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Archive for the ‘Shaabi – Ghawazee’ Category

Exhilarating dancing in 2016 – workshops and courses

Posted in Shaabi - Ghawazee, upcoming workshops, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2016|

The Calendar has now been up-dated!  Please click on tab above for details of workshops, courses and intensive days of dance in Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK.

On 16/17 January the 2016 dance year will start with a ‘Moods and Archetypes in Baladi’ weekend in Berlin. This will be followed on the 24th by a Beginners workshop in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and workshops in Munich during the last weekend of the month. 

Munich and Dursley courses this year will explore the themes of Sha’abi and the Charisma of the Ghawazee (click on Raqs Sharqi tab above).

Workshop

Saturday 13 February 2016  1.00 – 6.00pm 

SPOTLIGHT ON SHAA’BI AND THE CHARISMA OF THE GHAWAZEE 

ghawazee

The Courtyard Clinic Studio 

The Old Post Office, Parsonage Street, 

Dursley, Glos. GL11 4DR  UK 

(Opposite The Courtyard Cafe and next to the church.  The studio is at the back of the small car park)

Cost:   £35 (conc. £25)

The Sha’abi form of Raqs Sharqi is the dance found around Luxor in the Sa’id (Upper Egypt).  Literally it means ‘of the people’ as in ordinary people or country people.  Old music from the villages, as well as modern day pop, allows for simple, joyful dancing using repetitive movements.  Included in this genre is the dance of the professional dancers, the Ghawazee.  Much loved, they brought colour and entertainment to village and family celebrations, and dance to this day to the multilayered Sa’idi music played on instruments unchanged over the centuries.

Technique, costumes and a bright smile are not enough to express this dance.  Eventually the evocative Sa’idi music, coming down the centuries, calls us to find something deeper, richer.  It calls us to find an archaic authentic response and invites us, in the excitement of repetition, to dance effortlessly from our stable centre. 

Excitement characterises Sha’abi but so does stability, and these two attributes are not necessarily understood by us dancers in the west as we search for that certain something which takes us to the heart of both dancers and audiences alike, and makes the dance so compelling to watch.  They would appear to be opposites.  In fact the melding of the two is the essence.

The year’s course will help us to understand these opposites. It will bring us closer to the culture in which this dance flourished, the dance of the Sa’id which is so pertinent to our lives today.

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Intensive Day of Dance – ‘Ghawazee’ Gypsy Stick Dancing Workshop

Posted in Shaabi - Ghawazee on June 16, 2014|

Saturday 12 July 2014 1.00 – 6.00pm

The Courtyard Clinic Studio
The Old Post Office, Parsonage Street,
Dursley, Glos. GL11 4DR
(Opposite The Courtyard Cafe and next to the church)

Playfulness when dancing with the stick is one of the main characteristics of the Ghawazee form of Egyptian dance.
Lighthearted yet earthed, the Ghawazee always enchanted as they still do today. In the workshop we will continue our enjoyable exploration to find their secret. There will be lots of dancing and as well as time for individual feedback, historical background and modern context, and understanding the music of Upper Egypt. If you would like help on a piece you have worked on please bring your music.

The workshop is an introduction for beginners in a supportive environment. The more advanced will find inspiration and a deeper understanding of this beautiful art form.

Tribute to the Sa’aid – its music and dance. The year’s Intensive Days of Dance are dedicated to the proud, warm hearted people of Upper Egypt, a peace loving people, who inspire dancers and musicians alike with their ancient and much loved music, the instruments and sounds unlike anywhere else.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AUTUMN AND WINTER INTENSIVE DANCE DAYS HAVE HAD TO BE CHANGED. THEY WILL NOW TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER AND SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER.

Cost: £35 (newcomers 3 hours with break £17)
Payment is by cheque in advance or by arrangement with Liza.  Please click on contact for information.

 

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Dance in the Mountains! LAST MINUTE!

Posted in Baladi, Classical (Sharqi), Shaabi - Ghawazee, Uncategorized, upcoming workshops on May 8, 2014|

SUMMER DANCE WEEK  1 – 7 JUNE.  THERE ARE STILL PLACES AVAILABLE!

with Erna Frohlich and Liza Wedgwood
 Tanzwoche-Mittersill

in the glorious setting of 

The Gruberhof, Mittersill, Austria

We have been coming here for twenty years to explore and enjoy the many facets of Raqs Sharqi (Traditional and Modern Egyptian Dance)  – for sumptious weeks of dance, meeting friends and dance colleagues from several countries, good food and relaxation in a glorious setting.

Our focus this year is to go deeply into the essence of this extraordinarily beautiful, earthy, yet elegant dance. Here we can experience the excitement of the dance and yet remain peaceful, and stable in our core.  On yogic principles, we focus on body awareness as well as on technique so that our dancing becomes effortless and totally charismatic.  We will work on deepening our understanding of the music and culture of Egypt gleaned from Erna’s and Liza’s travels in Upper Egypt, so honouring the people and particularly the musicians of that troubled land.

Tanzwoche Mittersill 2014

The dance week is for all levels and all women.  The week consists of  dance, body work, one to one help, a party and excursions into the wild flower meadows above the tree line of the mountain peaks.  Beginners will find it a restful and enjoyable introduction to the dance, and the more experienced will find new perspectives, deeper understanding and inspiration for their continued development.

The total cost for teaching and accommodation is 864 Euros – 480 Euros to be paid on application (for the teaching) and  384 Euros in cash on arrival (for accommodation).

PLEASE BOOK WITHOUT DELAY IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE SPONTANEOUS AND COME!

CLICK  HERE  TO CONTACT  LIZA FOR INFORMATION AND BOOKING

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Workshops in Hamburg 17 and 18 May 2014

Posted in Classical (Sharqi), Shaabi - Ghawazee, upcoming workshops on April 30, 2014|

Photo by Mark Robinson 2005

Photo by Mark Robinson 2005

In these workshops we will explore the two ends of the rich spectrum of Egyptian Dance.

SAIIDI, the dance of the people of Upper Egypt (around Luxor), that is where we will begin on Saturday.  Darabuka, Rababa, Mizmar, instruments unchanged over time, will earth us, encourage us to feel the ground beneath our feet, the whole body responding to the energy of the driving, pulsating rhythms and haunting, evocative melodies. It links us to an ancient Egyptian tradition.

Sunday’s CLASSICAL ( SHARQI) workshop will take us to the other end of the spectrum – and even further as we learn the charismatic, refined expression of the COURTLY style of the Classical form.  This was a style developed by Suraya Hilal in the 1980s and 90s and therefore could be considered ‘modern’.  However, as there are practically no records of how women danced to the old classical music of the Arab world we have to assume that the movements that were used were those that best expressed the delicacy of the Kanoun (zither) and Riq (small frame drum).  It is a beautifully refined and very feminine style in which the dancer can be exquisitely simple in her dance or intricately inventive according to her mood.

Earthy and exuberant Saiidi in Hamburg in 2012

Earthy and exuberant Saiidi in Hamburg in 2012. Photo by Madou Reynaud

 There are still places!!  Cost 100 Euros for both days, or one day by arrangement with Linda Mameri

 

 

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Gypsy Dancing from the Villages of Upper Egypt

Posted in Shaabi - Ghawazee on August 15, 2013|

Gypsy Dancing

from the villages of Upper Egypt

The Ghawazee, ‘invaders of the heart’) are the popular gypsy entertainers whose forbears settled in Luxor and the surrounding villages from the late 18th Century.  The wonderful traditional music to which they dance is unique to that area and is the impulse for this exuberant earthy form of Raqs Sharqi.

Compulsive rhythms, yearning melodies, shakes, shivers and swerves – a beautiful art!

Starting 11th September

Wednesdays 1.45 – 3.15pm

Includes fitness, stretching and work on posture.  Everyone is welcome.

The Workshop, Courtyard Clinic, The Old Post Office, Parsonage Rd. Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 4DR

Please contact me for information and cost

Liza Wedgwood dances Ghawazee 1002

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