Joana Saahirah´s World Blog
A Collection of Articles, Videos, and Freebies on Egyptian Dance, Self-Discovery & Empowerment
Love Letter to Mahmoud Reda (by Joana Saahirah)
Artists carry the blessing and the doom of the awakened heart - everything they (we) do comes from their internal world, from their core; it´s personal; it has their blood, memories, and soul in it.
I´ve made it loud and clear from the start of my career (20 years, already!): everything I do is personal. My dance on stage is personal; my choreographies, workshops, classes, lectures, and writing - personal, from my bones.
Furthermore, I don´t believe in Creation that...
The Mystical (Sensual) Journey of the Baladi Awadi
For most dancers, Baladi is a style. If those dancers are informed, they´ll know Baladi is a dance, music, and lifestyle; it´s also the name of a rhythm and the term used to describe typically Egyptian people, things, and places.
Baladi comes from "balad", homeland/country.
Baladi = "My homeland/country".
Baladi bread - typical Egyptian bread.
Baladi coffeeshop - a typical Egyptian coffeeshop.
Baladi attitude - a typical Egyptian attitude that mixes groundedness,...
Om Kolthoum can change your life (I´ll show you how)
Om Kolthoum can change your life.
I know this is an ambitious claim but, I assure you, we can fulfill it.
As usual, I write/dance/teach from experience. The theory isn´t enough - it never was. I have to live to tell.
And I´ve been living it - this long-time love affair with the music of Om Kolthoum and its side effects.
Most Oriental dancers, from every level, associate the music of Om Kolthoum to a distant, out of reach, sophisticated world but my story with her...
How I fell in love with Om Kolthoum (a very personal story by Joana Saahirah)
Let me tell you a secret: I didn´t start loving Om Kolthoum. In fact, for years, I didn´t get what all the fuss was about.
My first contact with Egyptian music happened through Hossam Ramzy, pop and shaabi music I found in the markets during my first study trips to Egypt, the easy on western ears kind of stuff.
Om Kolthoum was an icon, an untouchable name that popped on my horizon as a mandatory field of study, a...
What teachers don´t tell you about Emotion in Egyptian Dance
Emotion and Egyptian Dance come in one single package.
I´d say there´s no Egyptian Dance without emotion. True, mask-free, raw, coming-from-within emotion.
As I work on a new Online Course for Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School, focused on Love, I reflect on what it means to feel - in Egyptian Dance and in Life - and how we can express emotion in a clear, powerful, meaningful way.
There are techniques, tips, and tricks. Opening of chakras, postures,...
3 (weird but efficient) Steps to Awaken your Creativity
Oh, boy. Where do I start?
Let´s go from the beginning, a very good place to start.
I´ve been what my friends/family/man call a "compulsive creator" since I´ve known myself.
Even before I got into Ballet School, at 5 years old, I was already drawing, singing, dancing - aka Cute Monkey Business -, performing for my colleagues - aka Cute Gibbery Improvised Theatre Plays - and doing Nude Presentations (NOT KIDDING) during nap time.
As soon as the kindergarten ladies left us, to...
Let it burn (Full Moon in Scorpio Celebration)
View from our laundry room
From where I stand, with my pc and a cup of sour, black coffee in hands, there´s a horizon of nature blooming. Luxurious, unapologetic. On your face.
Spring´s here. Everything sings. The sun is finally coming back, reminding us of our identity, the personal star that wants to shine its peculiar light; offering that extra boost of energy that´ll invite us, as it does every year, to CREATE.
Create, and forever recreate,...
The Treasures hiding in Egyptian Dance
From the moment the Quarantine started, I asked myself "how can Egyptian Dance help me and the world move through this challenging time? "
Most people will not turn to Egyptian Dance for life advice/wisdom but I´m not most people. I´ve been digging deep into the ancient art of "Raks al Sharki" for what it feels like an eternity.
I know better. And, as Maya Angelou once put it, "when we know better, we do better."
Authentic Egyptian Dance, the one that...
What´s the true purpose of Egyptian Dance?
The purpose of Egyptian Dance has been forgotten, a long time ago.
Yet, forgotten doesn´t mean lost; it doesn´t mean erased. It just means "forgotten", something that has been buried under the sand and fallen upon collective amnesia.
When I think about the History of Egyptian Dance, its ancient roots and how many changes, limitations, and distortions it has endured, I´m not surprised that its essence has been left behind.
Egyptian Dance has...
Sometimes, this is the most creative thing you can do:
I´ve always been a DOER.
No, I´m no stranger to laziness, procrastination, the fear of failure and/or success, exhaustion. I deal with those, in different intensity degrees, on a daily basis.
Yes, I also like to have fun, relax, being instead of producing. Netflix calls me, quitting is an option, if only for a second; I´m human, after all.
And, still, DOING is my thing. As hard, sweaty, challenging, and boring as it may be, at times, DOING is my cup of...
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