Monday, March 10, 2008

more costumes..

no pics this time though........

I have been rather naughty the last 2 days.
I bought all those new costumes before I went to Scotland (which I am still waiting for the pics so I can put them up here!!!) so I don't 'need 'costumes right now. BUT I went to see Amera el Kattan (of Pharonics costumes) yesterday- as I wanted to order one costume- and really had to restrain myslef from ordering more than the 2 I did!!!! so excited. Never had a yellow costume before- won't have it for a while yet either- but its in the making......................

Then today- I went to see Eman Zaki, pay off my debts to her........ and just commented in passing that I had never seen any of her sister Hoda's designs. Well that was just the WRONG thing to say wasn't it?!!! within 5 mins I had ordered one from her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm

trying NOT to think what the last 2 days just cost me!!!

just have to say - last night Sara came to see me dance with a couple of people over from UK, a dancer and her son, and I was really scared, cos I felt like I would never be able to get the energy going to make it a good show. But its amazing where the energy can come from at times........seeing your teacher smile like that is a bit like being a kid and making your mum smile!

Saw an accident on the way to work last night. A huge old tree had fallen on top of cars on the main road on the way to work. It wasn't windy or stormy or anything. It just fell. Not sure how many cars were crushed underneath it- a few. There but for the grace of God............

Oh and another wee thing. I was chatting with my labeesa (dresser) and she was saying the thing she liked , or one of the things she liked, about foreign dancers as opposed to Egyptian dancers was that foreigners dressed decently off stage, ie long skirts or jeans, long sleeved tops etc etc whereas some Egyptian girls show off more cleavage and leg on the way to and from work as they do on stage. I thought it showed an interesting example of how 'we' see the dance differently from local girls. Work is work- but off stage is something else. I am sure there are exceptions to that.....

but then I was chatting with Joana (dancer from portugal) today, and she was telling me about a conversation she had recently with a couple of Egyptian men, who, after they had been talking about history and religion and such things for a while asked 'are you SURE you're a dancer? dancers don't talk about things like this. You are really well educated' so maybe that sums up yet another difference between us and them! We foreign dancer have come here because we have CHOSEN to be dancers. Often Egyptian girls do it cos they think they will make good money that way and they can't see any other way of doing that.

all very interesting..... and helps towards trying to understand why this art form , which I love and respect, comes under such heavy critisism within Egyptian society.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you post pictures of your new costumes as soon as they are completed! :)

Your insights about the place of dancers in Egyptian society are very interesting!

Lorna (aka BellyLorna!) said...

thanks Natalia- I'll try to get photos!!!

Shannon Brooke Davis said...

I just bought a new Pharaonics too - leopardskin. I had just sold one and felt like - well, I have the money for it now.

So, have you ever read this book "A Trade like Any Other" - it's about the social place of dancers in Egyptian society, written by an anthropologist, mostly about women on mohammed ali street, but also about pyramid street dancers. She did a survey of how they were perceived by different social classes. very interesting book. lots of insights.

Lorna (aka BellyLorna!) said...

Hi shannon- enjoy the leopard skin!!!! you don't need to give ME any excuse as to why you bought it- I am SURE it was ESSENTIAL!!! (mine always are!!!!!!! ;-) )

yes- thats a great book..... obviously an academic one rather than written to entertain- but for anyone interested in Bellydance at the perceptions people have of it over here in Cairo - an essential read!

Anonymous said...

What a really fascinating place to be living and working in. I am now intrigued by what your latest costumes will look like. Lovely blog. :o)