(Founder and Artistic Director: Susie White)


Friday 27 September 2013

Doncaster 2013, posted by Kebi

Autumn has arrived, so it was off to Doncaster for the Ya Raqs girls, for the last outdoor event of the year, the St Leger Festival. It was wonderful to meet up with the boys and girls from Deva Victrix and the VIII Augusta. We had seen very little of them this year.

The Saturday was somewhat windy and cool, a bit of a shock after the wonderful weather we have had this summer. Nevertheless the awning went up in record time and we were soon dancing for the entertainment of passers by (and to keep warm).

The girls managed the Dance of Death wonderfully, with veils that at times seemed to want to take flight. Naima did brilliantly on her first performance of the dance, in difficult weather conditions. The gladiators were on form and the show went very well. But not everyone was happy! More on that later.

Naima ready to dance

The Dance of Death - with gladiators

Saturday night involved yet more dancing; of the night club variety. The Buzzcocks were playing in town, so we decided to head out for a meal and go watch the concert. We had a wonderful Sicilian meal in Fratelli’s. The waiter was Tunisian, so we showed him some photos of our Tunisian costumes. He was really impressed and quite emotional that we loved his country’s music.

At Fratelli's

Later, we were on our way to the concert, and just popped into a bar, which was playing music from the 60s 70s and 80s. We had such fun dancing, we missed the Buzzcocks! (Some of the Romans went and said they were fantastic.)

Dancing the night away

The Sunday started a little warmer and sunny. We danced all afternoon, the children loved dressing up and joining in. One lady arrived at 10 am with her chair and a picnic and sat all day waiting to dance in Meroe’s workshop.

Taking a break

A group of children sat happily watching the gladiator show, yelling support for Leonidas, and calling for his opponent to die horribly. The look on their faces as they got what they wanted was priceless. Their jaws practically hit the floor.

After the trainer had tamed the bear, and the gladiators that the bear had dispatched had been removed, the bear reappeared with a sign on his back, "Equal rights for Bears!" He was not happy about being left out of the Dance of Death. So to the amusement of everyone, he had his own mini version of the dance performed by Meroe.

The day ended with Aisha leading the performers in a dance to Way Down by Elvis Presley. It's funny how they were somewhat reluctant to come into the arena yet when they were there we couldn’t stop them dancing.

Doncaster was as much fun as always. We were well looked after by the Premier Inn staff, (who remembered us, even out of costume) and the staff of Doncaster council. It is a lovely way to end our season.

Monday 16 September 2013

Ya Raqs in the spirit of baladi, posted by Meroe

The weekend of the 17th and 18th of August was the first of two weekends of training for members of the Ya Raqs dance troupe. Phoenece and I went off to Haileybury for an amazing dance weekend organised by Juliana Brustik and Judy Hammond – dancing the spirit of baladi with live music. What made the weekend really special was that Noor was able to join us – proving the point that once you are a Ya Raqs girl you are always a Ya Raqs girl!

The course was run at the incredibly impressive Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertfordshire. We started off on Friday evening with a gentle relaxation class to get ourselves ready for what was going to be a really busy dance weekend.

Haileybury College

Phoenece and Meroe in the dining hall

The whole thrust of the weekend was to have a great understanding of baladi music and how to react to it. Judy and Juliana spent the first day with us and in the afternoon we danced to live music from Tim Garside. The last class of the day was a drumming class with Tim where he managed to get us all sounding incredibly musical! After a quick tea and change into our party outfits, we spent the evening dancing away to live music from Tim. Unfortunately Tim had to leave about at about ten o’clock, so that is when we put the CD’s on and danced – not quite ‘til dawn – but ‘til very late given how tired we all were!

Dancing to live drumming by Tim Garside

The next day was a real treat: a dance class with Anne White from Planet Egypt, supported by three incredible musicians – Guy Schalom, Gamal el Kordy and Louai Al Henawi. Anne helped us to feel more confident with our dancing and with interacting to live music. Absolutely brilliant.

It was a wonderful weekend and we learned a lot, but what made it even more wonderful from a Ya Raqs point of view was cake – yes they pretty much had cake on tap! Great food, great venue, amazing teachers and cake – what more could you ask of a dance weekend? Can’t wait until the next one.