Mona el Said in Dallas

She returned with her 4^th costume change to dance to Amr Kamaal's singing with the band.  This last costume was definitely an eye-popping costume!   It  was made of  shiny black fabric.  The dress was close fitting with the skirt triangular-shaped, point down.  The dress was open down both sides and down the front with straps/buckles holding it together.  This was the most revealing of the costumes and I kept referring to it as the "futuristic" costume because it didn't look like any dance costume I've seen!   I think we got our money's worth in costume changes alone, but it is so nice that the dancer inside those costumes was a more than competent dancer, completely natural and comfortable,  and we weren't too distracted by the costumes to see her dancing!   And in one word, Mona's dancing is divine!  She dances with so much passion and enjoyment that she draws us into her dancing.  We feel every movement that she makes.  

Our moods follow her moods as she dances and interprets the music with her movements.  Yet those movements are not too complicated; it is the emotion she shows that is complicated.

The energy from this show spilled over for a long time afterwards.   We didn't want to leave the room.   We were all standing around talking about Mona and trying to talk to her. . . . oh, yes, and get a photo with her!  Every photo I took had laughing and smiling people in it with Mona's being the biggest smile.  One of my favorite photos is the one with Miabella and Mona.

After all of the weekend activities died down, I had an opportunity to talk to Mona.   She mentioned that after the show, she was very tired but very happy.  And when she dances, you can read everything in her face . . .  all emotions, sad, happy, that she has nothing to hide.  I also got her to expand on some of her plans for the future, which she had mentioned on Sunday in the workshop when she played some "new" music for us.   In addition to continuing her work as an interior designer, Mona wants to create a new dance using new music for the future of dance.  

She says that she is not the same Mona from 20 years ago, dancing in the same old style of 20 years ago.   She says that the dance must change for a new generation, bringing a new look.   She wants everyone to think about the future of dance and about getting a new generation to appreciate the dance, matching their needs.

I have to admit some of us were rather surprised about all this when Mona brought this up during the workshop on Sunday.  Mainly because there are many dancers in the West who are working hard to present dance using older style music, classical Arabic music from the early beginnings of Raks Sharki, as opposed to just presenting dances using modern pop Egyptian music.  Hadia started up a conversation with Mona right there trying to explain how many people were trying to use older music dancing in the older style, but Mona was adamant that the dance must change.   She played us some of her new music and promised that when she returns to Dallas, this will be the music that she will use to teach us.  The music was beautiful, but it will be very interesting how all this talk of new music and new dance will go over with dancers here. 

Another topic that came up in our conversation was her relationship with God.   She said that she believes very much in God and he is always at the top of her heart.  Mona says that she appreciates whatever God has given her and that she has the responsibility to protect it and not abuse it.  He gave her the feeling to love each person in the workshop and she wants to show this love by helping each individual in the workshop to learn.  I think that Mona showed us her love constantly during the workshop as she was very generous in giving to all the participants.  One of my good dance friends, Meleea (a definite "I need choreography" person), told me she was thrilled with the workshop and thanked me for preparing her in advance by talking about the class I took in Cairo.  At first, she was worried that she wouldn't get anything from the workshop, but now I do believe she is a huge Mona fan!   We are all huge Mona fans.   This weekend with Mona was a wonderful introduction to a passionate, beautiful and down-to-earth , approachable woman, who happens to dance in a way that inspires us to keep dancing with all our hearts.  We are all anticipating a return to Texas by Mona.   And I hope it doesn't take another 7 years to get her here.