After weeks of rehearsals, and traumas over costumes – we feel like we’ve been sewing forever - Ya Raqs and Meroe were finally ready for their guest appearances in the show Funoon wa Alwane as part of Liverpool’s
Arab Arts Festival at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool – and boy what a show. A sell out!
The whole Funoon concept is the brainchild of
Nawarra whose aim is to bring together the colour and celebration of the folkloric dances of the Middle East and North Africa. Funoon wa Alwane is the third show of its kind and although cast members have come and gone over the past three years, the driving force behind the whole show has been constant.
Ya Raqs were incredibly honoured to have been asked to join the cast for this year’s show and were to perform their version of a Bedouin routine originally choreographed by Serena Ramzy, but tweaked for Funoon by Ya Raqs’ very own Meroe. There were a few heart stopping moments because regrettably Aisha had to pull out of the show at the last minute – less than 24hrs before show time – however Naima stepped in to the breech and after a bit of re-shuffling, the routine was back on!
After the initial technical checks for sound and lighting and a quick run through of the group routines, Meroe was interviewed by the BBC Arabic Network – we’re hoping to get a copy of the interview at some point and will post it here as soon as it comes through. That just left enough time for the Ya Raqs girls to have their traditional sugar fix before the performance – not ice cream this time but cake and lots of it!
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| Kebi and Meroe build their strength up before the show! |
Then it was back to the theatre to get our make-up and costumes on ready for the start of the show.
Our first routine was danced to Efrooh Bawadina, which is a Bedouin wedding dance, so the Ya Raqs girls had the opportunity to wear their gorgeous red and black costumes that had been made by Meroe and Pheonece. Not only that but Meroe, who took the role of the bride in the routine, used it as an excuse to add a little bit more bling to her costume – as if she needed any encouragement!
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| Backstage before the Bedouin routine |
When they came on to stage the whole theatre erupted and before long you could hardly hear the music for the cheers, claps and the zaghareets from the audience. I think they enjoyed it!
Meroe, then performed two solo pieces – first, her baladi routine to Farah Amira which was equally well received by the appreciative audience. She was very touched by the comments from audience members after the show.
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| Meroe's baladi performance |
Her second solo was something new for Meroe – but given that she is supposed to come from Nubia, it probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that it was a Nubian dance in a fantastic new costume made for her by Bev Smith from
Baladi Bazaar. Meroe glided across the stage and got the audience clapping and cheering once more.
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| Meroe in her Nubian costume |
The show was brought to a close by the irrepressible Nawarra, who got the entire cast, and most of the audience, dancing on the stage for the finale.
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| The finale - photo courtesy of Phil Saunders |
The whole show was amazing and we are grateful to Nawarra for the invitation to join the Funoon cast in 2014. Thanks also to Bev Smith for Meroe’s Nubian costume. Finally thanks to Naima for stepping in at the last minute to replace Aisha, and also to Phoenece who also had to change position at the last moment – they both did brilliantly. But Aisha won’t miss out completely because we are going to be performing the routine again in October in Henley on Thames as part of the Sheikh It! So she’ll get a chance to perform the Bedouin routine then!
The whole show was filmed by the BBC Arabic Network for a special programme on Funoon that will be broadcast very shortly. We’ll post a link as soon as the programme is ready.
