Cairo, the 5th July, 2009

"Backstage - Part 2 and still to continue...where most of the magic happens..."

• Being an artist means so much and entails a reality with so many faces that I often forget how different it is the image "common" people have of someone like me and then the realities that compose - for REAL - all that I am and everything that contains the word ARTIST.
  









• Outsiders and audience may only see the stage and all I put out there in the form of live shows, videos, coreographies, workshops or conferences I may give on the subject of my art but the iceberg is so much bigger and its hidden base goes way much deeper and further than all the stuff that can be seen from the outside.
  
  
  


• Growing as an artist since the age of 5 - when I started my artistic education in Classical Ballet- and always being surrounded by art (I studied all kinds of dancing, music with the whole note reading, acting, drawing and painting, writing, etc), I never questioned that being an artist included lots of personal investment, hard continuous work, discipline, a very lively and curious mind and sacrifices with hidden pains and a life style that is totally limited-amplified at the same time by ART itself. Artists never rest or really stop thinking about their work. Our job becomes our life and everything around us should manage to adapt to it. It has always been very clear to me that ART is not only glamour or the lights on the stage but all that is behind it: rehearsals, doubts, training, classes and constant search to grow and develop our skills, an endless myriad of assets you need to keep up with, a whole life time dedicated to ART with everything and everyone else coming in second place (I feel sad by saying this but it's the truth...).
  





• Besides all the blessings and hard, pleasureable work I've been doing in Cairo for almost four years, some of the things that make me happier and fuller in my job are not known to the public:
  


• My spontaneous dance sessions with my dearest friend Mahmoud Reda. The times when he's showing me a new coreography or a song he managed to find after forty years of being tucked between old memories and tapes.The classes I teach and from which I get more than I give.
  


• The musical sessions with my orchestra and other musicians I come across who generously play for me.
  


• Some classes I take with rare, occasional teachers.
  


• When I take the time to listen to common people's suggestions on egyptian old music, the goodies that are really worth dancing and almost no one remembers anymore...
  


• When I haunt the stores searching for new songs to coreograph and dream about.
  


• Dance practices with fellow dancer friends - usually the boys cause girls don't seem to be very fond of me, for some reason...- and all you can share and learn from each other.
  


• Here are some photos of an unforgettable afternoon at my friend Mohamed's home in Mohamed Ali street. At the pretext of me giving a class to a fellow dancer, we ended up dancing together and having a great time, each one of us taking movements and small details from each other. If only all dancers could share like this, we would all gain from it!

Thanks, ya Mohamed, for reminding me of what REAL artists are about: sharing with each other and learning from each other rich points can only make us bigger. Admitting we don't know everything - actually we know so close to nothing... - is a clear sign of magnitude.

• When we're dancing and learning like children do I KNOW that we're both on the right track.