Dancing with live music is a great experience for anyoriental dancer. It is completely different from dancing to music recorded on aCD. I was lucky enough to be able to experience this and dance in Egypt, inLuxor, with a live band. The band was Layali el Helwa and it was during theFarha Festival in Luxor. I improvised to Ya Helwa Sabah, a classical Egyptiansong that I had never danced to before, so it was total improvisation. I onlyhad a chance to practice for 10 minutes on the same day a few hours before theperformance. However it was fine because the audience were supportive and itwas a laid back environment I was in. With live music it is much easier to feel the emotions inthe song and the music, because the energy, that the singer and the musicians transmit,is much greater than with recorded music. The secret for a dancer is just torelax, tune in and go with the flow of the music. I had this amazing opportunityduring the Farha Festival. The Farha Festival is a yearly belly dance retreatin Luxor, Egypt, organised by Sarah Farouk and Kay Taylor, owner of FaridaAdventures. Kay lives in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and she has been organisingdance trips to Egypt for many many years. The Farha Festival is amazing for belly dancers because it isa weeklong dance retreat in Egypt, an intensive course with Egyptian danceteachers. It includes at least 4 hours of dance tuition a day every day (exceptfor one day, which is free for sightseeing or relaxing by the hotel pool),evening shows, the possibility to dance socially to Arabic music every night and,on the last night, the opportunity to dance with a live band. It is really abelly dancers’ paradise, where it is also possible to meet and socialise withlike minded people if you, like me, are an oriental dance fanatic... It is not easy otherwise to travel alone to a country like Egypt, especially for those who do not know the language and have never been there before, let alone dancing with a live band. Travelling with an organised trip like those run by Farida Adventures, allows dancers to make the most of their experience in Egypt. -----Now on World Belly Dance - Belly dance tips and advice and Bellydance DVD reviews. More...