Meroe was lucky enough to persuade Hossam and Serena to come to Chester to do a full weekend of workshops. It was great. Serena taught two fantastic routines – a Saaidi stick on the Saturday and a drum solo on the Sunday. It wasn’t just a case of learning the steps - Serena and Hossam took the time to explain the music and how you interpret the music so the routine is both fun for the dancer and fun for the audience, but more importantly true to the music!
As part of the weekend there was a hafla in the evening which was a sell out – no great surprise given the line up. Meroe and the other dancers who had been at the workshop worked a minor miracle to transform the hall into a little piece of Egypt.
Highlights from the evening for Ya Raqs was a solo from Meroe, and the chance for Kebi, Aisha, Naima and Phoenece to dance a Bedouin routine with Serena – completely unchoreographed, although you would never have guessed it.
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| Dancing with Serena |
It was a fantastic night, with some amazing dancers – thanks to all those who performed Mina Bryant and her group, Caroline Thorpe, Jane Hammond, Rhiannon Garrett, Heather Honeyman, Cecile DaSilva, Mark Carylon and particularly to Serena and Hossam Ramzy.
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| Meroe and Serena |
There will be more events like this to come – in fact we are plotting and planning to bring a similar event to Manchester in 2014 – so watch this space!
