High above Cairo’s hustle and bustle, inside the Saladin Citadel, the Ministry of Culture inaugurated its Ramadan cultural program “Layali Al-Mahrousa (Nights of Blessed Egypt) last Thursday.
The cultural program is a long-standing Ramadan tradition presented in the past in several locations such Sayyeda Zeinab Square, the Youth Center of Zeinhom, the Workers Institute in Shoubra, the Youth Center of Road El-Farag, and Fustat Gardens, before moving to Mahka Al-Qal’a last year.
The open space of the Mahka, surrounded by the old walls of the Citadel, Mohamed Ali’s Mosque, and the Military Museum, is a beehive of cultural activities. Visitors are greeted by chants and folk songs from various groups representing the indigenous musical traditions of different regions of Egypt. This is a fixture presentation of the Authority of Cultural Palaces, the organizer of the Ramadan festival who runs Cultural Palaces in every corner of the country.
The abundant artistic banquet offers plentiful attractions: dance, art exhibits, arts and crafts, book presentations, poetry recitations, interviews with political and public figures, cultural debates, film screenings, concerts, a narration of folk tale Al-Sira Al-Helalya, children theater, puppet shows, workshops for children and a book fair. Tasteful design motifs evoke the spirit of Ramadan, featuring lanterns and crescent moons and even a real live camel.
On one of the stages, I followed the preparations for a new play entitled “Friendly Fire. As simple set design by Yassir Galal was blown away by the wind, performers and crew had to find creative ways to stabilize the set. After a few trials, they came up with an ingenious plan: they put rocks and stones on piled up chairs at both ends of their metal frame, and had the seven dancers seize the ends of the drapes with their feet. And voila! The Egyptian Deaf and Mute Dance Theater Company Al-Sameteen (The Silence) has surmounted another obstacle.
This group was formed by Reda Abdel Aziz, after visiting the school of Deaf and Mute in Mahalla, in the Egyptian Delta and realizing how frustrated some of the students were with their surroundings. After failing to communicate with the children, he left, but returned equipped with knowledge of sign-language and a plan for a creative outlet for the children to express themselves artistically in a way that would be understood to the outside world: dance theater.
Ghazl Al-Mahalla Cultural Palace became a home for Al-Sameteen. Aged 12 to 18, the group started their training with Abdel Aziz to develop their movement skills and physical expressions.
Their first big success came with “Small Wings which highlighted the challenges disabled children face in a world that continues to alienate the physically challenged. This play contained autobiographical elements, displaying some of the daily obstacle the children encounter, both at home and in society at large, and unveiling how their families choose to hide them because of the stigma surrounding disability in Egypt. Al-Sameteen, on the contrary, are not hiding at all. “Small Wings was staged on numerous theaters across Egypt and abroad, and participated in the Sixth Dance Festival in Cairo Opera House in 2006.
The current performance, “Friendly Fire, is a joint production, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the French Cultural Center in Cairo, where the play first opened in 2008. Created and directed by Reda Abdel Aziz, the performance discusses the harmful effects of smoking on youth.
“Friendly Fire starts with a song. “So what if I don’t speak, I want the whole world to listen to me/ With the faith in my heart/ Nothing can stop me. The expressive lyrics by Nasr Eddin Nagy, accompanied by Mohamed Esmat’s score, set the stage for the performance.
In simple, deliberate movements, the young protagonist gets into a confrontation with an authority figure, dressed as a Sheikh. The father figure is disappointed and punishes the child. The protagonist’s frustration leads him to a friend who offers him a rolled-up cigarette. The effects of the cigarette are evident on the performer. The physical and mental turmoil of the main character is expressed throught a dance number featuring seven dancers dressed in red. They place a hoop with robes around his neck and pull him in different directions. The shattered kid is then wrapped in fabric and carried on the necks of the dancers in a moving scene.
The Egyptian Deaf and Mute Dance Theater Company Al-Sameteen presents more than the straightforward, simple message “smoking destroys lives. The angel-like figure that appears at the end of their performance carries a message of hope extending beyond ending smoking. Hope for continuous self-expression for the youth. Hope for a better future for the able and disabled to co-exist and work on finding ways to communicate and be more integrated in each other’s worlds. And hope for equal rights for all people regardless of their status, background and abilities.
Layali Al-Mahrousa’s events run every evening, 8:30 pm, until Sept. 10 in Mahka Al-Qal’a at the Saladin Citadel.
