WORKSHOP - Hassaan Saber - Ghawasi dance

Learn to dance like the sonbat women in the Nile delta! The name ghawasi originally refers to immigrants but over a period in history the sonbat tribes remained living in the delta of the Nile river in North of Egypt. The dance is accompanied by very energetic music, glittering dresses, strong and big hip movements. The music for this choreography has been composed by Hassaan Saber himself!

Hassaan is one of the last remaining dance legends in Egypt who is still actively performing himself! He has been an important folklore teacher of many currently famous Egyptian oriental dance teachers. The young Egyptian dance generation speaks of him with awe and highest level of respect. He has made a deep research of Egyptian folkloric dance as well as of roots of bellydance and all of this has been documented into his 4 books!

Hassaan has a honorary doctorate in folk heritage, is board member at CIOFF UNESCO Egypt, also a member of Acting Professions Syndicate in Egypt and member of UNESCO International Dance Council.

In addition to all that, he is also a music composer (all of his shows include original music composed by Hassaan), a choreographer, director, costume designer, a singer and last but not least, a great comedian!

On 1-3 November 2024, the 16th Oriental Dance Festival takes place in Tallinn, Estonia.

Every autumn, Oriental Dance lovers gather for one weekend in Estonia to take part in the International Oriental Dance Festival. The annual festival is the biggest and oldest Oriental Dance event in Estonia, including dance workshops, a gala show, a dance competition, open stage performances and an Oriental Bazaar. The event brings together dancers from every corner of Estonia, the neighbouring countries and beyond.

The festival is organised by the Estonian Chamber of Oriental Dance.

Programme and more:
www.orientaldance.ee