What to expect *(on my SALAMAT MASR WORKSHOP)?

What can you expect in my upcoming (it´s TOMORROW!!!) Workshop 

at Cairo Salamat Masr Festival?

Well, first let me make a short introduction:

I was a street girl, bad ass, rebel little girl with an angel´s face. I hanged with the gangs of my neighborhood, was respected by the considered "marginal" and my best friends belonged to two ethnic backgrounds that were deeply looked down at by portuguese, at least at that time. From one side, africans returned from the ex-colonies Portugal had in the coast of Africa (amongst many other zones in the world) and, from the other side, gipsies. This was my "street" life.

Then...tchan, tchan, tchan, tchannnnnnnnnn....................................... I had a parallel life (feeling like one of those men who are married and admit to having lovers...):

Descendant of peasants from the depth of Portugal, having been raised between Portugal and the south of Spain (where my father worked until my teen years) and enjoying all the influences that brought. I was also an irritating child performer (singing, acting, dancing, streap-tease, beating the boys up, you name it...) and a Classical Ballet student with a strict training from the age of 5. 

It was with 5 years old that I stepped a real theater stage for the first time for a classical ballet performance (or something that was supposed to remotely look like it). 

In fact, it was a double baptism as I performed (well...I cannot call it performing, really...let´s say "doing my non-sense, monkey business which my parents thought was genius") on a theater as well as on television! The t.v. show was called "Brinca, brincando" and it was a major hit between the kids of my generation, the one who grew up in the early eighties. 

Oh, boy... I felt like a star and it made such an impression on me that I could NEVER forget it or let it go. I had done my "wee" share of domestic musicals to the tortured friends of my parents who were forced to sit and watch me going bananas before they could even talk to them and I often entertained the nursery crowds  with my streap-tease delight at "siesta time" but THIS WAS a DIFFERENT MATTER.  Now I was a professional *(yeah, right!). 

With 5 years old, I do remember the television studio in all its corners, the smell of the wooden floor, the studio cafeteria with "papo seco" (a kind of portuguese bread) and coffee in the air, the lighting and - oh, MIRACLE of GOD and the ANGELS - the cameras! 

I felt fascinated by the cameras, attracted to it in a passionate way and protected by them. Yes, PROTECTED. Within the borders of that warm box I could be anything, everything. Even more: I could be MYSELF and everybody would understand me. Truly understand me.

Why am I telling you THIS?

Because my next WORKSHOP at SALAMAT MASR FESTIVAL (happening now in Cairo) is all about facing the STAGE as well as LIFE in a courageous, creative,personal, loving and daring way. 

Dancing is NEVER just movements and steps for me. It is much more than THAT. 

In the same way I felt protected by the television cameras (and, oh!, their warm lights on my face...heaven...) as much as I always felt protected by the STAGE. This has always been the place to be UNDERSTOOD, LOVED for who I am (and make no mistake, what you see on stage is exactly who I am in what people call "real life") and PROTECTED from the outside world where I feel like a perfect alien, most of the times. 

Some of the best moments of my life happened on STAGE, as well as the BIGGEST discoveries my Soul provided me with. The way you face a crowd on stage will define how you face your LIFE - in general - outside of it. 

For me, DANCING (or Acting, Singing, etc) on STAGE has always been about:

*COMMUNICATING;

*GROWING;

*SURPRISING myself as well as my audience;

*FEELING the LOVE and spreading it with each one of your movements (I know it sounds like a cliché but it´s exactly what I feel);

*BEING MYSELF, no matter what;

*SPEAKING what words cannot say.

One question for all of you, fellow dancers:

WHY DO YOU GO ON STAGE and WHAT DO YOU GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE?

The same questions can be applied to LIFE.

My SALAMAT MASR WORKSHOP will be all about THIS* subject. Using the fantastic "Set il Hosn" musical entrance ("majancé", as egyptian musicians call it), we´ll work on technique, choreography as well as the LANGUAGE of the STAGE, the one can can and should be adapted to YOUR UNIQUE personality, energy, body and soul.

Welcome, everyone!