 The
Gilded Serpent presents...
Dance/Poetry
Festival
Reported by Kalifa
The
Artists Embassy International, headed by Richard and Natica
Angilly, has once again produced a delightful
and magical blend of the spoken word and the body in motion.
The afternoon performance took place at the Palace of the
Legion of Honor in the Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco.
Natica has danced and taught for many years in the Bay
Area. Recently she has been offering her Middle Eastern
dance classes at Rakkasah Festival East,
at least twice at Rakkasah Festival West,
and for nine years she has produced the Dance/Poetry
Festival.
The Dance/Poetry
Festival was a blend of different kinds of dance, but Middle
Eastern was in the vanguard of many of the performances.
This writer
saw the entire first act from the audience, and the dance
numbers ranged from the avant-garde piece entitled, “Eyes”,
written and composed by Beth Mahocic and
performed by Carole Y. Rae, to Natica's
Poetic Dance Theater Company. Natica’s company
performed “Webs of Energy; Ireland; Dancing in the
Mystery of Life”, which was danced with a more traditional
Oriental choreography.
A startlingly
beautiful piece, danced in slow motion by the Tuju
Taksu Masked Theater, evoked images to this viewer
of giant Diego Rivera figures coming alive.
During
the second act, I viewed many of the performances from the
wings. Dancers glided by in gauzy costumes and stage make-up
as they made their entrances. Watching their concentrated
expressions as they pooled their talents to perform a unique
piece, I marveled at the pleasure and discipline that went
into each number. Their bodies were wet with perspiration
that they dripped onto the nearby observers as these performers
exited the stage.
 Tatseena and
her partner, Khaa, a 40 pound boa constrictor,
added much flavor to Natica's Poetic Dance Theater pieces.
Backstage, Khaa wanted to perform for us also, but Tatseena
guarded him closely, lest he would escape.
Dhyanis performed,
with her usual artistry, a dance entitled, “Truly We
Can Only Allow Our Paintings to Speak Vincent Van Gogh”.
Special
awards were given to outstanding people in the dance community.
Among those receiving awards were: Bert
Balladine, who was not in attendance but is
a major contributor to the teaching of Middle Eastern dance
worldwide, and Shukriya, troupe leader of
the Dancers of the Pharoahs (sic) and the
sponsor of the Rakkasah Festivals. Acts from all across the
United States came to celebrate intercultural understanding
and peace through the universal language of poetry and dance.
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Ready
for More?
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12-9-02 Photo
Gallery of “The Festival Fantasia 2002, A Rose
Production” by Lynette Harris
These random photos are of shoppers, vendors, musicians, dancers and their
fans. |
