An Umm Kulthum Experience this weekend!

Hello! 

This Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28, I'm so excited to be hosting a movie night and dance workshop about the legendary singer Umm Kulthum (also found as Oum Kalthoum). This woman's voice has deeply inspired many people, not just the Middle Eastern community, and she still does! 

Her work and her life story is deep and the best way I thought of sharing this with my students is to have a free movie night screening a great documentary on her, then having a dance workshop the next day where we explore live versions of her music and as a dancer, what to know when it comes to performing to her music. 

Dancing to Umm Kulthum can be complex, rich, rewarding, difficult... her music can be happy yet sad, angsty and joyous. A poetic push and pull of lyrics and melody I still have yet to truly understand but have dived in as much as I could and have felt waves of emotion nonetheless. 

I won't say much here about her as we will talk more in person soon! For now, enjoy a little video I created about our weekend experience with the introduction to my favorite Umm Kulthum song, "We Maret el Ayam."