giovedì, 12.2: arrivo a Luxor, transfer in albergo, cena e pernottamento a Luxor
venerdì, 13.2.: dopo la colazione, partenza per Assuan in pulmino; check-in in albergo, pomeriggio a libera disposizione, cena in albergo
sabato, 14.2.: visita guidata alla diga, al tempio di Philae e all'obelisco; nel pomeriggio 1,5 ore di stage di danza nubiana, cena
domenica, 15.2.: mattina a libera disposizione, pomeriggio 1,5 ore di stage di danza nubiana, al tramonto - gita in barca sul Nilo, cena
lunedì, 16.2.: dopo la colazione, ritorno a Luxor in pulmino; nel pomeriggio 1,5 ore di stage di raqs assaya stile femminile con Mostafa; cena con buffet, musica dal vivo e spettacolo di danza
martedì, 17.2.: visita guidata alle tombe dei nobili e al tempio funerario di Medinet Habu; nel pomeriggio 1 ora di lezione speciale con Khyriyya Mazin nello stile raqs ghawazee e 1 ora di lezione speciale con Mahmoud in tahtib
mercoledì, 18.2.: visita al museo di Luxor (o al tempio di Karnak); nel pomeriggio 1,5 ore di stage con Hamdi di raqs assaya stile maschile
giovedì, 19.2.: transfer all'aereoporto
costo del pacchetto con le prestazioni indicate di cui sopra: 690 € a persona in stanza doppia condivisa / 760 € a persona in stanza singola
NON sono inclusi nel prezzo del pacchetto sumenzionato:
volo a/r, visto, manceper musicisti, staff del hotel, guida, visite extra non indicate nel programma, bibite (sono inclusi nescafè, tè e succo a colazione), assicurazione viaggi
Detailed Program of our Nile Cruise on the dahabeya from Luxor to Aswan
from february 12th to 19th 2015
Program (may be subject to
variations): 1st
day, thursday feb 12th arrive in Luxor, transfer
to the hotel, dinner (depending on your arrival time)
2nd
/ 3rd / 4th day, friday feb 13th
until sunday 15th we'll pass these three days
on the dahabeya cruising from Esna to Aswan; after breakfast transfer
to Esna (about 45 min. trip), where our ship is waiting for us for
the check-in. Along our way to Aswan
we'll stop for a visit to Horus temple in Edfu and Sobek
temple in Kom Ombo. In the afternoon of each day, we'll have our
musicians playing for us live music during the dance classes.
3 hrs each day of different dance styles with Mostafa (dancer
and teacher from Luxor), Gabriele or Simone (dancers and teachers
from Italy) (saidi, nubian dance, sharqi). After our exciting dance
classes feel free to enjoy the beautiful landscape along the banks of
the Nile or relax on the deck while reading a book. Our cook will prepare for
us delicious egyptian meals three times a day – breakfast, lunch
and dinner. On the dahabeya also water, soft drinks, coffee and tea
are included.
5th
day, monday feb 16th after 4 days on the
dahabeya, in the morning arrival to Aswan. After breakfast, we
check-out from the dahabeya and go directly to visit the high dam,
Philae temple and the obelisk in Aswan. Lunch in our hotel and in
the late afternoon we'll enjoy a motorboat trip on the Nile at sunset barbeque dinner
6th
day, tuesday feb 17th morning free for your (you
may visit the nubian museum, the botanical garden, Elephantine
island, the suq) in the afternoon 2 hrs
dance class nubian style with Mohamed, our nubian teacher dinner and party with
live music!!!
7th
day, wednesday feb 18th after breakfast, transfer
to Luxor in the afternoon dance
class ghawazee style with Khyriyya Mazin(from Banat Mazin)!! dinner
8th
day, thursday feb 19th transfer to Luxor airport
The
package above includes:
in
Luxor transfer airport-hotel-airport, transfer to Esna, transfer from
Aswan to Luxor, transfers and entry fees for the visits included in
the program, 12 hrs dance classes with live music, party with live
music, all inclusive on the dahabeya (alcoolic drinks extra),half
board in the hotel (all drinks extra), overnight stay in a shared
double room on the dahabeya and in the hotel (on the dahabeya it is
not possible having a single cabin; for the hotels: extra charge for
single room 50 €/week)
price
per person: 880 €
NOT
included are:
flight
to and from Luxor, entry visa (25 USD), drinks in the hotel (on the
dahabeya drinks are included), tips for hotel and dahabeya staff, for
musicians and dancers (about 50 €/per week in total), extra visits
which are not mentioned in the program, extra charge for single room:
50 €/week)
subscription accepted until DECEMBER 16th 2014
to
confirm the trip it is required a minimun of 12 partecipants. If
until deadline (16th december 2014) the minimun number was
not reached, the Nile Cruise will be canceled!!!
to
register please email to Simone (layalisharqia@gmail.com).
Deposit
to confirm your place and to register: 750 € international bank
transfer
balance
of 130 € cash in Luxor at the day of arrival
REFUND:
up
to 45 days to departure (80 % refund of deposit will be given)
up
to 30 days to departure (50 % refund of deposit will be given)
up
t 8 days to departure (30 % refund of deposit will be given)
less
than 8 days to departure (no refund of deposit)
We
recommend to contract a travel (and health) insurance! Each
partecipant is responsible for their actions and assumes absolute
liability for accidents and damages caused to persons, objects or
properties.
For
more informations and to register to the event, please contact
yes, again, only one week left to departure for Luxor/Egypt!!!
Same exciting feeling as always... can't wait beeing there again. This time my friend Alexia will come with me. For her it's the first time in Luxor and I know she is very excited too. We planned the dance classes with our wonderful teachers..... Mostafa, Tota, Khyriyya Mazin and many other awesome dancers and I can't wait listening to the live music of our orchestra and the beautiful voice of our singer Mohamed.... tarab feeling par excellence! If you never felt it by your own, you cannot immagine! believe me! Dancing to live music, interacting with the musicians and the singer is an experience you won't never ever miss again if you did it even only once in your life! And it's not even only the dancing..... just only listening the live music, the sound depending on the humour and feelings of each of the musicians interacting together, varies every time they play. But every single time, you feel their love for the music, for these magical art-form and they give it to themselves, the dancer and the public as a precious gift.
Can't wait seeing my friends again, passing some time together, drinking our usual egyptian shai and eating some koshari or fuul and ta'ameya.... yummy!!! And as always, there will not be enough time, doing everything I would like to... but that's a reason for coming back soon.... isn't it?!?!
This new trend in oriental dance all over the world.... even if it's not "new" in Egypt at all. Shaabi music is a progression/development of baladi music. Already there we find a fusion of traditional arabic instruments with european instruments, brought inside Egypt by the foreign visitors (British for example).Typical for baladi music are accordeon and saxofon, maybe sometimes you'll find even trumpet. As these instruments obviousely had a western setting, which uses major and minor scales, egyptian musicians had difficulties expressing themselves and their music on them, as arabic music is a complex system of maqamat which includes also quarter tones. Over the years these instruments were "converted" to the maqamat-system. New music and art of expression was born - baladi - urban style - western-arabic music fusion. As mentioned above, shaabi music is a further development of baladi and was kind of "modern pop music" in Egypt in the 1970. It's first and most popular representative is Ahmed Adaweya. Some of his famous songs you will know are "Salameta Um Hassan" or "Bint El Sultan" for example. Shaabi was - and still is - means of communication for egyptian people, raising their voices above political matters, daily live, frustration, love.....
Other well known shaabi singer are Shaaban Abdel Rahim, Saad Soghayar or Mahmoud El Lithy.
Shaabi, typical Cairo neighborhood music AND dance. Egyptians love to celebrate and making party, they celebrate outside the houses, on the street, between one neighborhood and the other. They put on a stage with lots of colorful little lights, take some seats out, bring some tea and.... go with the music.... LOUD music... yallaaaaaa! If there's a wedding or a moulid - doesn't matter - every occasion is welcome, to celebrate and to forget hardness of live for one evening. Shaabi is danced by both - men and women. Depending on the traditions, maybe men and women in separate places or if it's close family circle, maybe all together. Doesn't matter... the most important thing is having fun and enjoying themselves. Shaabi is a simple, genuine dance, expressing happiness and joy - no particular tecnique necessary - have fun and keep going yay! After revolution in Egypt, shaabi - music AND dance - changed. As it is an urban style popular dance, it is closely connected with every change of politics, way of live, economics, peoples satisfaction of their lives and so on. Now "electric-shaabi" - mahraganat - is born in the poor popular neighborhoods of Cairo. Speaking as usual about politics, of being tired of the revolution, of banalities of daily live, about sex and love. If before in shaabi music we found musicians playing, now most of the times, the musicians have been replaced by electric keyboards and computers and even during wedding parties often instead of the music band you'll find a DJ.
And here some videos of shaabi dancing in Egypt. As sayed, it's a popular dance directly from the streets in Cairo - so, it's little bit strange putting it on a stage. But as it's "modern" now in western dance world, everybody wants to copy it. In my eyes, also when putting a dance on a stage, the most important thing is to respect its origins, its genuine character and its soul - which is the most difficult of the dancers part.
Samstag, 4. Oktober 2014
YAY! only one month left for leaving to Egypt!! Happy to see my friends again, happy to have lots of time to improve my dancing. THIS will be awesome again - as always! Dance classes every day - live music ..... oh my gauche! if you ever had the possibility to be in Egypt and listening (and dancing) to live music. You will know you get goosebumps .... tarab tarab tarab.... I LOVE this feeling! Want to feel it to? come and try it out! Dance holiday starts on 9th november!!! :-) We are waiting for you!!
what's
that? It's not a dance and it's not the so called „raqs assaya“
(stick or cane dance).
It's
a "fight" - game between men which can be done only as a pastime
after work or whenever they want to and there are also contests of
tahtib especially in Upper Egypt in the governates of Luxor and Qena
for example at the moulids. Last
june I was in Luxor with my friend Sahra C. Kent during the moulid of
Abu el Haggag. These 4-5 days are full of celebrations – you want
to find folklore and upper egyptian traditions in one bunch? Here you
got it!!
No
escape!!! LOL
There
are different zikr – some only chanting and praying, some using
singing, tabla baladi and cymbals or others with music and a sheikh
singing. Then we find dancing horses and mizmar and of course –
tahtib!
And
here it's not only a play, there are men coming (and beeing invited)
from all over the region to partecipate to this tahtib contest. A
first part takes place in front of Luxor temple and the mosque of Abu
el Haggag and when this is finished, everybody going on to the next
place – a small square in between of three streets – in the
middle of houses, shops and coffeeshops, where the men were playing
tahtib for years and years now.
Sahra
and I were lucky – our taxidriver and friend Mamdouh – took as
quickly to the second place, after the first contest was finished. So
we got up on the first floor of a coffeeshop right in front –
better – right above the square.
There
were only some men in their galabiyas, sitting on a bench – in the
shadow of a big tree, protecting them from the sun (we had kind of 40
degrees C!!!). Cars, motobikes, bycicles passing by, people walking
around as nothing was there to happen. It was amazing observing that.
It seemed a normal hot day on a street in Luxor.
Then,
slowly slowy, more men came around. We recognized some faces we
already had seen at the contest minutes before in front of Luxor
temple. The leader of the contest, an old, proud and wise man (we had
the pleasure to talk to him later) came in, the musicians (mizmar
band) took their place, as usual, on a bench, more and more people
(only men – of course) walking in and slowly the disordered crowd
formed a circle. There it is – the beginning of the tahtib, played
inside this circle.
BUT
– this was not yet the contest!! At the beginning, men were only
having fun, joking, playing little bit around – nothing too
serious. The „real“ tahtib – the contest – began later. There
the leader brought in the two sticks, which always has to be the same
during the hole contest/play and they are passed on from one player
to the next. It is not allowed to bring in your own stick! That's
part of the rules.
The
leader and the „referees“ control the game, count the points AND
take the men „under control.“ In
the game you are able to show your courage, your ability, your
strength, your cleverness.... and of course, your power and
aggression. But... you should not. Tahtib is not supposed to be a
place where to struggle with your enemy. Of course, sometimes it can
happen, that somebodys feelings overhelm – the referees are also
there to take this under control and to finish the game before
somebody is carried away. My
friend Mahmoud from Luxor, an excellent tahtib player, always tells
me, that it is better not to fight when you are angry. As a tahtib
„fighter“ you should be aware of your feelings, of the power of
your body and of your abilities to be sure not to hurt your opponent.
He
is playing tahtib since he was a young boy and he told me, the first
years while he was learning to use the stick, he concentrated only on
how to defend himself..... for years and years. Because it seems easy
to attack somebody, but if you are able defending and protecting yourself, your opponent cannot beat you and will lose the game.
As
you may see, tahtib is such a fascinating tradition. And it becomes
even more fascinating when you slowly begin understanding what
happens during a game. And
I always remember my friend Mahmoud, his expression and his eyes
shining while talking about his experiences in tahtib.
Need
a tahtib experience, too? Ok – could be done! Next november in
Luxor! See you there!! :-)
