Since 1981, Stella Arauzo has been in the tutelage of a legend. She was 17 years old when she joined Antonio Gades Spanish dance company, and by 1988 she was dancing the lead role of Carmen. After Gades’s death, Arauzo became artistic director of the company and 20 years onward, she’s still dancing Carmen. This …

Conceptual art exhibition “Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie blurs fiction and reality at several turns. The multi-artist assemblage at the Townhouse Gallery combines work in diverse media: lectures presented by actors, a book by an artist pretending to be her assistant and exhibition videos presented in the shape of reality TV shows. The reason for all …

The Cairo Opera House’s Main Hall is currently hosting Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot performed by the China National Opera House. A visually stunning work of grand scale, this production features an all Chinese cast, 190 in total, for Puccini’s work is originally set in the Peking Dynasty. The Opera holds a special place in history as …

The Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre came to an end Monday evening with a formal celebration at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House. Following the distribution of awards was the acknowledgment of Festival Honorees, actors and directors of distinction from 10 different countries. The Honorees were Baz Kershaw from the UK; Oliver …

Despite the extensive negative reports regarding organization and participating works, three delightful performances managed to standout in the second week of the 20th Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater: the Circle Troupe of Syria’s “The Little Red Riding Hood, the National Theater of China’s “Legend of a Hero and Mute Comp Physical Theater of Denmarks’ …

The 20th Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater thus far has been a surprising mix of well conceived works. I’m not quite certain though if I’m just having temporary good luck. By far, the best and most convincing work on view at the festival, if not in my international reviewing of the year, is “SUB …

The opening ceremony of the Cairo International Theater Festival was littered with the usual fan fair, sparkly gowns and flashing cameras. It commenced in the lush atmosphere of the Cairo Opera House’s Main Hall last Friday night with the same speeches, polite entrances and introductions of those heading it. It departed most significantly, however, from …

A crowd of 15 gathered last Wednesday in the small library of the Townhouse Gallery to hear “When Tomorrow is Today, a discussion by Lasse Lau, a self-described “queer and social activist, visual artist and filmmaker based in Brussels. The talk covered several of Lau’s “socially engaged works, ranging from a project on housing and …

Last week, a good-sized audience settled into the seats at the Cairo Opera House to watch “Dreams of Al-Andalus, the latest production by Al-Andalus Danza, a Spanish dance company based in Madrid. “It has been my dream to make this show, because I think Spanish culture has a lot of influence from Arabic culture, said …

One balmy night last week, a crowd of about 60 people shuffled into Azhar Park’s Geneina Theater to see a musical performance by Bikya, a Cairo-based electronic rock fusion ensemble. The varied audience comprised of teens, families and people who wandered in from a night walk in the greenery. The nearly bare and black stage …

In the context of an exhibition poster, the title “Travel.Agencies immediately suggests something larger than the place where one might go to book a flight. Walking up the steep steps to the Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) space, I was surprised to actually find photos of just that – workers, desks, swivel chairs and the blown …

After watching Walid Aouni’s “Sheherazade Monalisa, the opening performance of the 9th Festival for Modern Dance Theater that kicked off Monday night at the Cairo Opera House, I found myself gravely needing to consult my program for clues as to what I had just watched. In the text under Aouni’s name, I was confronted with …

At certain moments in time, it can be difficult to tell if one is seated in an important historical moment or situated in a long trajectory of forgettable ones. Such was the impression I was left with after watching “El Mazad (The Auction), the last production to be staged in the Falaki Theater at the …