Cairo, the 11th September, 2009
“Souhour at “Naguib Mahfouz” coffee shop
and winning foreigner audiences…what a quest!”
Going to “Khan el Khalili” on a Thursday night and during Ramadan is not the most perfect of the imperfect ideas. It’s kind of crazy, really…specially if you live in Cairo and have had more than enough of traffic, crowds and noise.
On normal occasions I wouldn’t go to the market on a Thursday night in the middle of Ramadan even if I was dragged or if they told me Joaquin Cortes (my favourite Flamenco dancer and a hot piece of man!) was there waiting for me with a Spanish bouquet of flowers.
But these are not “normal” times I am living.
I am working, working, working – and may I say AMEN and THANKS GOD 1000 times! – and all my days and nights have been limited to it.
Just before yesterday, I could escape for a few hours after work and went for my Salsa night enjoying some “non professional” dancing (it’s great to dance only for my own fun!) plus smoking an INCREDIBLE Cuban cigar my friend Angelito brought along. I was in heaven…
And yesterday, here we go to the famous and gorgeous “Naguib Mahfouz” café to have our “souhour” which is supposed to be the last meal of muslims just before they restart the fasting of a new day.
The menu was made according to what’s better suited to endure the several hours of the following fasting day. Heavy food that will remain in the stomach for a long period of time and sugary stuff to give us stamina.
The restaurant is beautiful and it was crowded. Ramadan is, indeed, the time of the year when Egyptians and arabs eat more! Fortunes are made on food supplies and restaurants during the holy season and both women and men grow fat in an astonishingly fast rhythm. Everywhere I looked around, I could only see people eating, eating, eating!
Another contradiction with the spirit of the season…
Note of a true “gourmandise” :
Brought home one of “Khan el Khalili” famous Egyptian pancakes in the end of the night. Still hot, still crunchy and with honey melting along with extra “eshta” (remains of the milk) and a smell that drove me crazy all the way until I arrived to my destination.
A visit to “Khan el Khalili” without an Egyptian pancake is a sin. In Ramadan or in any other time of the year.
Winning foreigners to my team!
As I previously mentioned in ulterior postings, dancing in Ramadan means dancing mostly for FOREIGNERS/TOURISTS who come to the “Nile Maxim” (in 95% of the cases) included in travel agencies programs and with no knowledge about the dancer who is there.
I found it hard not to feel these shows as “touristic packages” oriented for an express audience who doesn’t appreciate my work as Egyptians and Arabs do in normal times.
After so many nights of consecutive work (18 nights in a row, so far!) , I finally got a grip and adapted myself to this experience, finding the following conclusion:
No matter what kind of audience you have – and their level of understanding of the dance and music you’re presenting – ART is always ART and you just have to do your best, put your heart and soul in it and let it flow.
It seems easy to say but harder to put into practice. I try hard to forget what kind of audiences I’m having so that I can give them my best but there’s an exchange between me and them that is simply not the same when it comes to touristic shows.
Most of this crowd watch me as if I was an exotic bird and not an artist. They would applaud, even I was not that good…!
O.k… Getting over it.
ANOTHER HINT OF KNOWLEDGE:
The way to grow as a dancer comes differently for each one of us. I am discovering that “my path” goes towards the show concept – for sure – but, mainly to the emotional, technical and spiritual richness I can impress in each dance.
Forgetting about the dancer boys, the show off, glitter and stuff for a while…forgetting about the “tchan tchan tchan tchan…” and all the major effects. Concentrating on the most difficult: DANCING BETTER (incredible how easy it sounds!).
Including it ALL:
Technical expertise, sensibility, awareness and total dominium of the material I am working on, relaxing and letting my internal timings play their roles, feeling secure and sure of myself, my personality and the great/UNIQUE stuff ONLY I can bring to my ART.
Not easy…and yet, possible. A work in progress.
“Souhour at “Naguib Mahfouz” coffee shop
and winning foreigner audiences…what a quest!”
Going to “Khan el Khalili” on a Thursday night and during Ramadan is not the most perfect of the imperfect ideas. It’s kind of crazy, really…specially if you live in Cairo and have had more than enough of traffic, crowds and noise.
On normal occasions I wouldn’t go to the market on a Thursday night in the middle of Ramadan even if I was dragged or if they told me Joaquin Cortes (my favourite Flamenco dancer and a hot piece of man!) was there waiting for me with a Spanish bouquet of flowers.
But these are not “normal” times I am living.
I am working, working, working – and may I say AMEN and THANKS GOD 1000 times! – and all my days and nights have been limited to it.
Just before yesterday, I could escape for a few hours after work and went for my Salsa night enjoying some “non professional” dancing (it’s great to dance only for my own fun!) plus smoking an INCREDIBLE Cuban cigar my friend Angelito brought along. I was in heaven…
And yesterday, here we go to the famous and gorgeous “Naguib Mahfouz” café to have our “souhour” which is supposed to be the last meal of muslims just before they restart the fasting of a new day.
The menu was made according to what’s better suited to endure the several hours of the following fasting day. Heavy food that will remain in the stomach for a long period of time and sugary stuff to give us stamina.
The restaurant is beautiful and it was crowded. Ramadan is, indeed, the time of the year when Egyptians and arabs eat more! Fortunes are made on food supplies and restaurants during the holy season and both women and men grow fat in an astonishingly fast rhythm. Everywhere I looked around, I could only see people eating, eating, eating!
Another contradiction with the spirit of the season…
Note of a true “gourmandise” :
Brought home one of “Khan el Khalili” famous Egyptian pancakes in the end of the night. Still hot, still crunchy and with honey melting along with extra “eshta” (remains of the milk) and a smell that drove me crazy all the way until I arrived to my destination.
A visit to “Khan el Khalili” without an Egyptian pancake is a sin. In Ramadan or in any other time of the year.
Winning foreigners to my team!
As I previously mentioned in ulterior postings, dancing in Ramadan means dancing mostly for FOREIGNERS/TOURISTS who come to the “Nile Maxim” (in 95% of the cases) included in travel agencies programs and with no knowledge about the dancer who is there.
I found it hard not to feel these shows as “touristic packages” oriented for an express audience who doesn’t appreciate my work as Egyptians and Arabs do in normal times.
After so many nights of consecutive work (18 nights in a row, so far!) , I finally got a grip and adapted myself to this experience, finding the following conclusion:
No matter what kind of audience you have – and their level of understanding of the dance and music you’re presenting – ART is always ART and you just have to do your best, put your heart and soul in it and let it flow.
It seems easy to say but harder to put into practice. I try hard to forget what kind of audiences I’m having so that I can give them my best but there’s an exchange between me and them that is simply not the same when it comes to touristic shows.
Most of this crowd watch me as if I was an exotic bird and not an artist. They would applaud, even I was not that good…!
O.k… Getting over it.
ANOTHER HINT OF KNOWLEDGE:
The way to grow as a dancer comes differently for each one of us. I am discovering that “my path” goes towards the show concept – for sure – but, mainly to the emotional, technical and spiritual richness I can impress in each dance.
Forgetting about the dancer boys, the show off, glitter and stuff for a while…forgetting about the “tchan tchan tchan tchan…” and all the major effects. Concentrating on the most difficult: DANCING BETTER (incredible how easy it sounds!).
Including it ALL:
Technical expertise, sensibility, awareness and total dominium of the material I am working on, relaxing and letting my internal timings play their roles, feeling secure and sure of myself, my personality and the great/UNIQUE stuff ONLY I can bring to my ART.
Not easy…and yet, possible. A work in progress.
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