Tales of a Nile River Cruise
Newsletter Archive | February 2019
Hello Dance Adventurers,
This month I want to share with you one of my personally favorite bellydance memories...
an impromptu duet with one of my dance idols on a Nile river cruise in Luxor, Egypt!
In 2017 I went to Egypt with Sadie Marquardt and a few other of her lovely students. While cruising the Nile, we had a treasured opportunity to watch a professional troupe of Upper Egyptian musicians and ghawazee-style dancers perform. Check out the video below and you'll see what a treat it was!
Video: Upper Egyptian Musicians & Ghawazee-style Dancers
After the show ended and most of the cruise passengers went to bed, a few of us dancer-tourists decided to perform for one another (and the few guests and crew who happened to still be milling about).
I asked Sadie if she would make one of my dreams come true by performing her drum solo choreography with me (which I had learned from her earlier that Spring at Aziza's Dream Camp). She was gracious as usual and we had a blast!
While the video and performance below is not exactly professional quality, it is a special moment from my life that I hope you enjoy.
Much love,
April Rose
My favorite things about this video include:
Sadie yelling "turn it up" to the volunteer DJ who was in control of her phone volume
Our winging-it improvisations through the forgotten or open-ended parts of the choreography
The sounds of my dreadlocks hitting the lighting grid at the end when I try to bow like Sadie does (our hairstyles react very differently to movement, haha)
