Ruric's morning workshop focused on improvisation and emotional communication, including an introduction to classical Indian Bharatanatyam hand and eye movements and a series of improvisation drills designed to teach dancers to identify and adopt essential personae in a performance.
Aegela, the recipient of a Lifetime Performer's license by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, taught an afternoon workshop of Egyptian belly dance drills and combinations, giving new insight into traditional dance technique.
At the evening concert, Samovar did an experimental belly dance piece to a bluegrass song, incorporating flying skirts, finger cymbals and head tosses into a rollicking performance. Anu performed a charming Tribal-style choreography, their specialty. Samovar East performed an authentic Bollywood medley that began with the graceful and welcoming Salaam and ended with an energetic and humorous Ishq Kamina.
The Kakias Family Band is a regular feature at Med Echoes concerts. They provided the music for Conchi's opening performance after the intermission and for the solo performances by the workshop teachers (Aegela and Ruric). Ruric demonstrated her mastery of the traditional belly dance forms by improvising to a long medley of Egyptian, Greek, Turkish and Roma-style music.
Performances by other local and regional dancers rounded out the program, including numbers by troupes directed by Conchi and Aegela. It is a credit to Conchi that she chooses to invite a wide variety of belly dancers to teach and to perform at her numerous events, giving non-traditional artists a venue in which to present their works.
For more information:
Conchi.homestead.com
Ruric-Amari.com
