More Dance from Egypt

All images: Dancers in the South Sinaii

As well as the Sema (dance performed by whirling dervishes) we were treated to belly dance which a few braver audience members tried too, and a number of other types of dance, some more authentic than others.

I didn’t go to Sharm El Sheikh or the Sinaii on a commission to write about dance, but to find out how it was there during the troubles preceding the Egyptian Arab Spring..

But that’s not why I’ve found it so difficult to write the piece about dance in the Sinaii. What makes an article or feature live is the personal stuff, stuff that you can’t get from dry research or rushed interviews. The context, how it all felt, and for dance, what makes an interesting article, is feedback from the dancers themselves. I really struggled with that in the Sinaii Desert. I had of course asked to talk to the dancers after the performance, but all but the Sufi (the man in my previous post) disappeared and he was not particularly forthcoming.

I got around it, eventually, both during the research in Egypt and in the article. To see how I managed it you’ll need to read my piece in Dance Today.