PRESS
RELEASES
updated: 23/08/04
Index:
International Oriental Dance Festival 3-6 June 2004
Oriental
Express-Oriental dance - more than you ever knew!
15.11.2002
Finnish
dancers
to perform in Cyprus
16.07.2002
Dance
Festival in Helsinki 6.-9.6.2002
17.07.2002
ORIENTAL EXPRESS
Oriental dance - more than You ever knew!
Masrah Dance Company, celebrating their 10th
anniversary, are providing an excellent opportunity to see exciting
and entertaining oriental dance in the Oriental
Express -show in Malmitalo
Sat 7th Dec at 7 p.m. and Sun 8th Dec at 3 p.m.
The much requested repeat performance of Oriental Express will
feature a Finnish premier performance of the Clog Dance, a
choreography by Mr Mahmoud Reda, as well as several completely new solo performances with e.g.
melaya, finger
cymbals and candelabra. With their antics, the Dancing Horses will
charm both children and adults. The Oriental Express will take You
and the 18 dancers trough the Upper and Lower Egypt, Morocco, the
Arabian Peninsula and the Lebanon.
The Oriental Express performances will take place in Malmitalo
(Ala-Malmintori
1) Sat 7th Dec at 7 p.m. and Sun 8th Dec at 3 p.m. Tickets
€ 20/adults, € 15/ pensioners with valid identification,
unemployed, students, persons doing their military service and €
10/ children under 12 years. The show will last for 2 h 15 min,
including intermission. Order Your tickets at +358-50-5911 065 or at
Malmitalo (tel. +358 -9-310 80835).
For further information and photos, please contact Peppina Lindfors at +358-9-278 3819 or
peppina.lindfors@kolumbus.fi.
You can see the photos also at naytos_kuvia.htm
Welcome to enjoy oriental dance with Masrah
In 1992, a group of oriental dance teachers and students founded an
association to raise the standard of oriental dance teaching and
performing in Finland. The association was called Masrah, which in
English means 'Theatre'. The Masrah
Dance Company has ever since been concentrating on dance
theatre, telling stories in the language of oriental dance.
Masrah has been celebrating this anniversary year with various
productions: in February, with the première of Oriental Express,
now being performed for a second time, and in June, with the second Yalla! International Oriental Dance Festival. In July, the Company
participated in the Cyprus International Folklore Festival and next
summer, they will perform at the Cairo International Oriental Dance
Festival. |
|
PRESS
RELEASE 16TH JULY, FOR FREE PUBLICATION
Finnish
dancers to perform in Cyprus
Masrah Dance Compay, a Helsinki-based group performing Middle Eastern and North African folk
dances as well as classical oriental dance has been invited to
participate in the popular Cyprus
International Folklore Festival 20th -26th
July 2002. The festival is organised by the Pissouri Folklore
Association and it is under the auspices of Mr Uranios Joannides,
the Minister of Culture.
The
festival will visit six different towns and the locations for the
performances are 20th July Pissouri (Limassol district),
21st July Protaras (Paralimni district), 22nd
July Pissouri, 23rd July Athienou (Larnaca district), 24th
July Agios Dometios (Nicosia district), 25th July
Deryneia (Larnaca distict) and 26th July Agios Athanasios
(Limassol district).
Masrah
Dance Company will consist of eleven dancers who will perform a
North-Egyptian Bedouin dance and two Southern-Egyptian dances of the
Ghawazee-gypsies. The programme will also include a traditional
Oriental solo-improvisation to accordion music.
Additional information on Masrah available at www.masrah.fi,
before 17th July 2002 at marja.laukkanen@sefo-konsultointi.fi
and during the tour at +358 50 563 5811.
Additional
information on the festival schedule and locations available from
the organisers Pissouri Folklore Association, cypfa@yahoo.gr,
tel +357 03 575222615.
Masrah
represents the top quality Oriental Dance in Finland. Since 1993,
the Association has produced an annual full-length show in Helsinki,
and toured also elsewhere in Finland. The Dance Company is also
famous abroad for its versatility and skill, as well as the genuine
and authentic feeling of >the
dance. The Company has given guest performances e.g. in 1999 in
Egypt at the International Oriental Dance Festival
and in 2001 at the Beijing International Cultural Tourism
Festival in China.
Masrah Anniversary Year
In
2002, Masrah celebrates its 10th Anniversary with various
special events. The new show Oriental Express had its première in
February, and the second Yalla!
International Oriental Dance Festival was organised in Helsinki
in June. Over 500 Finnish and foreign Oriental Dance enthusiasts
participated in the 30 workshops. El Nugum, an Egyptian orchestra,
were the guest stars at the Festival and they provided the
accompaniment for Finnish dancers e.g. at the Haflat el Nugum show,
the sold out performance at the Savoy Theatre.
|
|
INTERNATIONAL ORIENTAL DANCE FESTIVAL
6-9 JUNE 2002
DANCE
ENTHUSIASTS AGAIN INSPIRED BY ORIENTAL DANCE FESTIVAL
Masrah Oriental Dance Association successfully organised the second dance
festival in Helsinki. For four days, over 500 enthusiasts participated in the 30 workshops available, the
courses ranging from beginners' workshops to those for the
professional dancers. As a novelty, the Festival introduced Bellybic,
an aerobics-style workout with oriental flavour which proved to be
very popular among the dancers.
Music
from Cairo
As
the foreign guest stars, the Festival presented El
Nugum, an orchestra from Cairo, who cast a spell not only on the
audience but also on the Finnish dancers who had the opportunity to
perform with them. On the night of the Haflat El Nugum show the
Savoy Theatre was full to the rafters and the atmosphere,
accordingly, electrifying.
One
of the most eagerly expected performances of the evening was Alf
Leyla we Leyla (Thousand and One Nights) interpreted by the Masrah Dance
Company and choreographed by Mr
Mahmoud Reda, the grand old man of Egyptian dance and the top
guest teacher at the Festival. This sentimental song made famous by
Umm Kalsoum is one of the most beloved classics of the Egyptian
music. Mr Reda was moved to give a standing ovation after this
performance.
Interesting
workshops
The
Festival was organised at the Theatre Academy Finland which proved
to be an excellent location. The spacious studios were full of light
and provided superb surroundings for the workshops, and the Bazaar
in the Plaza as well as the lunch-time dance performances drew an
ample audience consisting not only of dancers participating in the
workshops but also passers-by drawn in by the interesting
atmosphere. For the first time, the Festival offered a workshop with
live accompaniment by the seven musicians of El Nugum - an
experience not easily forgotten by the fifty participant dancers!
Inviting an orchestra for the dual purposes of providing dancers
with an opportunity to train as well as perform with live music
proved to be a highly successful idea, and it opened new vistas and
possibilities for Oriental Dance in Finland.
Further
information available at www.masrah.fi
and peppina.lindfors@kolumbus.fi
and at +358 9 278 3819.
Sincerely Yours
Peppina
Lindfors, Masrah Association
|
|
|
|