Cairo, the 8th October, 2009

“ The effects of the evil eye and the official proclamation:
Oriental Dance is even better than a great orgasm”

The day started really, really bad…
I’ve been warned and warned 1000 times by egyptians – as well as arabs - about the famous, ancient and oh so national “Evil Eye” and its effects and yet I always forget about it and show myself too much, share too much and with everyone (not even thinking about the possibility of some envy or bad faith from anyone).
I should learn the difficult and useful art of “KEEPING MY MOUTH SHUT”.
How hard can it be, for God’s sake?! Just shut the…up and spare yourself lots of envy and troubles.

I swear I am working on it from right NOW. It’s a survival question.
I DO GET THAT, thank you very much.

Sudden show booking for lunch time (not my favourite because it mixes early day mood and homogenous groups of tourists more interested in taking photos and eating than in watching the show).
Also the first show I will present upon my arrival. Not my new program…
I feel frustrated.
Anxious to present my new stuff to my audiences.

Well, it’s work.
Let’s do it.

First tough point of the day:
My assistant fell sick during the night and cannot come to work today.
Well, I can survive…”Don’t be such a spoilt brat”, I say to myself.

Second tough point of the day:
My driver – recovered from Ramadan abstinence – also fell sick during the night and left me, literally, hanging on the street begging for any passing by taxi to take me to work already late! Being in the street in full make-up and hair with a huge suitcase and a dance stick is not a dream situation for any woman who dislikes being harassed and bothered. People’s imagination flies – due to repression, repression, repression – and all they see is a prostitute going to “work” with a bag full of goodies and a stick to spank a weird client.

Got the damned taxi.
Arrived at work stressed and carrying my own bags, Saiidi stick (“Assaya”) and supplementary bags all on my own. I’m not used to this anymore. L

Third and fourth tough points of the day:

As soon as I arrived, I got informed that my two main musicians (on the melody section of the orchestra) got sick during the night.
What?!
Is there anyone who DIDN’T get sick during the night? Did all my staff secretly got together in a restaurant last night and ate rotten “kebab” or something of the kind?

Did I get sick during the night and simply forgot? All Cairo got sick during the night?!
What the hell is happening here?!

Now let me explain this “small drama”.
There is the emotional question of the situation. I do LOVE my musicians.
I am blessed to have great artists as well as great gentlemen working with me (I can’t work with people I personally dislike). We have built a relation of mutual respect and tenderness and I get all teary and sad if I know anyone from my “musical family” is in hospital or with any problem I can sense.

As I hear the details of both hospitalizations my eyes start to get full of tears ( I am the easiest laughter and the easiest crying baby ) and I fight against the tides inside me not wanting to show any emotion that is taken as a weakness by the other musicians who watch me with full attention.
I control myself – I’m already well trained at it – and refuse to let emotions flow out of me.
I need solutions now. That’s what really matter. Working on solutions and never getting lost in emotions. Egypt has taught me a few things.

There is also the practical, professional problem in the moment.
No time to get substitutes for the missing musicians.
The musicians that are missing are the ORGUE (chief of the orchestra) and the ACCORDEON which are two pillars of the melodic body of the orchestra.
Besides these two, I have a violin (kamanga) and a “k’anun” but these instruments follow the songs with details and enhancements and I know they’re not enough to build the musical background we need for 1 hour show.
I breath deeply and know that God is with us (although, some times, He seems to vanish).

There is a solution, there’s ALWAYS a solution.

I immediately mobilize the whole orchestra (melodic and percussive body) and we do a fast rehearsal where I think I lost my ears. Until now, my ears must still be there laying on the floor, exhausted. I’ve never made such an effort to orchestrate a full hour show in a quick rehearsal.
The instruments that are used to “sleep” over the orgue and the accordion had to wake up and work in unison to compensate for the absent ones. I asked them which songs they knew better and also to replace many of the details with basic melodic structures that are essential to build some sense in the songs we’ll perform.

I was nervous and more stressed than ever. What a “reentre”, dear Lord!
Does a terrible beginning mean a great season?!
I hold on to that positive superstition in order not the demoralize and pray for a great audience to compensate for it all.

Now this is when I know God is on my side!

I danced for myself and for the world. What else could go wrong?!
Me, loosing my skirt or bra on stage (it already happened and I survived)?
One of the musicians taking off his pants and doing acrobatic strange movements on stage "a la Cirque du Soleil”? I would manage it with my eyes closed.
Me, falling on my “derriere” during a crazy spin (also happened more than once and the world kept moving forward)?
I expected everything and anything. Prepared for the fight and the possible and impossible absurd stuff that only seem to happen to ME (Why?Why?).

When you think you have it all, you fall on your face.
When you think everything is going terribly, God hands a sweet to your lips and you regain faith in life once again.
We need to stay humble and give our best, always. No matter the circumstances.

This is my lesson for this day.

I just had the greatest time of all doing my final “tabla solo” and, may I say, I OFFICIALY AFFIRM THAT ORIENTAL DANCE CAN BE BETTER THAN A GREAT ORGASM. I even bit myself on the lips…outch!
YES!!! Thank you, God.

I’ve always said that there was nothing better in the world that a great orgasm with someone you love. An orgasm coming from a relationship where mutual love, passion and spiritual connection is there! Ahhhh…nothing better. Or so I thought. Until today.
After that orgasm as my Number 1 Pleasure, it came DANCING (sorry, dancers of the world but this had always been my number 2 on the pleasure scale).
Today, the order of the Universe – my Universe – got twisted and inverted.
Dancing can be, indeed, better than a GREAT ORGASM.
How can I describe it? Well, you must know what I’m speaking about.

It took me quite a while to recover from that “stage orgasm” and I never felt so good about being on stage. This is it! Looking for it again and again…(my new addiction and utopia, reaching my “stage orgasm” every time I perform).
I am already a demanding lover. Now I have become a demanding “stage lover”.
Does this make any sense?!
One more thing to reach for (besides being a better person and artist). Maybe the “thing” that defines everything else.
Is there anything better than reaching full presence, pleasure and spiritual awakening on stage?! Anything higher than this?!
I don’t think so.

NOTE to the attention of Sexologists and psychologists of the world:
PLEASE RECOMMEND ORIENTAL DANCE TO ALL “CHALLENGED” INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DIFFICULTIES REACHING PLEASURE AND ORGASMS.
Nothing better in the world…