What is Muwashahat, the dance of the Al-Andalus?🌙
- Come, Joana. Let´s work.
That´s how Mahmoud Reda, the father of Egyptian Folklore and creative genius of the "Reda Troupe", would greet me, every morning, right after his usual hug and joke, a new one, every day, fresh out of the oven.
He was, and will always be, my dearest long-term teacher, friend, work collaborator, co-creator; and friend. I miss him dearly.
I´d be half-asleep but willing; not yet recovered from a night of shows with my orchestra.
After falling off the taxi, stumbling, in front of Nº50 of "Kasr el Nile" Street, in downtown Cairo, I´d climb the five flights of stairs to his studio.
Once his hug, joke, and an additional cup of tea - no sugar, to keep the dancer´s figure - had been delivered, he wouldn´t introduce a subject: he just dragged me into one of the dance rooms, put the music on, and we started to work.
That´s how I learned "Muwashahat"🌙✨, the dance of the "Al Andalus", the golden era of the Arabic occupation in the Iberian Peninsula, in Europe.
Way before I knew what it was called, I learned it from the man who reenacted it and brought it back to life. 
The Arabs took over the Iberian Peninsula - Portugal and Spain - from 711 to 1492.
During that period, the East and the West built a lively relationship made of friction and a passionate - not without conflict - love affair.
The Arabs influenced European culture in countless ways - dance and music being two of them.
Much of what we see in "Flamenco" (Spain), today, drinks from that influence; and so does the "Fado" music (Portugal). In both, we identify remains of that fruitful occupation.
From that friction and love, a new kind of dance was born in the south of Spain - the "Muwashahat".
The word "Muwashshah", the singular of "Muwashahat", supposedly comes from the "sach", the shawl Andalusian women wore in their daily lives and dance.
This dance style mixes Western and Eastern elements and it represents and time and space when both cultures collaborated, even if in (silent) turmoil.
It mixes the poetic beauty and sensuality of the East with the structure and action-oriented dynamics of the East - it´s the most perfect bridge between cultures that rarely mix.
Centuries after that melting pot, way after the Arabs were expelled from Europe, and Christianity took back its power, a man called Ali Reda, the brother of Mahmoud Reda, creative director, and husband of Farida Fahmy, the first soloist in the "Reda Troupe", rediscovered the music of the "Muwashahat", by chance.
It happened in Cairo, in one of many casual meetings where musicians would play their hearts out, all night long, for no reason other than the pleasure of sharing their art.
Ali Reda listened to an amateur composer called Fouad Abdel Maged who happened to be an aficionado of the almost forgotten music of the "Al Andalus".
Ali brought Fouad´s music to Mahmoud, his brother. And, knowing Mahmoud as I do, I know he jumped on it immediately; and fiercelessly.
Mahmoud Reda reenacted what must have been the Classical Dance of "Al Andalus",
aka "Muwashahat", with a special focus on:
✅The "Samai" rhythm, which I - half-jokingly - call "The Inducer of Tarab",
✅Elegant and fluid transitions,
✅Intricate foot and arm work,
✅A feminine approach to the music and the movement that you don´t see anymore in the field of Oriental Dance,
✅A balance between the circular and the linear,
✅A timeless and traditional approach to movement,
✅And the poetic touch that pulls dance, as an art form, towards the sky.
🌙✨🌒
I was privileged to have learned it directly from the Master and now,
I´m honored to teach it at Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School.
Here´s me and Mahmoud, having lunch, at the Joy Festival in England, our first work trip out of Egypt.
On the right, you can see Orit Maftsir, an exceptional dancer and festival organizer.
⚜️If you want to learn the "Muwashahat" Dance Style, just as I´ve learned it from the master Mahmoud Reda, you can´t lose this opportunity:
Our online course
"Muwashahat Dance, an Andalusian Dream"
✨🌙,
only available - for a limited time - at Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School
Welcome to "Muwashahat Dance, an Andalusian Dream",
a pioneering online course focused on the "Muwashahat Dance" - aesthetics, history, technique, and choreography✨🌙
A dance style from a long-gone era that´ll develop your posture, elegance, fluidity, use of space, femininity, transitions, and dance vocabulary. Besides, it´ll improve your aesthetic sense - an eye for beauty - and awaken the poetry in your heart.
The dance that brings back the presence of Arabs in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), reenacted by the genius of Mahmoud Reda and now delivered by Joana Saahirah, one of his long-term coachees and work collaborators.
📌For more information about our course, click here
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