Journey Through Egypt: A MUST for Belly Dancers

I have been wanting to write this entry for a while.  Several weeks have passed since taking Sahra Saeeda’s Journey Through Egypt 1 program in Seattle and it is still blowing my mind.  Radiation treatment and adjustment to life post-cancer have taken up a bit of time, so I hope I can be forgiven for being so late in posting this.  But if you are a belly dancer, please read on. I kid you not: this is life-changing stuff.

Mirabai, Sahra and I at the workshop

To begin with, it might be helpful to understand where I’m coming from.  I started belly dancing in the early 1990’s.  I learned from a spectacular Greek teacher, Zaphara, and then expanded my training to learn from tons of teachers around the U.S., Canada, Australia and Egypt including a protégé of Bobby Farah (Maleeha) as well as taking workshops with Mahmoud Reda every chance I got.  I have briefly studied under folkloric experts such as Mish Mish and Helene Eriksen. I love the many forms belly dance embodies and tried to honor it by getting little nibbles of true Egyptian culture whenever possible.  Sahra’s Journey Through Egypt was more than a nibble.  It was a lifetime of nourishment that I have been looking for and I can’t wait to get more.

Sahra’s method of breaking down Egyptian dance into form and region made 20 years of belly dancing suddenly make sense.  I feel a bit like I have been groping in the dark, trying to understand Egyptian dance through bits and pieces:  a little Saidi here, some Ghawazee there, a base knowledge of Little Egypt, familiarity with modern Egyptian greats like Dina or Fifi Abdo.  Basking in Sahra’s presence for 20 hours was like suddenly turning the lights on.

The gorgeous Shining modeling
one of Sahra's folkloric costumes

To begin with, her method of breaking down regional dance forms into “homestyle,” “local professionals,” “regional government-sponsored,” “national troupes,” and “stage professionals” kicked all of the “what’s authentic/what isn’t authentic” talk to the curb.  It gave a whole new vocabulary to approaching authenticity.  A dance performed casually at home is going to be different from the way it is interpreted intellectually for stage and different yet from the way it might receive a nod from dancers performing in grand Egyptian hotels. All of these forms are legitimately artistic in their own way.  It is up to the smart, knowledgeable dancer to understand dance origins and make choices about how to weave various forms into a performance.

Another highlight of the three-day course was learning just how integral dance is in Egyptian life.  It’s difficult to make a comparison to the U.S.  Through the Journey Through Egypt course, it became clear that dance is (or at least, has been for many centuries) a part of daily life in Egypt.  It is how people celebrate weddings, it’s how housewives shake the blues, it’s how a community grieves.  Since the last of the European-backed kings left Egypt in the 1950’s, the Egyptian government embarked on a concerted effort to preserve and promote regional Egyptian dances by supporting two national dance companies as well as creating local government-sponsored dance programs.  There simply is no parallel for the way dance is woven into Egyptian culture to how we function in American culture. No wonder my understanding has been so fuzzy all of these years.

Classic Sahra from way back when!

On top of everything, Sahra is an amazing teacher.  Every question we asked led us to another charming story of her experiences in Egypt or with Mahmoud Reda.  She was endlessly generous with her knowledge and openly supportive of others who want to do research into Egyptian dance.  More than that, she bared her heart to us.  Though apologetic and embarrassed for her periodic tears, Sahra’s display of emotion for the dance that she loves – that we all love – was just further proof that she was speaking directly from the heart.

Thank you, Sahra. Thank you to the beautiful team of Kiteria and Maila for hosting the workshop. And thank you also to Roxy for hostingSahra next year.  I’ll be there for JtE2 with bells on and am dreaming of JtE3. I am humbled beyond belief with how much more there is to learn.

Looks like I might have a buddy to join me on future Egyptian adventures...