Rio de Janeiro to host Arab dance festival
Festival Amaren will take place from August 15th to 17th. The event will feature live music, belly dancing and folklore presentations by local and international artists. Workshops for dancers will also be available.
From August 15th to 17th, Rio de Janeiro is hosting the Amaren International Festival. The event will feature live performances of Arab songs, belly dancing and Arab folklore dancing presentations by local and international artists.
“The festival was designed to represent Arab culture in Brazil. Our culture is very rich and boasts a variety of arts and styles,” says the event’s organizer Khaled Emam. Emam is Egyptian and has been living in Brazil for 20 years. The holder of degrees in engineering and tourism, he has also been engaged in spreading Arab culture in Brazil for eight years now.
Throughout its three days, the event will feature workshops, exhibits and contests in various dance modalities. Performances for the general public, however, will only take place on the 16th.
“We will have artists from Egypt and Arabs from Argentina, Ukraine and Ecuador,” says Emam. He explains that the workshops and exhibitions are available to dancers at all stages of development. “For beginners and professionals alike,” he says. In addition to dancing techniques, the workshops will feature lectures on Arab culture, tradition and folklore.
The festival’s international attractions include the Egyptian singer Saad Ebrahem, who performs popular songs, Hamada El Zogby, who introduces the folklore dances Tanura and said, and Ukrainian dancer Alex DeLora. The event will feature over 30 professional dancers and over 50 performances.
This is Emam’s second year organizing an Arab cultural festival. In 2013, the event was named Habaib Festival.