Video: www.dailymotion.com/tarabofegypt
SONGE D'UNE NUIT D'EGYPTE
March 16 and 17, 2010, Wolubilis
a
"Al Wegdann "
" With all my essence..."
Sufi music, song and dance performance of Upper Egypt
with
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tûni and his musicians
Béatrice Grognard and dancers of the Tarab dance company
13 and 14 November 2008
Theatre Molière, Muziekpublique, Brussels
Choreography -- Stage production -- Costumes : Béatrice Grognard
Videos of "Al Wegdann" will follow
Choreographer and dancer Béatrice Grognard, surrounded by a few dancers of her Tarab dance company, and the charismatic Sufi singer Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tûni unite for an artistically audacious performance, as Sheikh Tuni's repertoire has never before been transposed into female dance drama.
Ahmad al-Tûni is one of Egypt's last great Sufi singers. His voice rises and intensifies, leading to Sufi trance, an ancient ritual for all. Open, creative, expressing a large range of emotional behaviors, Ahmad al-Tûni sings, mimes his poetry with expression ; his nervous body balances to the music and emphasizes the rhythmic fierceness of the dûff, the riqq and the tabla of Egypt.
Béatrice Grognard's art is characterized by a flamboyant theatrical expression and danced emotions, sometimes interior, deep and delicate, sometimes powerful and close to trance.
Al-Tûni's lyrical and voluptuous chanting and Béatrice's intense and majestic dancing join to celebrate divine and human love, ecstatic joy, desire, sweet or bitter passion, the sufferance of being separated, the fear of absence and the feeling of surrendering of the body.
Both evoke tarab or emotional ecstasy.
“ What a discovery! Moving Sheikh Al Tûni: its strong and major voice which contrasts with its frail stature…Its wobbling if attaching… The musicians attractive and were also enthusiastic and fascinated by the power of the dance… Splendid costumes…Divine dance in a perfect connection with the voice and the words of Sheikh Tuni… That curled sometimes an almost magic anticipation…”
“It was the swirl, the splendid mixture voice/gesture, the incarnation of enthusiasm. The result: deeply moving… “That stuck”, that turned, that vibrated…”
“Splendid spectacle! It was in turn upsetting, intense, impetuous….
What a capacity of improvisation of the dance with the voice of Sheikh Tuni!
Which connection with the musicians, deeply invested in the follow-up of the dance and an obvious joy… Which inventiveness, which anthem with the Life mixed with the surging crossings with the suffering…”
“So much emotion, so much fire! Such an amount of power, so much accuracy in the waltz of the movements, the bewitching dances… That of daring originality in this explosive meeting of the dance of Beatrice Grognard and the song of Sheikh Tuni.
An unexpected, improbable meeting and, with final, a challenge more than successful…. ”
“Al Wegdann”: a contrasted universe of softness and passion which leaves an inexpressible emotion…
"MOUSAFEROUN" ("Travellers")
Spectacle of music, singing and dance from Upper Egypt
presented by the famous troupe "The Musicians of the Nile",
Béatrice Grognard and the "Tarab" company
"The DVD of the Egyptian theatrical dance show "MOUSAFEROUN" is available.
To order, please send an email ( tarab@email.com ) to Béatrice who will give you details of how to pay. (Cost of the dvd : 35 € + 7 € Post charges)
In "Mousaferoun", Béatrice Grognard, accompanied by 5 of her dancers, is reunited with the renowned Musicians of the Nile from Luxor, with whom she breathes life back into the dance and music of Egypt.
Majestic and revered, the Musicians of the Nile, famous throughout the world, owe their origins to a caste of professional musicians linked to gypsy clans who settled in Egypt in the XI century. They continue the musical gypsy traditions of Egypt and are the virtuosos of instruments such as the inventive rababa, violin made of horsehair, coconut and fish skin, the mizmar, wood from Upper Egypt with incisive sounds, the tender kawala flute which has Pharaonic origins, and the invigorating saidi drums, the duff and tabla, percussion instruments.
A unique artistic complicity unites the dancer and choreographer, Béatrice Grognard, with the Musicians of the Nile, who are delighted to see their ancestral music glorified by the polished movements, the dramatic expression and emotion which is at times internal, and then trance-like characterising the dance of this artist.
Mousaferoun A show of dance and of music from Upper Egypt, revealing a unique meeting of East and West, where the traditional and modern, instinct and technique, melancholy, humour and intense joy, all blend together in harmony. A constant dialogue between the dancer, musicians and singers, an abundance of brilliant colours and captivating rhythms.
This performance was presented:
- Casino Théâtre, Geneva, 8 and 9 March 2007
- Théâtre Joli Bois, Brussels, 8, 9 and 10 February 2006
("The golden Age of the Art ")
or the evocation of a golden Age less know of Egypt
A spectacular two-hour innovative performance enhanced by colourful costumes and lighting that, together with a carefully orchestrated choreography, bring together the past and present by intercepting the dance with a series of excerpts of black and white films from the glorious days of Egyptian cinema during the first half of the last century.
"The DVD of the Egyptian theatrical dance show "Zaman el fan el gamil" ("The golden Age of Art") is available.
To order, please send an email ( tarab@email.com ) to Béatrice who will give you details of how to pay. (Cost of the dvd : 35 € + 7 € Post charges)
This performance was presented :
- Théâtre Don Bosco, Brussels, 16 December 2006
- Théâtre 140, Brussels, F estival « Printemps de la Méditerranée, 13 May 2006
- Théâtre Don Bosco, Brussels, 9 and 10 December 2005
 |
 |
 |
Florence-Brussels February 2002
Brussels - June 2001
"NESMET HOB", a performance choreographed and interpreted by Béatrice and her partners, was presented, in Brussels, in the "Association Blanche", "Mouvements de femmes". This performance allowed, among others, the access to the culture in often excluded social categories
"TARAB"
Brussels - Cairo 2000
This led to the creation in 1998 of an original production devoted entirely to dances of Egypt directed, choreographed and performed by Béatrice and her company of 16 dancers and 4 musicians, thanks to whose talent this performance created an intense moment of humanity and dynamism. The sizeable audience proved this by their enthusiasm and support. This production was put on at the CVA d'Anderlecht and at the Jacques Franck centre in Brussels and, for the first time in Egypt, the solo passages were presented in Cairo at the First innovative arts festival of Cairo, Al Nitaq (January 2000) and at the Swiss Club Cairo (Culture) with the support of the Belgian Embassy (February 2000).
The aim of the "Al Nitaq" festival is to revive the centre of Cairo ("West el balad") and the extraordinary cultural exuberance it possessed at the beginning of the 20th century. The art galleries, cultural centres and cafés of West el balad rallied to this concept and invited numerous artists, mostly Egyptian, to demonstrate their craft: theatre, poetry, music, painting, sculpture - and dance. And so Béatrice was asked to demonstrate to the Egyptian public her interpretation of the classical and popular dances of their country. In a performance greeted with emotion and respectful attention, Béatrice took the opportunity, before an Egyptian audience, to advance the idea of dance - a true emotional, aesthetic and technical mosaic - as a total, refined, captivating and theatrical artistic discipline. A new basis for discussion was thus created and a novel and constructive dialogue was put in place.
In the wonderful surroundings of the Swiss Club Cairo (culture), with its 1930s architecture and gardens, Beatrice performed to the accompaniment of the takht "Arabesque", masters of ancient and modern classical repertoires. NileTV was there for this special event: special because for the first time in many years a performance subtly combining tradition and modernity in dance was on display. There were numerous reactions from the cosmopolitan audience. One in particular came from the Egyptian spectators, of all ages and from all walks of life: "You have reunited us with the authentic dancing and beautiful music that are part of the Egyptian soul and genuinely inspired by tradition. You have helped us to rediscover a golden age we had forgotten."
