Planet Egypt Showcase

Planet Egypt

@ Darbucka

This month I am attending Planet Egypt and am really looking forward to seeing the venue, sampling the food and most importantly, watching the performances.

Planet Egypt is at Darbucka lounge bar & restaurant http://www.darbucka.com on the last Thursday of every month. It is a showcase of belly dance performers & musicians organised by Anne White, a teacher and performer based in Bishopsgate, London.

This month’s showcase on the 31st March 2011 will include:

Outi

http://www.outiofcairo.com

Outi has performed to excited audiences all over Egypt along with her orchestra and folkloric dancers. Her show consists of a variety of numbers, including cabaret, Alexandrian dance, saeedi, baladi and classic songs from such beloved artists as Oum Kulthoum.

Katie Holland

http://www.katie-holland.net

“Katie Holland has been dancing from the age of three, and has studied Ballet, Tap, Modern, African, Samba, Bollywood, Sacred Nepalese, Tribal Fusion, Egyptian Bellydance, Yoga, Martial Arts and currently Bharatanatyam. Katie is Regarded as one of the best foreign performers in India and is in high demand as a performer, teacher and choreographer for all kinds of events. She has performed with Hossam and Serena Ramzy and their Egyptian Ensemble at Planet Egypt, The Bloomsbury Theatre and Bath Middle Eastern Festival, The Arab League at Raqs Brittania and countless 5 and 7* hotels in India to name a few.”

Iona

http://www.ionabellydance.co.uk

“Iona started modern dancing at the age of nine and first became interested in Oriental dance after she had her second child. Iona’s dancing experience includes a pop music video, selected London restaurants, burlesque and caberet events as well as weddings and hafla’s.”

The Minyawi Project

(Musicians)

http://www.reverbnation.com/theminyawiproject

“The seeds of The Minyawi Project (T.M.P.) were sown around 2006 whilst on tour playing for the inimitable Natacha Atlas. After a sell out concert in Belgium, Aly el Minyawi and Dr. Eser Ebcin decide to stage an impromptu concert in the lobby of the hotel in which they were staying. After receiving rapturous plaudits from the late night revellers they retired to their rooms. On waking up and meeting in the breakfast room, the decision was made to start work immediately…”

For more information see:

http://www.planetegypt.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=63934754756

Belly Dance Props

Get Into Character

Dancing with props is a skill in itself, and many dancers that decide to use props will often find new ways of dancing with them which will fit their style and level of skill.

It’s often better to practice different movements with the prop on its own, before incorporating belly dance moves. With any type of prop, creativity and imagination play an important part. If you do something that has been seen one hundred times before, it’s not going to be exciting for your audience.

The same dance can be done again using a different piece of music, but just adapted. You can have a slow, romantic veil dance or a fast-paced ‘superwoman’ theme. It’s entirely up to you.

Dance is like drama in a sense, if you use a prop then you must get into character with it.

Some popular props include:

Veils

Isis Wings

Dancing canes/sticks

Candelabras

Snakes

Swords

Video footage example: