood (cause I kicked the ass of boys if they ever messed with me, my sister or friends) but I was also the best student in my class.

No one knew WHERE to put me: the good girl or the bad girl?! Impossible to define.

Nature really knows what it does and so does God.

I was born with a water heart, extremely emotional to the point of melting at the slightest loving experience AND a mind of steel, tough as they come.

If my heart cries, my mind/head runs in its help, assisting it so that emotions don´t get me stuck in deep valleys of sorrow.

If my mind/head is interfering too much in the spaces of my Life when I am supposed to "just feel", then my heart rescues me, allowing me to LOVE with passion and total commitment.

This blessed contrast proved to be LIFE saving in Egypt. As a Dancer managing an orchestra and dealing with a hard, anti-human environment, I have to be tough most of the times, take care of the ones who I trust (or, simply, trusting no one) and keep my emotions to myself, hidden, sleeping, silent.

The moment I step on a stage there is an opposite side of me that is required: no more toughness, dry heart, authority. On stage, I have to be PURE emotion, PURE heart and those are the only authority tools I can use in this space.

The ones who only know my head, have no idea on how my heart is filled with honey. The ones who only know my heart, cannot imagine the tough cookie I transform myself into in order to survive in a male dominated work, society, mentality.

Kind of schizofrenic, I guess...but still great and useful.

I know wise people say the virtue is in the middle of reality but I never said I was wise. I am always between contrasts, blacks and whites, full YES or full NO.

I love or I hate. I don t please people. I give my smile to the ones I respect and appreciate and my "nothing" to the ones I don t respect.

I am not "nice" for the sake of being "nice", earning friends and enemies so very easily.

I cry while my head becomes stronger and pushes me forward.

I move on, while my heart is bleeding.

The sun and the moon are, permanently, dancing inside me. And I LOVE it...

Thanks, mother nature.

2012-01-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

"Could you be the most handsome man in the world?"

A girl has the right to her space of superficiality, doesn´t she?

So here it is: my space of superficial thoughts.

Girlie stuff aside (can´t really manage to care about hair, make-up and gossip!), this is my shallow declaration, after admiting my assumed taste for beuatiful things, people, men!

Oh, yeah...and, who better than Paul Newman (the most gorgeous man ever lived PLUS talented), to give his face to this simple post?!

Women are not, usually, allowed to see men as sexual objects so here I am, once more, against the current. Sure enough, Paul Newman - or any other gorgeous man - is not an object but he does have the beauty of a cathedral or a flower.

A beautiful man is like a great painting that leaves you chocking on your own heart beats.

Gotta love it/him. Shallow side of me and all that jazz...

2012-01-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

"Marriage proposal # 357 and some other booty calls"

If you´re an Oriental Dancer performing in Cairo you get, on a constant basis, at least, these kinds of proposals.

The marriage ones which can be divided into:

1. Naif, ultra-romantic, idealistic proposals from men who come to your shows, from your musicians and staff (the ones who are brave enough to aproach you that way) or fellow artists (singers, other dancers, people who see you around in this business). These men put you on a pedestal and IMAGINE who you are from there. They fall in love with the DANCER, not the person.

They also expect that this DIVA they "fell in love with" will stop dancing alltogether as soon as they marry you, turning you into a "respectable lady".

Endearing but often imature marriage proposals come from these men who hardly know you but claim that Love knows no reasons. It just happens!

2. Marriage proposals from rich guys who just want to buy your body for a while or permanently. No romantic idealistic strings attached. This is a pure sexual proposal, disguised by the safe pretext of marriage.

They wish to parade you in public, after marriage, as their own precious property. Thy also expect you to stop dancing after marrying them. Non-negotiable issue.

3. The so called empresarios and managers who are, in their majority, pimps who know whom to pay to get the jobs for their dancers. They also think that, by marrying them, they will get extra income, better control over the dancers and sex. It´s buying three packs of sugar for the price of one. Extra money, control, sex. Yuppieee!!!!

This is the ONLY situation when the dancer is not only allowed to dance after being married but even work her ass off much harder than before because now her husband is eating from the same cake. "Yalla, habibty... Wake up and dance, dance, dance...(and I cash it inside my pockets, thank you, darling!!!)".

4. The men who meet you outside your dance environment and really get the time to know you. It s refreshing for you not to deal with the kind of people of your working space and it is exciting for him to imagine you dancing on stage like a Diva.

They fall in love with you, see how "you´re not at all like other dancers", present you to their families (never mentioning what you do for a living) and assume you WILL stop dancing and get pregnant within five days after you´re married.

Then there are the "booty calls":

1. Men who just want to screw you. No marriage proposal in the deal.

Usually dancers from the same environment - most of them already married and with children, cocky musicians who see themselves in the mirror and find Marlon Brando instead of their REAL faces, empresarios and Club´s/hotel´s managers who think they can offer you a month of performances in their places in exchange for sex.

Exchange of services, I guess and plain dirtiness. Part of this world, unfortunately.

2. Strangers who go to your shows or have seen your photos somewhere. They reach you through the mobile phone, email, Facebook, hoping that you will go out and screw a total stranger in exchange for money. Pure prostitution.

I´ve got all of these proposals so far. And yet another one from a famous business man who tried to reach me in every way imagination can conceive.
Wondering WHY none of them seems atractive to me!

The price to pay for being a DANCER in Egypt and a FREE WOMAN is, so very often, a heavy burden to carry. But I say, hey, it is worth it. Until a REAL MAN comes along and takes the person WITH the dancer. The LOVE with the love making. The WHOLE real deal.
Allelujah!!!:))))))

Egyptian Belly Dancer

2012-01-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

Video of me, hidden in the depths of Youtube.
Thanks, Paula Barbosa, for finding it and sending it to me.
A LOT of "face dancing" over here. God*s, I LOVE Dancing. It shows...
Also love the devotional face of my accordeonist while watching me dance.
Me and the accordeon have a VERY special relationship.
God bless Music, Musicians, Dancers, Artists...

P.S.:
Small correction:
This is not an egyptian bellydancer. It s me *(part portuguese, part spanish, part egyptian, part of the whole world)!!!

The Zar

2012-01-16T08:24:00.000-08:00

Beautiful, nicely done short documentary about the marginal dance&music of "zaar", outlawed and ostracized in Egypt.
I call it the psychological clinic for the people.
Therapy through music and dance, a pure, primitive way to Re-CONNECT with oneself. It doesn t surprise me it is considered against the law over here.

I ve been and participated in several "zaar" sessions in Cairo and other villages around it. It always felt like home to me and none of the negative ideas associated with it *(exorcism, the devil s work and other such non sense) applies to reality.
Sure there are lots of intentions behind what s REALLY happening. The participants consider they are possessed by "djinns" that need to be released through the dance BUT what I really see is a group of hard working, exhausted, frustrated, sad women seraching for a healthy way to feel better.

Women play and dance for their own health, their own survival, their own soul s salvation. How can THAT be considered out lawed???

2012-01-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

You know MUSIC and DANCE are part of who YOU ARE when...

When I am at the Opera of Cairo searching for specific musicians and accept an invitation to listen and watch a rehearsal which theme is Farid El Atrash.

When I start to listen to the first tunes of an old song and tears roll out of my eyes with no control from my part.

When I am sitting on a chair, trying to focus on "my own business" but all I can FEEL is the MUSIC. Not outside of me but DEEP inside, moving, me, lifting me up, elevating my heart, body and soul to unexpected places of ABSOLUTE LOVE.

When I get drunk from this music and remain in this altered, sacred state where nothing and no one else exist except the ME turned into a human MUSICAL PIECE.

If anyone would touch me during this rehearsal, it would be like waking me up from the most perfect of ALL dreams.

You know when YOU are MUSIC and DANCE when no separation stands between YOU and them. When you loose your breath and grab yourself to the chair but imagine yourself / myself - dancing in the middle of that orchestra, as usual.

When you smile and cry at the same time, thinking to yourself: This is IT. This is ME.

2012-01-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

Image of my first professional job in Egypt!

Luxor, right in the kicking start of this whole adventure, in a time when a stupid law forbade foreigners to work as professional Oriental Dancers in Egypt (oh, yeah, it existed such a law." Banana Republic", my dears!).

The solution was to create and perform as a GROUP of dancers (as the monkey law only forbade us to dance solo).

I went to Luxor with some colleagues I had met on my arrival to Egypt for some Oriental Shows which included the peculiar program:

1. Egyptian Oriental and folcloric dances;

2. Lebanese dabke;

3. Spanish fantasy (a little bit of flamenco, "sevillanas" and LOTS of non~sense);

4.Samba and modern dance.

5. A musical number from "Cabaret" where I had to sing and dance on a chair with a broken leg. The lyrics were given to me a few hours before the first show and I had to improvize it all on stage. Kamikaze, baby!

Right after that, I had sessions of dancing shooting in video-clips where I shook my generous hips and booty between arab and egyptian singers of doubtful talent.

Better than this, it would be finding the shooting of my "dabke" performance on the famous "Samir Sabri" show. I must have been out of my head, REALLY! Or just up for the adventure itself (prefer to believe the second reason).

Me, dressed in traditional lebanese folk cloths with a sensuous touch that left most of my legs showing like a streap~teaser. On Egyptian National Television. Outch.

If someone finds that recording, please forward it to me. A generous monetary compensation will be offered for the tape and for your silence.

Thank you.

2012-01-14T04:20:00.000-08:00

It´s HAPPENING:

"Women´s Empowerment through Oriental Dance" in CAIRO!!!

I dream BIG. I DO even BIGGER. No matter how many mountains, mice and snakes get in my way!

After an loud conflict between me and a lady called "Bloom" (very suggestive name and I SAW the signs in it) during which I got to think about the ancient competition and evilness between Women, an idea was born: Instead of saying: "WOMEN, unite and learn from each other" I decided to DO SOMETHING.

Find a venue where I could teach Oriental Dance mixed with books (fun AND education) and open discussions about WOMEN´s Worlds and a "LADY´s NIGHT" where they could see me PERFORM (with a very special orchestra that you ll all know more about soon), dance together, have their own little "souk" for specially selected dance and beauty items, Tarot readings, etc. A women´s world with no comparing each other, no envy, no ancient irritating competition, no bad mouthing, no gossip. ONLY the BEST of WOMEN for WOMEN.

It is, finally, HAPPENING.

As in everything else that is done in this city, it took a LOT of effort, time and patience to see it all coming true but, thanks God, WE are doing IT.

First set of classes and "Women´s Night" starting from the end of January.

More details will follow!

Yeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.......................................

2012-01-12T03:10:00.000-08:00

Political marketing in Cairo *(taken to an whole new level).

Damn, reality just blows my mind!

No imagination can surpass the extents of madness of everything I observe inside and outside myself.

As I was heading for my favourite coffee shop, early in the morning, to get my caffeine dose for yet another set of hours working on my BELOVED book, I noticed a political poster of a candidate for some Governmental elections.

The photo portrayed a man with a common face that could belong to any of my neighbours, the doorman, a doctor. What stroke me as weird was that the photographer or team which retouched the image on Photoshop inserted a dark spot on the man´s forehead, the same kind of the men who knock with their heads on the floor during the daily prayers.

The physical prostration required in the prayer rituals of Muslims leads to the head bumping or just touching the floor several times. The ones who show a callus on their foreheads are thought to be obeying followers of the daily prayers and, therefore, pious and a little bit sacred themselves.

The job was definitely badly done, otherwise I would not notice this was a digital adding and not an actual forehead callus that many exhibit as a proof of their religiosity (strangely associated with VIRTUOSITY and PURITY).

Since WHEN did religious clichés were used as a political marketing bonus?

Maybe I am the one who s been too busy with myself and not REALLY noticing what´s going on around me.

Why would a photographer add a callus to the forehead of a political candidate as a way to provide him with reliability?!

And, since when, did the so called "religious people" are, indeed, the most honest, hardworking, efective politicians?

Europe seemed to have learnt its lessons regarding to this dangerous mix between Politics and Religion but the Middle East is still on the way to this learning process.

The Christian Church, always associated with the political powers of each time, exploited, lied, manipulated, oppressed and killed billions of human beings. They created "Holly wars" (as if a war could EVER be "holly") and Inquisitions where anybody who disagreed with the religious/political authority or anyone who showed some knowledge (the witch hunt was all about eliminating "KNOWLEDGE" in the hands of Women) was burnt in the fire.

A scary amount of priests, nuns, popes were all discovered as sexual perverts, mad men and women who said something and DID its opposite. Secret passages, tunnels, caves were discovered in famous Convents all over Europe. What was found in these secret places was nothing short of a HELL landscape: instruments of torture and thousands of baby skeletons of abortions resulted from "religious people" intercourse covered in guilt.

No good ever came from associating Politics with Religion, this was a lesson learnt from Europe. It seems european History is not known in Egypt.:((

Knowledge is power, hence the pride Egyptian Governments seem to have on their poor, ignorant people.

The Egyptian Revolution was supposed to OPEN minds, not close them even further.

Hope the direction of this wind will change. Not only for my sake but for the sake of my BELOVED EGYPT.

2012-01-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

Out of my comfort zone.

Every day.

With fierce determination and a faith that cientists can never and will never explain.

Seeing the MAGIC in LIFE and letting it soak my feet every single time I bath.

Walking the WALK, letting old baggage for the dogs to take in the middle of every street I pass by.

Receiving the SUN and the MOON, not afraid of the dark anymore as it is just the warning of BRIGHT new days to come...

2012-01-10T03:23:00.000-08:00

Guilty as charged.

Of being ALIVE.

Of doing everything I dream of and want for myself, no matter how many obstacles get in the way.

Of watching the "Family Guy" series with the passion and delight of children.

Of choosing my lovers, friends, global family.

Of escaping to cinema sessions with a STARBUCKS moccha on my hands when things get really rough and my mind yells "give me silence for a while".

Of having fun with my mum, more than with anyone else I ever met in my Life.

Of fighting back, every time assholes try to cut my legs simply because I don t sleep with them, I don t throw myself at their feet, I bother them with my constructive PRESENCE.

Of reading as a compulsion and throwing away some literature master pieces which I find to be so damn boring.

Of LOVING with no games, no mixed messages, no lies or any kind of cheating. Just LOVING. And then, NOT, at all. This tendence for TOTALITY seems to be outrageous for a lot of people.

Of not bothering about what others think of me.

Of DANCING from my guts and soul, never from a point of vanity.

Of WORKING with dignity and respect for myself, no DIVA bullshit required.

Of not letting any great or umpleasant circumstances define me as they are always transitory and conditional as my SOUL is eternal and uncondicional.

Of writing, teaching, coreographing, performing as a way of BEING in the world with no models to follow, no dogmas to stick up to, no certainties.

Of BEING HAPPY, no matter what.

Guilty as charged of NEVER GIVING UP my Dreams!!!

Guilty of loving food, beach, travels, books, Oprah Magazine, Tango, Salsa, Flamenco and all the dances in the world, healthy and loving sex with the man of my choice, genuine and kind people, animals, fire, rain, sun and so many other things that turn me into something IMPOSSIBLE to define.

Guilty as charged from being MYSELF, no excuses, no fears...

2012-01-10T03:09:00.001-08:00

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

Audrey Hepburn

2012-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

In this apparent SILENCE I CREATE, I dance and write and re-learn that rare
ART of LOVING.

Eduardo Galeano - El Derecho al Delirio (Legend)

2012-01-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

Food for the soul.
Spoken in spanish, with subtitles in portuguese and english.
Some things are just too amazing to keep them only to myself.
The poem recitated in this video translates an open, ALIVE heart and that is, according to my own taste and evaluation, priceless.
Enjoy.

Elvis Costello 'She'

2012-01-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

Video kindly sent by a very special fan, Wail Abdel.
These are the gifts that need no words or compliments to go with it. The message is clear and the tenderness is so palpable that it brings tears to my eyes.
Thank you, Wail. For your loving presence, appreciation, support, kind way of stimulating the Artist and the Person that I am.

Eckhart Tolle recebe Neale Donald Walsch - legendas em português

2012-01-05T02:21:00.000-08:00

Too Great to keep it only to myself. Enjoy!

2012-01-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet - On Love

2012-01-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

Billie Holiday - All of me

2012-01-04T01:07:00.000-08:00

My little own "see you later" elected song.
Who else, if not, Billie Holiday *(my daily musical pill)?!

"All of me, why not take all of me
Can´t you see I ´m no good without you.
Take my lips, I want to loose them.
Take my arms, I ll never use them.
Your goodbuy left me with eyes that cry,
How can I go on, dear, without you?
You took the part that once was my heart
So why not take all of me????"

2012-01-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Away for a while...

Wishing, once more, all my friends and fans a GREAT 2012 with conscious CHOICES, THOUGHTS. FEELINGS, ACTIONS that will CREATE a different, lighter, happier time.

As the day only has 24 hours and I am only one, some priorities have to be settled so my blogs and Facebook profiles will be left for a while so that I can commit myself with other important things from which lots of people will be able to taste a little bit later.

Writing my own book while performing, traveling, teaching is a monumental task. So a bigger focus and time should be devoted to that wonderful and challenging task.

Making sure that the BEST Oriental and Folcloric show will be, soon, available in Cairo for an audience who is READY for ART with love and courage also takes effort, burocratic work, proper time.

Planning events for 2012 and choosing where to go, with whom and doing what so that my 2012 will be as PRODUCTIVE and HAPPY as I wish it to be.

Till my return, you can be updated by joining me on my

Fan Page in Facebook *(search for "Joana Saahirah of Cairo Fan Page"),

check performance videos on the Youtube *(search for Joana Saahirah of Cairo) and ask for further infos about shows and workshops through the email: dancemagica@gmail.com

Bless you all and receive my warmest HUG.

2012-01-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

2012-01-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Territory of the WARRIORS of Love and Truth, not the so called "good wishes" people who do not MOVE their hands and feet for an ACTUAL CHANGE.
Dream catcher I AM.
May 2012 be the YEAR of all DREAMS coming true. For me, for all.
Amen.

2012-01-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

Small pleasures...

Being received by a family of kittens whom I am feeding since they were born (except for the breast feeding part, sure enough, that I left to their mum).

Noticing how the ones who came to me for caresses, tenderness, talking, playing and tummy massages were the ones who grew bigger and faster.

Never underestimate the power of loving touch, eye contact, tender hugs, playfulness with pure care.

LOVE makes everyone and everything flourish, grow, shine.

P.S. Love the group purring (rrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr.......RRRRrrrRRRrrrr.....RRRR.....)sound the kittens make around me. It s like being presented with an orchestra of sweet clouds entering my ears, my heart.

2012-01-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

Sure

enough.

2012-01-02T05:02:00.000-08:00

"Show girl with the best intentions for 2012"

Eremits of all religions and professions of faith have been living in a process of "enlightenment" inside caves, in monasteries, convents, all kinds of "caves" where direct contact with other human beings - holly imperfect beings - is minimized or even eliminated.

No disrespect intended but I may say that is easy to be peaceful, loving, compassionate and full of kindness in your heart when you re by yourself, meditating in any of the caves we find to protect ourselves from this jungle we call "exterior" world. Nothing and no one teases us in any way. No one touches or hurts our hearts in any way. Solitude is the easy way out, a shortcut to LIGHT inside of us but, probably, not an effective one.

Meditation is great, I ve been there often while dancing, practicing Yoga or making love with my man but it doesn t substitute the REAL thing and that is called LIFE.

Dancing professionally in Egypt, specially in the harsh conditions I had to face, has been a Great School in several matters and ways. I ve learnt it all about egyptian music, dance, culture yet no other treasure is more precious to me than the HUMAN lessons I gathered along the way.

Gods and goddesses bless all the eremits but I think TRUE enlightenment cannot come from reclusion and shell creating from the World. This material, chaotic, often cruel and absurd world of ours is made of Human Beings, so amazing and imperfect that your head will spin and fly out of your neck if you try to truly understand them. Then I don t. Not anymore.

After all, you re one of them *(except if you re an alien from Mars reading this blog, in that case you may be excused or not...here we go with my compulsive curiosity: are aliens as complex and prone to "f.....it up" as humans from Planet Earth? In case you re REALLY one of these aliens from Mars, kindly send a feed-back of my question to my email: dancemagica@gmail.com). Thanks.

Living between human beings, WITH them and not away from them is, I discovered, the BIGGEST and most challenging way of enlightenment. Dealing with other people s flaws is dealing with your own, feeling irritation for what others do to you is understanding that you re doing it to yourself, seeing people s imperfections and yet ability to GROW turns you into a mirror where you can see yourself reflected and say: I am imperfect too. I make mistakes too and fall every once in a while. I also have the option to LEARN, CHANGE my negative patterns and GROW.

So, why is it so difficult for me to keep calm in a lotus position or with a beautiful indian "mudra" laying upon my chest when the same asshole (sorry but there is no other word in the english language that can keep up with the person I am trying to speak about), a saudi arabian young guy sends me several messages asking for prostitution services, after I openly shamed him on my facebook profile?!

First there was another "lady" (whom, I discovered, is not a "lady" but a pimp trying to get prostitutes to other men who, for sure, will pay him for these dirty detective services) contacting me throught the FB asking about my "services rendered". The dark side of Fb!

I mean...I am a professional dancer and teacher. What kind of services do you expect from me? Peeling potatoes while painting landscapes with my foot toes? Doing the hawaian hula while doing bank account burocratic work?

What?

I perform (with my orchestra), specially if in small parties, and teach private and group lessons on Egyptian Oriental and Folcloric Dance. Anything besides that, you may hire your own mum for the job. That was my answer.

I blocked the pimp and the potential client from my account, mentioned the client´s name in public telling this story and still both of them tried to reach me again, this time offering a large sum of money so that I would, and I quote: "take him to town to have fun together."

Now...the potential client didn t even look like Frankenstein (he may have been using a false picture) but he surely WAS Frankenstein or worse. The disrespect for DANCERS and the way men use their power=money to buy WOMEN just makes want to scream and become a Frankenstein myself. WTF??? I know lots of dancers prostitute themselves but sure there are exceptions. Besides that, since when it is apropriate to propose prostitution to strange women?!

A little voice, saviour one, come to my head whispering: "Say OMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Joana. Relax. Breath deeply. Stretch. Think of birds and the sea on a sunny day.Quiet. Sit. (good dog!LOL).

It is hard to be good and compassionate with so much madness and disrespect around. I try. Still trying...

Starting the year with another, oh ANOTHER, test to my patience, compassion, ability to accept and understand other people´s faults.

Would this wonder be possible if I lived in a cave on the top of the Mount Sinai?! I don´t think so.

And then you learn, and grow stronger and become able to laugh even at the offenses others bestow upon you. And that´s LIFE, that´s LEARNING. And, hopefully, that´s LIGHT.

Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang - "One Day"

2012-01-02T04:59:00.000-08:00

Beautiful, Intelligent and so very true.
The power of small gestures of kindness is underrated and what we GIVE out to the world always ends up returning to us, someway, somehow. This is what many call the justice of God, "karma", give it any name. If we plant love, truth, tenderness, respect, compassion, passion, joy in our lives, then we receive the fruits correspondent to these seeds.
Kindness boomerang...love the concept. The REALITY of it.

2012-01-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

The one that WE MAKE happen with our own hands and hearts.

I believe.

I do.

2012-01-01T04:12:00.000-08:00

Let the MAGIC ***(ACTION) start..

Every great achievement is made of several small steps.

Give your first step and don t give up of your goals. Step by step, no matter how small it looks like, you get closer and closer to the top of your mountains.

I have so many mountains that it makes my head spin...the only thing that saves me is knowing that I do my best, step by step, moment by moment, hope by hope, ACTION by ACTION.

Let the 1st of January be perpetuated all over the year in small gestures that end up in BIG conquests!!! Amen, brothers and sisters...Amen.

2011-12-31T02:26:00.000-08:00

"Being YOURself"

An egyptian friend of mine has been immersed in a series of doubts and fears.

-I really want to open my own "coiffeur" but...- She started telling me with the classical "buts" of someone who doesn´t REALLY want to take the chances, the work and the potential troubles to make something HAPPEN.

-But what?! Do you feel you WANT to do it? Do you feel you can do it RIGHT? - I answered, with less patience than I wish I had.

-Well, yeah. I think so but imagine what people will talk. It is a "coiffeur" for women AND men, so...you know Egypt. Even my parents are against the idea. Just think what people will say about me. - She continued, looking at the floor in desolation.

-I know it is important for you what your family and neighbours and...and...everybody!...thinks but you will NEVER do something that makes YOU happy if you continue to bother yourself with other people´s opinions. Look at me, I am a dancer, for God´s sake. Half the time people think I am a prostitute because of my profession and the other half they think I am a nun because I don´t sleep around with the men that come after me. So...

-Yes, but you are a foreigner. You can take it. I can´t. - She concluded, not leaving me space for further arguments.

No one can push anyone else to TAKE the steps to FREEDOM. Only oneself can do it. It just makes me nuts when I hear anyone complaining about how "they can´t" do this and that when I KNOW, for a fact, that "YES, you CAN" do anything if you re willing to do the WORK and pay the PRICE for it. I am not "naif" to the point of affirming dreams fall from the sky - bad news, they don´t! - yet I know, by my own experience, that YOU are the ONLY REAL OBSTACLE for not doing what is in your heart.

Whatever you do or NOT do, people will talk. That s certain in Egypt, I guess everywhere. One minute I am seen as a prostitute and the other I am a frigid nun, who cares? I´ve been called a lesbian - also because I refuse lots of men who think they´re irresistible - an arrogant, a man eater, God and the devil know what else. Did I EVER cared about all this nonsense?!

Hell, NO.

If I did, I would not move anywhere.

Remember, sister:

"Good girls go to heaven,

bad girls go everywhere!!!" and by "bad girls" they mean "every girl who dares to BE herself and DO what she dreams doing". So move your "derrière" and LIVE.

(ah, and let them F.......themselves talking and talking...while they TALK about you, you are LIVING and ENJOYING your life.)

Got it?

2011-12-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

Gift for all of my friends, followers, fans, students, fellow Artists, fellow Human Beings.

A great video with a simple, yet POWERFUL message to let inside your heart and CHANGE your Life.

Enjoy and Blessed be the first step of this 2012 journey:

http://http//topdocumentaryfilms.com/you-can-heal-your-life/

2011-12-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

Rumi ´s MAGIC:

" In your light I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art."

Rumi

(kindly sent by Kathreen Saab)

2011-12-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

"L´agente provocateure...oui, c´est moi!"

Provocations. The things that provoke-AWAKEN your mind and beyond.

"If you cannot dance, it s not my revolucion."

Emma Goldman,

Anarchist, activist and writer

2011-12-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

May 2012 be a FABULOUS year...

With Hope ***(essential, though not enough) and ACTIONS that may lead to better times.

No one knows what the Future will bring and there are some pretty pessimistic predictions for the famous year of 2012 but I SAY: "Do your part." With that, you ll be contributing for a better world. If every single one of us do our parts, the WHOLE will change as the WHOLE is US, each one of us.

Great dreams and wishes for this new year and joy for the end of 2011, the year of loss, Revolution, maturity, Learning, disappointments that lead me to even greater STRENGHT, LIGHT coming out of the darkness.

New shows, events, book, friendships, LOVE, passions, trips around the world, DREAMS coming TRUE are already in my AGENDA of 2012.

Putting the trash in the trash, letting go of old, harmful beliefs and everything/everyone which/who doesn t deserve to be in my WORLD.

This will make SPACE for the greatest things.

Egypt wishes the WORLD a FABULOUS 2012. I wish too!

2011-12-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

Images that speak more than words:

Have yourselves an AMAZING 2012!!! Half of it is in your own hands, the other half in the Universe/God´s hands. Doing our parts will get us half the way or even all the way to the places where we are supposed to GO.....................

2011-12-29T03:52:00.000-08:00

So they

taught us...

2011-12-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

Cultural misunderstandings.

Criss-cross cultural relationships are great.

You can learn and experience life from different points of view when in love with a foreign man/woman. You can also put yourself in a huge mess.

Classical situations:

Egyptian/arab man sees woman and wants to have sex with her.

What does he do?

If she´s a foreigner, he tries to get her in bed with sweet talking, poetry, romantic exaggerations and a thousands "you´re the moon, you´re the sun". It is "known" that foreigners are FREE and this only means one thing in these heads: she fools around with every men in town and nobody cares about it (sweet plus one: foreigner women are all rich, according to local mentality).

If she´s an egyptian or arabic woman, then he tries to sleep with her (both of them are sexual beings, although current mentality tries to deny it...then, if she´s really afraid of her family, society and the consequences of losing virginity before marriage, he man MARRIES HER.

Whoa, Nelly! Marrying someone just to be able to have sex with her/him?! Well, yeah.

Does he love her? Does she love him? Well, that s not REALLY the question.

The question is they both want to go to bed together ( and I don´t mean "to have a good night sleep") but the only legal, morally accepted way to do it is marrying each other. So they do.

After they do and get tired of the sex craze fest they longed for so much there is nothing but divorcing or sticking up to each other, having children, perpetuating the machine of procriation that will produce future generations of islamic defenders. They put up with each other´s mutual hate with the same martyrdom and patience as their fathers and mothers, eventually, did.

Then he cheats on his wife openly (men are allowed to do that and they re called "BIG SHOTS")or marries another wives (until four of them for whom he is finantially responsible) and she cheats on her husband "under the table" (women are NOT allowed to do that and, if they´re discovered, they re considered prostitutes and punished in many different ways).

The confusion between sexual desire and marriage is a constant over here, consequence of the repression both sexes are always living in.

If you re not allowed to taste food in a natural way, then all you think about is....food and that blinds you to the existence or possibility of anything else like...that silly old thing called...LOVE.

Kind of logical, don´t you think?! Curious how LOGIC can mean so many different things to so many different people.

2011-12-29T02:35:00.000-08:00

Understanding Egypt is also understanding Islam.

I have nothing against any RELIGION. Actually, I have a big respect for all forms of RELIGION, that is anything and everything that Re-UNITES people with each other and with their Divine source/root.

The fact that the so called "religions" of this world have been dividing, oppressing, exploiting, dominating, mistreating human beings while they manipulate their minds (for political benefits of the powerful and finantially rich people) is another subject.

While working as a dancer and living in Egypt I have been curious about many things I never managed to understand. That s one of the perks of LIVING in such a "different" place. That includes a way of thinking (or better said, NOT thinking), acting, living. Islam is a BIG part of this "difference" that separates me from this land and one that I could never really get used to.

Sure I love the beautiful voice of a "muezzin" calling for the prayer or a beautiful recitation of the Coran. Sure I also love the sense of compassion, community, mutual help and support that comes from the practice of this religion. BUT...I cannot accept the hipocrisy, anti natura rules and oppression that is also going around Islam in Egypt (and worse, in many other arabic countries). Denying Human Nature is only turning human beings into monsters. Oppressing WOMEN is only oppressing more than half Humanity. Not allowing people to QUESTION their own religion and to act according to their own conscience is the easy way to create silly machines that only do what they´re told to do, as well trained dogs. That may be the interest of the political powers (which know, learning from History, that Religions have always been a huge help when it comes to exploitation) but, I think (so sorry for daring to "THINK"!) not of the interest of the people.

Egypt is not EGYPT anymore for many centuries. Its pharaonic origin is still around, you can smell it in the air but only if you have the special "radars" for it. If not, pharaonic Egypt is only a picture of touristic panflets, History books, half broken monuments full of dust and sadness spread all over Egypt.

Many colonizers occupied Egypt but none has left such as strong stamp on it as the Arabs (making sure that original EGYPTIANS are not ARABS). In that stamp there is a king: Islam.

This legacy has been reinforced, year by year, by many powers at stake (egyptian emmigrants that went to the Gulf areas and Saudi Arabia to work returning to Egypt with religious extremist ideas they picked up in these countries, Saudi Arabian money injected in Egypt with the conditions of another type of "control", foreign interests that want an uneducated, easily dominating people in this country, for their own profit and benefits).

Then again...nothing against Islam but all against ignorance, oppression, hipocrisy and ANY religion that does not make people more HUMAN, more ALIVE, HAPPIER, more intelligent, more active, more of themselves and less of the crap many try to sell them as "the word of God".

There is also a difference between Islam and the way egyptians - and others - practice what they call Islam. The Coran itself is written in classical arabic ("fuss´ha") which is something not understandable for most egyptians. So there are the sheiks and all the others who offer themselves to READ and INTERPRET what illiterate people cannot.

From this point, all kinds of lies, manipulating and stupidity are born and real ISLAM seems to be substituted by an invented version of Islam that serves the purposes of a few powerful groups.

Understanding Islam is understanding contemporary Egypt and, no doubt, one of the big reasons why Oriental Dance is being chased, criticized, point at as cheap prostitution and such for many generations.

Simply because I refuse dogmas and prejudices of any kind, I insist on knowing more.

Here s the book I am LOVING:

"Inside ISLAM,

The Faith, the People and the conflicts of the world´s fastest growing religion"

Several authors

*Also reading "José e Pilar", a compilation of interviews given by the portuguese writer José Saramago (Winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature) and Pilar, his wife.

Curiously enough, Saramago was an atheist (he didn´t believe in the existence of God).

Accepting other people´s points of view, faiths, will, even their ignorance (at our eyes) is a huge help when it comes to LEARNING. The ones who are so sure of their own dogmas and reject to put them to the test are usually the ones who stay in the past, frozen in their own little, limited world. As a professional DANCER, ARTIST, it is my duty and pleasure to LEARN from everybody and listen to all kinds of things, knowing that my own BRAIN and CONSCIENCE will filter what s GOOD and what ´s simple damn bullshit.

Knowing Oriental Dance is so much more than "just dance"...

I´ve said it on and on...

2011-12-27T03:57:00.000-08:00

No need to ask me WHY I LOVE EGYPT...!!!...

"It was just one of those things, one of those crazy flings..." said Cole Porter in a famous song.

I m no Cole Porter so I doubt I can say it better.

Just wonder WHY so many people ask me WHY I live and work as a Dancer in Egypt and WHY I love all this chaos of Cairo.

Yesterday I was reminded of the many complex

reasons that justify this LOVE (as if LOVE was a matter of "justification"!).

Watched, once more, the Sufi show at the "El Khoury Palace" in the Hussein (beautiful way of celebrating Islam through music and dance, although restricted to MEN) and participated in a spontaneous "zaar" session in the heart of a Cairo neighbourhood that I BET no tourist has ever seen. This is what I call the psychologist of the people, specially women, because that s the place where they can release feelings, rage, exhaustion, sadness, all the "demons" inside of themselves through music and dance.

The dialect, rythms and lyrics are specific to the "zaar", they are no common songs. Neighbours come from all the neighbourhood (many of them in their pajamas and night gowns) to play, sing and dance in order to expell what does not need to remain inside them. Supersticions apart, this is a lovely way to LIBERATE oneself...THROUGH MUSIC AND DANCE...where - oh where? - did I ever listened to this?

The diversity and contrasts of this country, this crazy city are MESMERIZING, MIND BLOWING, HEART EXPANDING, SOUL touching...

No need to ask me why I LOVE EGYPT. I just do, as long as it fascinates me as it still does until today. As long as it TEACHES me about ART and HUMANS as this great school still does with me. As long as God wants because only God can make a LOVE be born or disappear into thin air, transforming itself into memory and smooth smiles on the angels´s faces...

2011-12-27T03:54:00.001-08:00

"Everything that irritates us in others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves."

Carl Jung

2011-12-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

The girl who loved Beautiful things.

She searched for them everywhere, as a street kid searches for trouble.

She looked for it everywhere, every day, in every real and imaginary corner, in every person she met *(apparently ugly or beautiful), in every animal, bridge, sky, river, tear or bursting laughter.

Because she searched for Beauty everywhere, she FOUND IT.

2011-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

In a time of...

In a time of division, we can say UNION.
In a time of fights, we can say PEACE.

In a time of hate, we can say LOVE.

In a time of chaos, we can say TRANQUILITY.

In a time of deceive, we can say the TRUTH.

In a time of repression, we can say LIBERATION.

In a time of darkness, we can say LIGHT.

In a time of uncertainties, we can say I KNOW.

In a time of loss, we can say COMPASSION.

In a time of blindness, we can say I SEE.

In a time of ignorance, we can say ART.

In a time of no soul, we can say ART.

In a time of apparent "no salvation", we can say ART.

In a time when the meaning of LOVE seems to be lost, we can say ART.

In a time where ART doesn t seem to flourish, we can only say and DO ART.

In Art that arises from LOVE lays the salvation of HUMANITY.

2011-12-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas inspirations...

2011-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Some times, the best Christmas presents are the unexpected!

My niece and one of our family dogs, Sandokan, preparing the team to deliver presents.

Alice as Santa Claus and Sandokan as the reindeer who carries the presents and slides them through North Pole and the world skies in the mission of making all children of the world happy.

If only real life would be that easy...but it doesn t hurt to imagine and keep this GIVING SPIRIT alive, does it?!

وهلأ لوين؟ Where Do We Go Now - Official Trailer

2011-12-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Nadine Labaki did IT again. Well, not again...BIG TIME!
Now showing in cinema rooms in Cairo - and probably in another cities of the Arab World - here it is THE MOVIE. Of the season, of the year, of THIS TIME.

I was already a big fan of Nadine Labaki but now she bought a piece of my admiration for LIFE.
A PIECE of ART that achieves what all true ART does: Reaching the Human heart and CONSCIENCE.

In times of chaos and division, we HAVE to WAKE up and UNITE as Human Beings.
Religions do not divide us.
Gender or political points of view neither.
Sexual orientation, colour, race, tastes or even faiths. In the end and in the beginning, HUMAN BEINGS are all ONE single brother and sisterhood.

THIS movie is a MUST SEE. An URGENT one. An ESSENTIAL one.

White Christmas - Charlie Parker Quintet

2011-12-24T04:57:00.000-08:00

The coolest Christmas tunes very proper to dance, laugh and receive this season in the right spirit:
Love and Faith with little steps that turn out to result in BIG dreams BEcoming TRUE.
Cool with a cappuccino on my hands, cool with your own family gathering around the Christmas tree anywhere in the world, cool for New York snow and cool for Cairo s fantastic energy.

Always, but ALWAYS cool to DANCE!

2011-12-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

My very own little Christmas gift to you ALL.

Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

2011-12-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

My all time Christmas favourite song, marvellously sang by Judy Garland.
Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, let your hearts be light...
:)))

Suheir Zaki dancing at Ahlan wa Sahlan

2011-12-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Unexpected Christmas present from Kaidi *(thanks, sweet heart!).
My TWO number one Oriental Dance references together in a video:
Souhair Zaki improvizing a bit and Mahmoud Reda watching.
Then Lucy, the last egyptian Oriental Dancer *(in my opinion!) hugging the LADY to wrap it all up as it should be: With LOVE and RE-COGNITION of a great talent, a great SOUL.
Delicious memory of my roots.
Thanks, Kaidi. This present was an INSPIRATION for me.

2011-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

"Have yourself a Merry little Christmas..."

With Love and warm gifts that don´t only come wrapped in paper.

Remember the cliché: nobody can buy the BEST THINGS in LIFE.

Lots of all kinds of nice gifts to everyone, no distinctions of any sort.

With LOVE, from Egypt!

2011-12-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

What it means to be an Oriental Dancer.

I am often covered with senseless critics (usually against my person, not even my work) and much more wonderful comments that bring tears to my eyes.

It has been an incredible journey, one where I have found everything and learnt pretty much what it means Oriental Dance and BEING an ORIENTAL DANCER.

One of the most common and nicest comments I receive from dancers who study with me all over the world is an assumption that I teach them "much more than just dance".

Well, the thing is that there is no such thing as "just dance" for me.

Being or becoming (oh, yeah, it is a work in progress, no matter how much you think you know) an ORIENTAL DANCER is not about becoming a technique expert or knowing all the songs, styles and rythms by heart. That is a big part of the THING but it is NOT ENOUGH.

Becoming an ORIENTAL DANCER requires qualities such as:

*Humanity (very challenging to BECOME a HUMAN BEING as this is also a work in progress).

*Sensitivity to ourselves and others. A curiosity for the world inside and outside of ourselves as they feed and mirror each other.

*Knowing and loving your body and re-educating your brain in order to be able to ENJOY being in your own skin. This will add that SPICE to your DANCE that differentiates pale, tasteless, clone made "dancers" from a DANCER who stands out in the middle of the monotonous crowds.

* Knowing about the WORLDS. Arabic and egyptian worlds included, of course.

* Knowing about Religion, Politics, Societies both in the East and the West in order to understand why Oriental Dance is still practice, in most cases, as a low level form of entertainment and seen as an exotic streap tease taken from male´s sexual fantasies.

*Discovering what is means to BE a WOMAN, know yourself, your muscles, bones, blood, brain, heart, soul, feet and hands, emotions and self-imposed limitations. Knowing your instrument - YOURSELF with ALL that you are composed of - is ESSENTIAL to know how to use it while DANCING.

* Understand Human Nature in order to express it while DANCING. Remember Oriental Dance covers pretty much all the colours of the rainbow where emotions are concerned. To express all these colours, you must have lived through them and understood what they mean and their place in LIFE.

* Not being afraid of critics, judgement from others and their prejudices. Knowing the "enemies" of this dance and the stupid rules society tends to impose on women is half way to BREAK those rules and kick the ass of those enemies.

* Educating yourself as this will be reflected in the way you DANCE.

All of yourself must be fed (brain, body, heart and soul) in order to CREATE a rich DANCE that will, finally, change the commonly spread perspective that Oriental Dance is not an ART but a cheap entertainment of cute girls shaking their hips to seduce men.

Educated DANCERS make interesting choices when it comes to movement, expression, criative decisions, soul comunication. Who told you that is no need for a BRAIN in dance? Who told you there is no need for an OPEN HEART in dance? Who told you there is no need to be an INTERESTING PERSON in dance?

ORIENTAL DANCE ´s image in the world will not change unless ORIENTAL DANCERS change or, better said, KNOW what it takes to BECOME an ORIENTAL DANCER.

I am doing my path, with bumps in the road, imperfections, mistakes and lessons learnt.

Wish you all do the same.

P.S. I know it´s easier to wish for the easy way out of every puzzle but, as far as I´m concerned, if you want to bring back Oriental Dance as an ART form, you have to build YOURSELF as a work of ART.

With Love, from Egypt!

(Launching Oriental Dance SOUL´s REBIRTH)

2011-12-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

Post- Revolution chaos.

A LOT of credit has to be delivered to EGYPTIAN PEOPLE.

Not the politians and the money "pashas" who try to destroy what common PEOPLE are trying to achieve with the Revolution but human beings from all walks of life that wish to have a FAIR, DEMOCRATIC, FREE, CORRUPTION-FREE Egypt to work, grow, live, love, be happy, create their families and know, allas!, some prosperity WITH DIGNITY (things that most egyptians never were allowed to have).

There is no such thing as a perfect Revolution without deaths, conflicts and mistakes.

In every MAJOR event like this one, there are collisions of all kinds and errors that are only human. This is PEOPLE we´re talking about. Not machines (at least, not yet).

I am deeply proud of EGYPTIANS, the common men and women who dare to protest (as they´ve been doing for months, since the 25th January) demanding a political transition that will allow the country to breath in peace and prosperity.

While rich friends of the ex-Government lived like kings and queens (owing favours one to another and, therefore, covering each other´s fat asses), the PEOPLE was oppressed, miserable, trying to find ways - any ways - to survive.

Egyptian corruption is famous and I ve spoken about it very often, not because I don´t love this country that is my home but because I KNOW it and LOVE it, despite everything.

What most of us do not know is that Egypt has been under a system that did not allow QUALITY, HONESTY and DIGNIFIED WORK to succeed. Only smart asses, thieves and easily humiliated sheeps could build a good, comfortable life for themselves.

With so much poverty and lack of fair opportunities, I find amazing how egyptian still managed to keep a smile on their faces, a surprising kindness in their hearts and some purity that is mixed with the games they have to play in order to survive in a place where FREEDOM to BE and DO GOOD things did not exist.

It still doesn´t. And EGYPTIANS are still manifesting in the streets, committing mistakes as it is natural to happen but DOING their best in the best way they can to see a REAL CHANGE in Egypt.

Military against People. Muslims against Christians. This against this.

Let´s then wake up and see that in every Revolution there is always a COUNTER- REVOLUTION. As there are so many of us - me included - who want to see this REVOLUTION succeed for the sake of our beloved Egypt, there are others who do not want it to happen.

Sure, mistakes are made from all sides of the conflicts and different interest still cause deaths, collisions, destruction. BUT I say it once and again: I am proud of EGYPTIANS and, although nobody seems to know what´s REALLY going on right now, or what s the best solution for the apparent democratic victory of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a CREDIT that must be delivered to my neighbours, my friends, my country fellows.

I fight another battles, through DANCE, ART, WRITING. It is my contribute to this REVOLUTION that is a WORLD REVOLUTION, not only an egyptian one.

My faith, love, strenght and admiration goes to every egyptian fighter who died or lived through this process, well aware that the battle is not yet won and that Rome and Pavia were not built in a single day.

GetOut - Best Animated Short Film 2009

2011-12-21T15:55:00.000-08:00

Brilliant!
About being born as a literal event and as a metaphor for going out to the WORLD, the REAL World where we are put to the test and LIVING what needs to be lived/loved in order to grow.
There are the ones who still insist in remaining in the womb of their own imagination and are too afraid to risk their necks, hearts and nerves dealing with the trials and tribulations one is exposed to when LIVING outside of his own protective box but even imagination is fed by LIFE.

Protecting one self from this crazy, imperfect, dangerous, material world is also protecting oneself from the joys, pleasures, learning curves and LIGHT that comes from Life s experiences.
This video is amazing in so many levels...simply INSPIRING.

2011-12-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

"Human tragedies:

We all want to be extraordinary

and we all just want to fit in.

Unfortunately, extraordinary people rarely fit in."

Sebastyne Young

From: Exceptional Living Group (Facebook)

2011-12-20T01:45:00.000-08:00

2011-12-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

2011-12-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Egypt!

Planning a Christmas Eve for close friends at my home, this year.

Bacalau, olive oil, cheese and love from Portugal all ready to set the table on Christmas evening and, most special than it all, the fact that these friends are all muslims.

Let me be straight in this point: I make no distinction between people according to their religion. I choose HUMAN quality and that means a clean heart and mind, first of all.

Religion, sex orientation, social status, or whatever society tends to use to separate people does not enter my mind in the moment of choosing who my FRIENDS, LOVERS and FAMILY are.

I live in Egypt so it is only natural that I relate with lots of muslims. I do see specific treats in those who profess this religion but that only makes them more interesting to me because I can learn from our differences.

Condition to enter my home and inner heart circle: Being a good person and by that I mean a GOOD character. Liers, envious snakes, cheaters, snobs, hypocritical ass holes, haters, destructive individuals are not allowed. Sorry! Still a long time for me to become a Buddha.

This Christmas will be special because it will be surrounded by TRUE LOVE and FRIENDSHIP.

Wishing a Merry, Merry Christmas to Egypt and the World!

2011-12-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

Why (s)?

Life is full of questions and not many answers.

If you've lived quite a while (quality wise, not necessarily quantity), you may know, by now, that non-sense seems to be everywhere and there is not one single logic but many.

Looking at the picture of this tree I cannot stop but wonder WHY Dance - in particular, Oriental Dance - is still seen as a minor form of cheap entertainment or a sin against God (and notice that Muslims are not the only ones making this assumption). If Nature and the Universe themselves are nothing but an eternal cycle of DANCE/MOVEMENT, if Dance comes from that sacred place where Human Beings try to re-connect with their DIVINE essence, then WHY (oh, the WHY(s)!!!) ignorance, prejudice, repression and stupidty still prevail over ART and the recognition of Dance's DIVINE root???

As I live, experience and learn, my questions multiply. Not only about DANCE but about everything. Yeah, it is a cliché but a right on the spot one: the more you KNOW, the less you know.

When I look at some of my old dance performance videos I have to blush. Some of these videos are bad. Oh, man...I mean: BAD. I thought I KNEW, while I was still struggling to KNOW. I was still so fresh and eager to do things, to challenge a system that told me I COULD NOT do it unless I surrendered and left my dignity in the garbadge can.

I can even see all the stages of my performing short, yet intense career as faithful mirrors of who I was and who I became. My LIFE is illustrated in each phase of my DANCE and it is clear to me the times when I was dancing over joyed, over pained, performing on a daily basis with men chasing me and harassing me in every possible way, the times when I was performing under hard stress due to personal dramas (including ex boyfriend trying to kill me under the aproving eye of police men after he discovered I had fell in love with another man after we separated). Going to work with security on my lap in order not to be bothered by him or other men who thought they had the right to own me, also the times when I was so happy that my heart wouldn t fit inside my chest...All that and more is documented in my dance videos, from different phases.

Now I have to cut myself some slack! In 5 years of lonely struggle and success that came exclusively from my talent and efforts, managing my orchestra and work by myself with egyptian dance "stars" trying to cut my legs so that I wouldn t be able to be in the market, competing with them, I GREW so MUCH. As a person, as a dancer. As an ARTIST. As a SOUL.

I do KNOW my territory now. I DO KNOW my DANCE, Oriental Dance. Cause I learnt it with my blood, my sweat, my understanding, my realities, my experiences. No one really explained it to me, I had to RE-DISCOVER it and damn, I did!

My DANCE, today, reflects all I know but, most of all, all I don't know and who I became.

I would not change a single thing. Not the HAPPY moments, not the TRAGIC moments. Yet another cliché but they made me who I am TODAY and, for that, I am grateful and deeply proud.

2011-12-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

My favourite kinds of music.

1. Silence *(absolute SILENCE).

2. The sea and its waves *(better if in the middle of a storm).

3. Rain pouring *(better if it is a warm, tropical storm but with no natural catastrophes included).

4. Cat's purring in my ears *(my own cats or others 'cause I'm very unfaithful in these pleasures).

5. The sound or heartfelt orgasms between two LOVERS who want each other with BODY, HEART, MIND and SOUL.

6. My name pronounced by any loving friend, family member, man of my choice.

7. Om Kolthoum's songs. Any of them. At any times.

8. Church bells on a Christmas morning.

9. The wind.

10. "I LOVE YOU" whispered in my ears by THE ONE.

2011-12-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

ALL that I AM ***(and then some more!)

2011-12-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Just arrived home *(Cairo)!

With an annoying feeling in my guts. Damn, how much would I love to be able to ignore my intuition, once in a while. But it goes: "BAM-BAM-BAM", never letting rest like an endless headache that only stops when you REALLY acknowledge it.

All seems quiet, despite the chaos still going on with clashes near the famous "Tahrir Square" and the uncertainty of the political results in these elections.

If many are against Muslim Brotherhood winning the biggest part of the Parlamentary cake, then they must remember these were - at least, it seems - DEMOCRATIC elections and the wish of majority must be respected. That s one of the principles of Democracy.

I know, by now, politics is retoric, bluff over bluff, talk-tall-talk with not much done for the people of each country *(let us remember this is not an exclusive of Egypt as there is political corruption all over the world).

The BIG CORPORATIONS, BANKS, ENTERPRISES which own CAPITAL (CAPITAL/MONEY/POWER) are the ones who dictate the LAWS and all political Governments obbey them. So politians, even the ones with good intentions, are nothing but puppets in the hands of the ones - silent, hidden ones - who own the REAL POWER coming from MONEY.

I am not against any one or anything except CORRUPTION, LIES, EXPLOITATION, IGNORANCE, RACISM and lots of ETCS this world, sadly, present us today.

I don t even know what will be the future of my BELOVED EGYPT but I guess I want the same as the majority of egyptians who live and work here, like myself.

Despite my bad gut feeling, I wish to land back home with a simple wish for all of us:

Merry Christmas, Egypt! And this includes all RELIGIONS because RELIGION DOES NOT separate people but UNITES them. Only false religions SEPARATE people and create conflicts and wars between them.

As a follower of the only RELIGION I KNOW ***(and that is LOVE), I simply wish a Happy Christmas time for all of us with tenderness in our hearts, kindness, friendship and lovers, family and HUMANITY as one single BODY of LIGHT.

2011-12-15T12:18:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas (at home, in Cairo) and presents already ordered to Santa Claus.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, no matter who you (think) you are, where you are from, which religion you profess or any other illusions we tend to think that divide us.

Heading to Cairo for new cycles of Work, Love, Adventures, Dance, Surprises,VICTORIES.

Already ordered Santa Claus what I want for this Christmas:

1. Love, My LOVE (man of my dreams coming TRUE:) Yes!).

2. Health and Sucess from the Soul in all the work I do.

3. Always being surrounded by REAL friends and family who LOVE me for who I am.

4. Travels and more travels with lots of learning and joys.

5. A collection of Woody Allen´s movies I saw this week, as well as books that are already in my traveling bags.

6. Last but not the least, STRENGHT, LIGHT, COURAGE and STAMINA to fight the "GOOD FIGHT", never surrendering myself, body and soul to anyone who thinks women are for sale.

I AM NOT, thank you very much.

7. Passion in all the ABOVE. As I often say in my workshops, "nothing in Life makes sense without PASSION. Not even taking a piss..."

2011-12-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly? "
Frida Kahlo

2011-12-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working. "

Pablo Picasso

2011-12-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

"Our" Alice in wonderland...

Me and my niece, a very special NEW inspiration in my Life.

God takes some and gives so much more, always wise and making sure we only keep what´s worth keeping.

A miracle of Life making sure that no empty spot is left untouched.

My work will reflect Alice´s blessed appearance in my Life. Part of me, soul of me, adding so much to all I am.

2011-12-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

On my way (to Cairo)...

Returning home (Cairo, Egypt) is always an adventure. Never knowing what will happen, politically speaking, humanly speaking.

Living and performing as an Oriental Dancer in Cairo is not advised for weak hearted individuals.

Always ready for the rides LIFE prepares for me, a LOT is waiting for me.

While I am busy, away from these cybernetic worlds, feel welcome to be updated through my Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Joana-Saahirah-of-Cairo-Fan-Page/183318258358726

2011-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

2011-12-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

Inspirations of a DANCER...

I am often criticized by my male friends for the open assumption that I do love beautiful men. They delight my eyes and my soul as a true piece of Art, like a good painting, an interesting sculpture.

Just because they know me and see me as an intelligent person, the fact that I admit LOVING beautiful men is , at their eyes, a contradiction.

Men have always, generaly, speaking, valued women by their physical appearance and word of mouth defends that women are not interested in the way a man looks but only in his character.

Well, well...are we lying over here or what? It is obvious that CHARACTER is more important than looks. Intelligence, honesty, courage, sense of humour, talent, many qualities I find essencial in a man. BUT exterior beauty is IMPORTANT to me as it is to many women who do not admit it in fear of being called superficial, sex maniacs, stupid, you name it.

A lover of BEAUTY myself (beauty found in EVERYTHING), how would it be indifferent the way MY MAN looks?! Looking at him is also as looking at a sunset or the sea: a sensorial delight for my eyes.

The beauty of the heart wins the exterior beauty, sure enough. But, hell yeah, I LOVE BEAUTIFUL MEN and Joaquín Cortés is one of them.

The fire and guts in this gipsy eyes make me fly the way a good music does. It is all connected, it is all the same.Really!

2011-12-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

Next step:
Return to Cairo!..............

After my Spain and Portugal tours, it feels like heaven to return home, to Egypt.

I am aware of the many challenges I´ll find on my way but those have never been strange to me.

Trusting God will keep giving me the health, talent, inspirations, creative energy, passion and DRIVE to continue riding my white horse ahead and UP.

To keep yourself updated about events, dance goodies and other wonders, join us at my Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Joana-Saahirah-of-Cairo-Fan-Page/183318258358726

2011-12-12T02:52:00.000-08:00

"Romeu and Juliet" by Prokofiev

In my opinion, no other musical composition was so magnificently done for Classical Ballet and no other musical translation of the original Shakespeare literary piece was achieved.

Prokofiev has done IT!

The stakes are very high with this one. The level of the dancers has to be at the same stance as the music or better in a way that they ADD something to the music, not only translating it through Dance but ADDING a HUMAN substance to it that will help communicate the history better.

The National Portuguese Company (on stage, these days and until January 2012) did not, in my perspective, reach the point of doing justice to the music.

Prokofiev´s composition ate the dancers like a hurricane which explodes, with no warning, taking the earth, the houses and people down with no mercy.

It happens with every kind of Dance. Oriental is not an exception. If the orchestra is superior in technique and talent to the dancer, then the music eats the dancer. Audiences become enrolled with the music and simply forget about the Dancers but, hey, this is not the point. If we were supposed to just listen to the music, we would go to a musical concert, not to a Dance performance.

If the Dancers are not up to the music they dance, they tend to disappear from the stage and this was the case.

Prokofiev´s music demands physical, emotional, spiritual expression abilities not very easy to find, even in the best performers in the world.

The tremendous physical strain and effort of Classical Ballet makes it even more difficult to EXPRESS Life through movement but it is possible with a mix of TALENT, HARD WORK and SOUL.

Cried like a baby listening to this divine music, enjoyed "Tebaldo"´s performance (Tebaldo is a friend of Romeu, later in the play he is killed by Juliet´s cousin, Mercutio causing a HUGE disaster) and the deep message in this MASTERPIECE that Prokofiev knew how to understand so well from Shakespeare.

The subject is not only a fight between two families and the impossible love between Romeu and Juliet. It goes further than that. It is the opposition between TRUE, PURE LOVE and SOCIETY with all its rules. It is the price one pays for the FREEDOM to choose how they live and whom they love, independently of what the family and society thinks is the correct thing to do.

It is the fight between heart and mind. Between cold people who live for ambition, appearances, status and power and the LOVERS of this world (becoming more rare, day by day) who ask nothing but the BLISS of being with the one they love, happy like a child.

I already LOVED "Romeu and Juliet". Through Prokofiev´s music (and the amazing choreography of John Cranko) I understood it better in a way that makes me love it even more.

Deep inside of me, I know WHY I love it so much. And, secretly, feel proud of myself.

2011-12-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

The excellence of

Portuguese products (finally recognized by portuguese people!).

I find my two main countries (Portugal and Egypt) tremendously similar in many aspects. Astrologers say both countries were born under the sign of Piscis and that already says a lot. There are more troubling similarities, though...

Both Portugal and Egypt tend to value foreign products to their own.

Hope the Revolution in Egypt will help change this mentality.

Egyptians have all the reasons to appreciate their own History, products, culture, music and dance, literature, etc and yet they tend to forget about it, leaving it to the tourists. Such a shame...

I don´t mean you should reject foreign treasures - each country has special, unique, wonderful things of their own - but forgetting about your own country´s richness is plain stupid.

Portugal has been charged for the same mistake.

So there I was, yesterday night, in the heart of Lisbon (the city where I was born), preparing myself to watch the classical ballet "Romeu and Juliet" (by our own National Portuguese Ballet Company) when I was faced with the most surprising shop.

In this shop you could find all kinds of products which were created by PORTUGUESE. Obvisouly oriented for tourism, the prices were high but the quality and the pride of presenting our own "stuff" with dignity left me breathless and happy.

If you, at any times, pass through Lisbon, don´t miss it:

http://loja.avidaportuguesa.com/pt/gca/a-vida-portuguesa/contactos

Pina | Trailer D (2011) 3D Berlinale 2011 Wim Wenders

2011-12-12T02:18:00.000-08:00

Yeyyyyy!!!

Got this movie - and another one by Pina Bausch - yesterday night.
Feel so excited to find an ARTIST who thinks and creates OUT of the BOX, working DANCE in the most intelligent, passionate, emotional, spiritual, physical way.
Revolutionary, if only it could be understood by many of us (which I think it is not).
To say I LOVE it is not enough.

2011-12-12T01:58:00.000-08:00

Feeding the DANCER-PERSON in me.

It has been so lovely that words tend to miss the movement of my fingers.

Between the work, there is also some wonderful catching up with my close family and friends that I keep, like treasures, for years and years. Time and geographical distance seems NOTHING to this blessed group of SELECTED friends and family who are my only floor.

The importance of my parents - who do not agree with many of my choices but support me and love me anyways, even going against their best judgement - and those FRIENDS with capital letters who do not relate to me as the ARTIST but the PERSON I am. They even dare to consider the second - THE PERSON I am away from my profession - more interesting and loving than the first - THE ARTIST.

Good Lord, how I love them back for that!

As a gispy myself, I have no ground. I love to dance, teach, write and live in the WORLD. Yes, I was born in Portugal with a spanish flavour of which I am so proud. Yes, I consider myself half egyptian already because this country has been my home in the last years, my Greatest SCHOOL, my career spot shinning throughout the world, my professional base, my Royal and most important source of information and inspiration yet I don´t feel attached to countries in the way most people do.

My home is where I am happy and feel myself growing as a Dancer-Artist-Person. And that can be everywhere.

So the people I love are my only territory, my ground, my roots and basis. Their love and faith in me feed my heart in a way that I HAVE to DANCE more and more, thirsty for doing NEW, BETTER, more interesting things.

Without this RICH emotional life, I would not have material to DANCE. The people I love and love me back for who I AM fill all the corners of my heart and soul, providing me with contents with which to fill every single step I take, every single movement I make.

God bless them!

For the dark spots in the road (evil, envious, unhappy people who spend their time trying to hurt and destroy others who bother them for their Light) I also THANK because they show me the Universe is composed by night and day, good and evil, black and white. Without the dark spots, there would be no LOVING spots to fill my body with DANCE and reasons to do it.

God bless them too!

Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major BWV1007 - Mov. 1-3/6

2011-12-11T01:47:00.000-08:00

For a miraculous "almost Winter", Sunday morning, one of my favourite composers: Bach.
The soundtrack of travels, passionate nights with my beautiful man, the hurry that comes from missing "you" (and YOU know who you are), the horse riding that takes me to wherever I need to be, not by obligation or other´s decisions, but by my own heart´s desires.

2011-12-09T10:40:00.001-08:00

"I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should. I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever only rejoices me, and the heart appoints."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance”

Via: "The Girl God" (Facebook)

2011-12-09T01:42:00.000-08:00

Loving people doing loving things...

Being an Artist means many things.
Amidst many, there is a willingness to be understood and loved through what our souls have to say.
It is undescribable the joy I get when students and professional dancers from all over the world send me messages commenting on my work and how it impacted on them and their own dance.
I am extremely critical of myself, professionally speaking, so it would be strange to see me thinking wonders of my own work (always thinking ahead, what can be done better, what is not done YET and so forth...). I leave that to others.

The messages I ve been receiving from Spain (and other places I ´ve been in performing and teaching) are heartbreaking, personal, truely human. For all of you, my most loving hug, wishing you all a WONDERFUL Christmas time and always higher flights in your CREATIONS and LIFE!!!

Salafi group reaffirms call to set Egypt’s Pharaonic relics in wax - Bikya Masr

2011-12-09T01:23:00.000-08:00

Salafi group reaffirms call to set Egypt’s Pharaonic relics in wax.

Well, well, well...what to say about this one? Freak seems to have become "chic". Is the world going too mad?!

The idea of covering Pharaonic statues and temples in wax because they remind people of their "old idols" seems way out of anyone´s heads. Just stupid?! No, much more than that. Just freakish?! Also more than that.

I have no words to describe it. Pharaonic history is the most noble, valuable treasure of Egypt and the Humankind. Only total ignorants would think they can erase (like other colonizers tried to do, destroying Pharaonic relics and temples and building churches and mosques above them with no respect for Egypt´s great History) the traces of one of the most important traces of Humanity.

Really...oh, really...I have no words to comment on this one.

Forbidding cumcumbers and other vegetables that arouse, so Islamist says, the libido on egyptian woman is plain mental retardness but it is hilarious. What to say of THIS? Not funny or hilarious. Purely criminal.

Check the link:

Salafi group reaffirms call to set Egypt’s Pharaonic relics in wax - Bikya Masr

Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance - Bikya Masr

2011-12-09T01:21:00.000-08:00

"Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance"

No further comments.

Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance - Bikya Masr

2011-12-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

2011-12-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

Almost returning to Cairo!

And wondering what will I find when I arrive home, after democratic elections which seem to give a majority to the Islamic Religious sector.

The city of Cairo has gone through so much. I have gone tthough so much too.

What´s else to come?

Still a couple of Workshops to give in Portugal and a few more friends to see, in a hurry but with so much Love.

Writing and dancing, as always.

Just went to the cinema yesterday and watched "Anonymous" about a theory that defends William Shakespeare was not the real author of his work but an actor who took advantage of a political situation that inhibited the REAL writer (a noble man, lover of the Queen Elisabeth of England) to assume its revolutionary literary work. I did it while eating popcorn and drinking my Christmas special Starbucks. That was just lovely.

Then...what´s next? Can´t stop but wonder what will become of my beloved Egypt? Without egyptian music and dance (Art and Life, after all) I don´t recognize MY Egypt.

I wonder...(hoping for the best and fighting my own intuition on this one).

2011-12-07T01:28:00.000-08:00

"Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn. "

~Terri Guillemets

2011-12-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

2011-12-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

Small gestures of Love transform our Life.

My Masters are everywhere in the skin of great people and freaks who have lost their way.

One of the simplest and most beautiful lessons I received came from a fellow dancer/artist/teacher called Aubre Hill. I met her when we shared a hotel room in the last Miami Belly Dance Convention where we both performed and taught.

She was, obviously, a lovely person from the beginning but a detail (how many times do I have to assume myself as a "detail lover-seeker"?!) caught my attention.

I had arrived from Cairo with stress, flight´s complications, a storm which stopped me from landing and performing that same night at the event and almost two days of delay on my arrival due to burocratic chaos.

I was in no mood to teach or perform. I was much more in the mood to be a bear hidden in my cave in the middle of the Winter. Duty called, though...

As soon as I woke up, rushing to teach my first workshop, Aubre had a warm cup of coffee ready for me. She didn´t ask if I wanted one or showed me how to make it. She prepared it herself and handed me the cup with a loving expression on her face, one I will not forget any time soon.

-I ´ve been reading a book that speaks about the power of small loving gestures in our daily lives. How, apparently, small acts of tenderness towards the ones who surround us can transform our lives for better...- Aubre added, while watching me delighting myself with the warm cup of coffee between my hands.

I was touched. This stranger took the time and effort to notice that I might be tired and in need of a coffee and she prepared it herself with no concrete benefit for her. An attitude like this may pass unnoticed to many or even seem insignificant to many others but not to me.

Dear Aubre, one of my spontaneous masters. Remembering you this Christmas.

Knowledge is everywhere, we just have to open our eyes (of the heart) to see it...

Orgasm During Childbirth

2011-12-06T03:12:00.000-08:00

Revolutions in the way we perceive our bodies and how we FEEL them. Giving birth starts to be understood and the right to pleasure is returning to women´s hands, finally, after so many centuries of prejudices, limitations and ignorance.
Beautiful...

Killing Us Softly 3- Advertising's Image of Women

2011-12-06T01:47:00.000-08:00

To all the Women of the world: a Re-education that will teach them more than facts and a mentality that promotes self hatred and self-imposed limitations.
Loving yourself, in your own Unique body and soul, is the KEY.
Time for POSITIVE changes that will EMPOWER Women as they deserve.