the notebook - dance - billie holiday

The movie of my heart ("The Notebook") based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks combined with the voice of Billie Holiday. What better combination that this one?!

pienso en ti - Shakira

Shakira at her best singing for the soundtrack of "Love in the times of cholera" based on the magnificent novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Absolutely divine...

Memories of pure tenderness in the heart of my of home...

Jennifer Lopez - Ain't It Funny (Alt Version)

The gipsy in me goes to heaven and returns feeling more alive just by watching this video.
Lopez rocking it so beautifully!
Gotta love this woman.

Special Guest in Cairo!

Here´s the irresistible unexpected guest I had at my home for three days, after rescuing him from a neighbour´s home where it was abandoned, crying out loud.

When asked if he could give up the little cat (because he, obviously, could not take proper care of it) his answer was: "I can´t because the cat was a present and, according to the Holy Coran, we should not give away a present."

This was the same saudi arabian neighbour who tortured me night and day with the Coran prayers, non stop.

It seems that it is not allowed to give away a present that was offered to you but it´s allowed to abandon a creature with a month old, starving and suffering.

Strange ways of perceiving Religion...No judgement, though...facts speak for itself.

Meanwhile, the proud owner of this precious baby accepted to give him to a person who will love it and care for it like it deserves.

I miss this baby ever since it left my home. Way too beautiful...

"Dancers are the messengers from the gods."

Martha Graham

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot."~

John Dryden

Moving people´s minds/hearts/senses and all...

This is the goal of ART and, no doubt, the main target of ORIENTAL DANCE.

Yesterday I danced in public like fish out of the water. It became so damned hard to perform without the quality of my orchestra on my back but I KNEW this would be one more humbling challenge for me and I finally understood why it was so.

Even if I felt unconfortable and cold (like dancing under the coldest rain) without my egyptian musicians backing me up, I still managed to reach the CORE of this Art.

Without honest feeling, freedom, creativity and REAL SOUL Oriental Dance becomes empty, boring and mechanic. Quite like an aerobic class with arabic music. No good!

So...it´s only HUMANITY that brings out HUMANITY from your audiences. Dancing on cd, on live orchestra, on the rain (as cold as it can get!) or in the middle of the most absolute silence...it´s the heart and what it pours from it that will grab your audience and brings them close to you by the recognition of an old, often invisible TRUTH. We are made of LOVE!

When this truth is recognized by your audience through your dance, then a MIRACLE, a ray of LIGHT appears and then I know my job is DONE.

Joaquin Cortes y su flamenco

I could eat Joaquin Cortes, so easily, with huge bites that would make me happy for the rest of my days.
OMG!!!
What a MAN and what a DANCER...Holly Mother of Jesus (and holly mother of Joaquin Cortes!).

Jennifer Lopez - I'm Glad

My favourite video from the so talented Jennifer Lopez.
The woman may not have the voice of the greatest singers but she´s so creative, sexy, confident and fierce that you have to love her as much as this!
My elected video for obvious reasons.
The passion for DANCE will die with me.

Dance to Inspire, Inspire to Dance

Absolutely adore this video and the amazing quotes in it.
Dancing is my passion exactly because it has that SACREDNESS inside it and the potential to move the heart-conscience of people and affect them from the inside out.
For all DANCE lovers!

" Dance appears glamourous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep.
There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths."

Martha Graham

Hips don´t lie.

Finding the MOVEMENT beyond the already known movements.

Find THE MOVEMENT which does not repeat an empty learnt technique but adds LIFE and TRUE EXPRESSION to the dance.

Find the TRUE SELF, beyond all masks and ideas we have of ourselves.

Hips never lie. If only we let them fly...

Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka song - Devdas

For inspiration...incredible India of my dreams.
Longing for my Ganga river, more than ever...

Choreography delights!

My natural expression goes directly to the hands of IMPROVIZATION.

I am an emotional, passionate, immediate dancer who will do whatever I feel at the very moment I enter on stage. No one knows what will be, I don´t know and I don´t want to know what will be because reacting to the MOMENT, second by second, is what creates the magic I love so much in DANCE.

So it´s with a lot of surprise that I find myself tortuting my head - and self-criticism is helping a LOT! - and enjoying, at the same time, doing the work my dear Mahmoud Reda incentivated me so much to do: CHOREOGRAPHING to teach advanced students and professionals at world festivals.

From the many things I am learning in the choreography work, here are some of the jewels I can squeeze out from the orange right now:

1. Knowing that you have limited ideas about dance is a humbling process and wanting to go beyond them is AMAZING.

2. Searching for spaces of SILENCE-PAUSE and FEELING in the dance sequence you´re creating is as important as coming out with the steps and combinations.

Dancers often strive to create new steps and clever combinations and that hunger for movement gives them a dangerous kind of amnesia: they forget how to listen to the silence present in the music, how, when and where to make a pause (that can be more powerful and expressive than 1000 movements) and how to create a sacred space of FEELING in the music.

Movement machines are not, necessarily, dancers.

So where it is the space for breathing? Just being still and feeling the music?

All movements are reduced to nothing when these spaces are not created.

3. Not falling in the predictable movement patterns which are familiar to us is another ART all on its on.

Am I staring to fall in love with choreography?

(I guess the answer is a round and fat YES!).

Portugal, the 27th April, 2011

Women´s magazines.

To my surprise, I grab some portuguese magazines while I´m around and notice that women´s magazines (such as "MAXIMA" and "ELLE") are almost exclusively dedicated and focused to diets, expensive creams and plastic surgery directed.

The only magazine I read - religiously- every single month is "OPRAH MAGAZINE" because it´s the only publication in the world which has the graphics, concept and writing I appreciate. Sure there´s a bit of dieting there but but with different, much more human and intelligent twist.

But, most of all, O Magazine celebrates HEALTH and HAPPINESS, not a plastic/uthopian way of life marketing experts try to sell us all over the world.

Accepting women´s bodies as they are without cutting them from the inside out is still a reality to come. No society, as far as I know, allowed women to be who they are for REAL without imposing violent, expensive, often unattainable icons of beauty that they smartly associate with success and - allas! - HAPPINESS.

The multi-million dollar cosmetic surgery industry is very thankful to this fact and it´s with such horror that I try to read an interesting article in one of these women portuguese magazines and only find four or five pages worth my attention.

The rest is pure mental pressure and brain washing to women who just want to be accepted, appreciated, loved. Selling the idea that cutting their body and consuming ultra-expensive anti-age creams to achieve that acceptance and happiness is not only a falacy but a cruel joke most of us didn´t quite get yet.

In the Middle East, the fever is higher than anywhere else. Also Latin America with the "macho" culture that values women as pure and limited sexual objects to be owned - depending on their appearance - by some generous Prince Charming who will make her happy simply because she´s sooooooooooooo damn beautiful.

In one of these magazines, I had the chance to read an article of feminist-polemist Camille Paglia about Elysabeth Taylor and how she incarnated the anti-barbie movement, her own way.

She was fierce, wild, misbehaved BIG TIME and had a round, raw figure that needed no special diets to be kept "au point". She was VENUS out of control and she was a WOMAN.

I find this example a really great one.

There are industries that dictate how women all over the world should look like and most of us do follow these magnates of deceive and the willingness to be accepted as a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN seems to make women blind and even crazy.

After the whole brain washing and pressure from society, magazines, fashion industry and all that it´s connected to it, women go, literally, MAD!

And there they go, following an ideal that is not REAL or even desirable but that will pay for many magnates to cost their mansions, boats and trips around the world.

Loving and taking care of yourself is essential to a happy life. Changing our appearance or being aware of the importance of going on with our lives looking as good as we look inside is also cool for me. What is not cool is to follow the carrot they put in front of the donkey, never quite getting it.

Middle Eastern Women do not even value their round figures as they, traditionally, did. The anorexic ideals are entering Middle East at a steady pace and changing women ´s perception of BEAUTY and FERTILITY.

Cosmetic surgery, on the other hand, was never so hot as it is nowadays in this part of the world. Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Dubai, Abou Dahbi, just to name a few, are infected with all types of cosmetic surgery craziness and women, in their still empty minds, follow the "El Dorado" of beauty in order to be VALUED in the market of MEN.

I am often seen as a vanity prick! As it happens very often, this could not be further from the truth.People who KNOW me are aware of my love for my body, for food and a great time, for LIFE. Sometimes, I was considered too skinny and other times I´ve heard - by Eastern men - as a little too fat. Some like it, some don´t. Today I am thin and blond and fabulous. Tomorrow I am not simply because they changed their mood and opinion.

Should I believe all the comments that we already made on me, I would be a lunatic wandering the streets of Cairo, by now.

I do know about the distinction between REALITY and IDEALS that are sold to women in order to make loads of money out of them.

I do know that being skinny doesn´t bring happiness or appreciation for your worth.

I do know that women get older - as do men- and that no cosmetic surgery can change that (although it can delay the signs of age).

I do know that a bit of brain and balance is urgently needed and I truly hope women´s magazines stop to go along with this brain washing for the sake of money making and EMPOWER real women to be who they are, the best of who they are. REAL.

Let´s wake up, shall we?

Dance mandala.

To use as a meditation tool.

To inspire our creations.

To open that channel of innovation and genius some DANCERS possess.

To link us to the sky within ourselves.

Portugal, the 27th April, 2011

Strange challenges...

For most dancers around the world, the bare idea of performing on stage in the centre of Oriental Dance - Cairo, still! - with the best live musicians and for an egyptian audience is enough to bring them a hard heart attack or a tantrum difficult to control. This is seen as a major challenge and, if I look at it at a distance, I can understand why it is so.

Yet, for me, a REAL challenge right now is to deliver a QUALITY dance performance WITHOUT my live orchestra, the excellent top musicians who work for/with me and my usual egyptian/arab crowd.

A challenge, for me (and a scary one, I must admit) is to dance with a cd music on the background. Do I still know how to do that?

For the last five years I have been performing with my orchestra daily, often several times per night. I got used to the humanity, criativity, energy, improvisation, LIFE they bring to the stage. I got used to their respect, protection, tenderness, admiration that goes to really strange extents and silent (or not so silent) applauses. My musicians are my background in any way a background can sustain an artist. They are the frame of the painting I create on every single dance. They inspire me, surround me with their empathy and love.

How on earth will I be able to perform tomorrow night without them?!

Now...this is the REAL challenge of the moment for me.

And Life flows, bringing these humbling experiences to all of us and making me jump out of my comfort zone which is never quite comfort, anyways...

Hope "my men" will be with me in spirit. Miss them soooooooooooooooooooo much!

Oum Kalthoum - Al Atlal (The Ruins, Les Ruines) 1966

Simply the best.
EVER.
FOREVER.
Om Kolthoum.......................

Portugal, the 27th April, 2011

Love/Marriage!

Still on the wedding theme...

My sister´s wedding made me think about many things and confirm others.

I come from Egypt where most weddings are not made from love, personality compatibility and much less the soul connection I find essential in a lover´s couple.

I come from that world of four wives and concubines, wives being cheated on and cheating (under the table, of course!) on their husbands, lies, games and a huge hipocrisy that society proclaims as the INSTITUTION of MARRIAGE.

I come from a place where legetimacy is given to anything you do, as long as you keep it a secret and neighbours do not see it. Appearances rule and I sadly recognize that does not only apply to Egypt but also to the West where couples come together for the sake of not being lonely, for sheer pure pressure from family/society or for giving up of finding such a thing as "true love".

During my sister´s wedding, I was reminded that each person choses their own prisons and also their own joys. It is the biggest gift of all to love and be loved by that same person in a way that defies conventions, men´s laws and imposed institutions and general narrow mentality that tries to put us all in a box.

While observing the whole wedding scene and being happy for my sister (specially for the baby who is on her way! Yes, it is a GIRL!!!:), I also understood why I never felt like REALLY getting married to anyone. Explaining my aversion would take us to an whole different, long chapter...

With all due respect and gratitude to the men I loved - who all had wonderful treats to them - I never found someone strong enough, BIG enough to make me want to take that step.

I also praise freedom and individuality too much. This is a hard puzzle to understand but the core of it comes to this: I don´t care for things I do not feel. I don´t please society or strangers who think I should be as oppressed and dead as they are and I seek TRUE LOVE, above all.

Is this a "Romeu and Juliet" syndrome I am suffering from?!

I want nothing less than the true, raw, REAL LOVE in my life with no need for institutions, papers, lawyers, audience clapping and someone calling me "HIS wife".

Should I change my mind regarding to this subject, I will let you know.

Meanwhile, my heart and my head are still stuck on the REAL THING and, by God, we all know that does not include a wedding ring!

Portugal, the 26th April, 2011

My sister´s wedding!

Oh, yes.

There was the cake and the food overloading.

There was the music and the guests, the rituals and the protocol.

And besides all that and so much more that says nothing to me there was the simple wishing the best to my sister that just got married and carries a baby in her round, beautiful tummy and that makes it a SACRED event.

I ´ve never been a sucker for weddings and society´s ways to control and keep people into "order" but I am surely an incurable romantic and for that I am guilty as charged.

What can I do? I believe in love, despite all odds.

I believe there is SOMEONE SPECIAL out there who brings out the best in you and loves you for who you are, no conditions or concessions made.

The pure, eternal LOVE I wish to my sister on her wedding´s day and the one I wish for us all.

P.S.

My mum danced till her feet bleed.

We wondered the whole time: "What did she eat/drink/smoke?".

Portugal, the 24th April, 2011

Time to cook and celebrate!

The life of a dancer is, first of all, the life of a person.

Everything I´ve lived in my personal life has enriched me as an artist as much as all the workshops, classes and teaching tools I´ve enjoyed so far. The body learns from technique as well from emotions we live far away from the stage.

As I progress as an ARTIST, I see more and more clearly that there is no distance between REAL LIFE and the LIFE I dance on stage. One feeds the other.

This is a time to celebrate, gather with family and friends. Just stop and make a deep pause from wich a new expression will arise and new movements will come out of my skin, new kisses and lovers, new events and sensations. And here I am...dancing my life...

JOANA SAAHIRAH BY MEDO GAD

East Fest Lisbon 2011

Next event in Portugal: EAST FEST LISBON 2011!
If you happen to be in Portugal, check my performance and workshop in this wonderful event.

And...may I add...just DO IT.

Whatever burns in your heart. Whatever you desire. Whatever you dream of.

Don´t think about it too much. Mind can be a sucker and a traitor, oh so often and that´s exactly why I say and repeat till exhaustion: just DO IT!

The COSMIC EGG of EASTER!

Traditions are often celebrated without a clear notion of their origins or real meaning.

Easter is one of them.

For me, it´s ALL in the EGG. The cosmic Egg of CREATION, the circular figure of Oriental Dance, the tummy of a pregnant woman, the egg that will see its shell broken to bring a new being into this world.

The Cosmic Egg as the Number ZERO. Before the beggining and beyond the end of any journey.

The nothing and the WHOLE!

How many chocolate eggs will you eat this Easter? And how much of it will be translated into a NEW JOURNEY in your life?

Hoping the answer to both questions is generous and brave!

Post dedicated to Gabrielle, whom I met in Italy (Merano).

Just to tell you that we are angels for each other.

The much I gave you was answered by so much more YOU GAVE ME and for that I am deeply grateful.

To an angel of mine from another angel I also am.

To you, Gabrielle, all my love and wishes that your DANCE and LIFE will reflect a change in your heart, an absence of FEAR and an acceptance of all the BEAUTY that carry inside yourself.

The wolves of Cairo city!

Oh so we thought wolves did not exist in Egypt and yet they do.

They´re just disguised as sheeps, pretending to do their good deeds while they plan on screwing you on the first opportunity, when you least expect it.

It´s not that I don´t know already about these animals disguised as "good sheeps" but, because I believe in human decency above all, they always strike me as a surprise without touching my skin but always making me gasp for air. I didn ´t know there was people so desperate and sad to the point of punishing dancers who do not sleep with them in exchange for work.

Blah, blah, blah...the same old story. A Cairo classic. You have to laugh at it, with you, beyond it.

Otherwise, you´ll go mad with the injustice factor of the whole matter.

Post-revolutionary Egypt did not bring, so far, the changes of human´s conscience in order to stop this old, wasted, boring association between DANCERS and PROSTITUTES.

I mean, Come the FUCK on! Time to wake up and smell the coffee, dear potencial gentlemen!

Isn´t it also sad that you have to prove your masculinity by showing off to the world that you screw one and other and yet other dancer for the sake of the money/job opportunities you offer her?!What kind of a man needs this in order to have a woman in his arms?

How much sadder can these businessmen of Cairo get?And when will dancers STOP accepting these games and fight the GOOD FIGHT of the warriors who respect themselves and know their worth?

Wishing a Happy Easter to all the Cairo wolves! Wishing they, some day, become humans.

Happy Easter and Ressurrection to all of us!

May we die, like Jesus did, and be REBORN into a new day of Lighter versions of ourselves.

Chocolates and candies, bunnies and family gatherings and "all that jazz"...that human beings use to distract themselves and be together.

Yet let´s not forget the true meaning of EASTER and let the old selves die, giving space to more kindness and less evilness. More smiles and less tears. More generosity and less greed.

More LIGHT and less darkness.

Happy Easter-Rebirth to everyone!

Revista Àrabe "FARAH" Ediciòn 14 Joana Saahirah

Video produced by argentinian dancer-artist Farah about me and my career path until now.
Isn´t it wonderful when other artists recognize our talent and place in this World with such tenderness and generosity?

My gratitude goes to Farah!
I will do my best to always deserve these gifts.

Voce tem medo de dizer eu te amo

The most beautiful video I´ve seen in such a long time...
The simplest things often carry the highest TRUTHS and and BIGGER treasures.
All of us should have the right to love like this, purely and sincerely. No adult games, domination, lies and complications.

I see myself in this video and my inner child smiles just KNOWING that this is the recognition of true LOVE.
Needless to say that I am in love with this kid, myself...irresistibel!

No description needed or comments added. This is just the definition of BEAUTY.

These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding

An oldie that will never die to dance with your man in your arms. No other way to dance along this SOUL tune...
Every time I listen to this song, my heart melts and I understand why GREAT MUSIC is such a pillar of my dance, my art, my work, my LIFE!
Just LOVE this tune....................................

JoanaBlue

The definition of PLEASURE.
Dancing is like making love to the man of your choice.
It´s like flying without wings and creating a parallel world of beauty, joy and purity where only LIFE exists!

Never mind the ones who are dead while walking upon this earth.

All human beings were born with the right to CHOOSE their own directions, faith and DESTINY.

So many of them choose the comfort of the known, even if that means living unhapppy, frustrating lives full of real and imaginary prisons.

And just a few choose to go out from their comfort zones and take the risk of actually LIVING, LOVING, GETTING HURT and DISAPPOINTED, LOOSING THEIR WAY and even themselves...on the way. Yet these rare ones are ALIVE. They do not die before their time and, when they do, they will carry away a body full of memories of passions, palpitating hearts, love affairs which made them dream and fly to the moon, sincere smiles and crude tears.

When the rare ones let go of their bodies, their soul will carry away days and nights of FREEDOM, LOVE shared and the presence of LIFE.

And then the rare ones will be eternal and they will never die.

Farida Fahmy - first dancer of the famous "REDA TROUPE" - will be in Argentina for the Belly Dance Weekend organized by my dear friends Martín and Pablo Salvatierra.
Buenos Aires will receive this lady who has a LOT of great, juicy stories and information to share.
I have a long and tumultuous story with Farida Fahmy. Too long and, definitely, too tumultuous for the context of this blog´s pages but that doesn ´t stop me from suggesting with true conviction: Check Farida Fahmy´s workshops and presence in Buenos Aires this May!
I am sure it will be unforgettable.

Joana Saahirah of Cairo on folkloric tableau in Egypt

Cyprus here I go! Portugal next. Having no clue when I will be back at these cybernetic roads, I leave you all with a fun video of me, doing "my thing"... Promise of surprises and huge LIFE turning events. Living can be often scary but it surely is EXCITING!

Time to LIVE and CELEBRATE! I guess it s easy to celebrate when everything runs smoothly in our lives and all our wishes seem to come together and true. What if we decided to celebrate when everything seems so lost we cannot find our way out of anything?! Now...that s the POINT of CELEBRATION. Make a FEAST out of everything, the sun and the moon. The laughter and the tears.

Pop a cork on your best champagne for all the pain that is still in your heart but, slowly, finds its way out...

Yell with joy if only to release all you have kept inside your chest and have no courage to say.

Organize a party with children and animals, anywhere you find them.

Laugh to the sky, no matter how low you may feel.

Breath deeply and find joy in your darkest places.

Dare to LIVE and believe that better tomorrows will come and that those tomorrows start right NOW, at this very PRESENT moment.

Here I go on another set of traveling adventures, sharing moments of fear, joy and LIFE with students, audiences, family and friends. And, somehow, just for everything - the happy and the dreadful - I find reasons to celebrate. Even Nothingness. Silence. Loss.*Cause it brings a clean space for brand new, better, more interesting goodies. Just CELEBRATE like being drunk without ever drinking a drop of alcohol. Just CELEBRATE like mad people who never went really mad. Just CELEBRATE the simple and great fact that we are ALIVE and hope is the last thing to die and YES, the sun - with its new rays of LIGHT - comes out for everyone, day after day. For all reasons and no reason: CELEBRATE! Yuppieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee................................................

Just for laughs!

PORTUGUESES PELO MUNDO - CAIRO ( EGIPTO )

Television program where I was interviewed right here in Cairo. Besides me, there is the beloved and ultra-famous Manuel José, the football trainer from "El Ahly Club". Beautiful man, human being and a successful football coach...Love him (as all Egypt does! ). See Cairo through some chosen portuguese eyes... Sorry for the absence of subtitles. You ll get the feel of it, anyway. "Portuguese in the world" is the title of the program and I had lots of fun shooting for this show. What a pity much of it could not be included in the final, edited version of the program. Enjoy!

Cairo, the 11th April, 2011

Small good-buy!

Heading for my trips and preparing a small - I hope! - departure from the cybernetic world.

Meanwhile, I leave you with some DANCER s NOTES:

1. Oriental Dance is all about hard work with joy, pleasure and kindness towards oneself. Quite like Yoga. They are deeply connected, now I am sure of it.

2. Tension and the desire to show off our skills are great enemies from truly GREAT DANCERS. Only the honest, vulnerable, humble desire to share our soul makes us REAL DANCERS.

3. The dancer that doesn t take your breath away when you watch him/her dance cannot be defined as an ARTIST.

4. In Tango, the whole dance will depend on the EMBRACE and the quality of the man who dances with you. Tango is a love affair, a passionate story you and your partner live within the time spam of a song. Through his movements, embrace energy and heart you can see very clearly what kind of man you have, literally, in your arms as he talks with you while he dances. His movements, choices of transitions and pauses are a reflection of his personality and intentions in life. While you dance tango, you talk with your partner, yet without words. When the man/partner is good - as a man and dancer - the ride can take you to heaven. You dont just dance, you make love to each other on the dance floor. Body, heart and soul. But no words.

5. You improve, as a dancer/artist, as you improve as a human being. No way to dettach one and the other. Art reflects LIFE and LIFE reflects ART. And I ll leave you all with these thoughts. Ready for another ride...

Follow my shows in Cyprus and events in Portugal. For more details, please contact me through the email: dancemagica@gmail.com

Joana Saahirah performing in Nile Maxime 2010

This video was posted by a kind fellow dancer and it dates from 2010 but, for me, it s from a century ago as I am constantly developing and changing... So, here it was my dance from a 100 years ago! Still lovely to watch, if only to correct things and improve. Perfectionists - or Greatness addicts - are a royal pain in the ass to themselves. I know I am!

Cairo, the 9th April, 2011

On the go...forever...

Time for another departure.

A few more days of work preparing around Cairo and then...upsy daisy!

Cyprus and Portugal are my next stopping stations.

Great sunny days are expected ahead of me. God will.

Telegraph style latest NEWS:

1. New uprisings in Tahrir Square with some dead victims in the process. No one really knows, by now, what are these demonstrations all about and from where do they come from.

Elections are schedulled and the old Government seems to be part of Egypt s past. So...what is it that people want, besides that?

Problems of decades cannot be solved in a few days but impatience and maybe another "under the table" schemes may be on the working process right now. No one really knows anything for sure, these days...

2. Choreographing with my dearest friend and teacher, Mahmoud Reda. What a gift to have this MAN s presence in my life.

Love you, Mahmoud!

3. Travel and more travel. It seems that 2011 is THE YEAR in terms of MAJOR transformations, travelling all around the world and RE-DEFINING my life, both professionally and personally.

All changes are hard to get through, specially when you don t really know where the tide will take you, but they are ESSENCIAL for GROWTH and even GREATER accomplisments and wisdom.

4. So happy for my sister s advanced pregnancy! Need no further comments on this one. I am gonna be the coolest aunt on earth, no doubt about it.

5. *Number of chaos and creativity.

Yoga and Tango are LIFE SAVERS. If anyone is going through a rough time and does not wish to get stuck on drugs, alcohol or any other destructive behaviour/substance, then here s my gold advice:

Run to the dance floor and learn TANGO or/and put yourself into a SERIOUS Ashtanga Yoga practice.

LIFE SAVERS, may I add one more time!

Joana Saahirah of Cairo dancing Om Kolthoum

More of my all time Number 1 LOVE: Om Kolthoum. "Seret il Hob" on the go... because you cannot escape the traps of love and passion. When you think you can close your heart and defend yourself from future pains, love strikes like a sudden thunderbolt and all you can do is SURRENDER... and what a sweet surrender that is!

Cairo, the 9th April, 2011

Buenos Aires nostalgia...

Is it from the Tango I ve been learning lately?

Is it just the GREAT memories I have from this working trip to Argentina and all the love and appreciation I received there?

I just don t know what it is but I am suffering from a serious condition of "Buenos Aires nostalgia"...

Here are some flashes that run through my heart, while missing Buenos Aires!