KHALIK FAKIRNY ("Keep On Remembering Me")

Who

Morocco

Morocco (Carolina Varga Dinicu) is considered the leading performer & authority in her field in the U.S., Canada and abroad, evidenced by frequent invitations to teach master seminars and perform in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, Israel, Malaysia, Egypt, England, Morocco, Brazil and Italy.

She was awarded two grants by the State Council on the Arts for her choreography in 1972 and 1981 - first in her field to be so honored and the only two-time recipient - 3 NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Community Service Grants, 3 Summer Program Grants, a Materials for the Arts Grant and an Arts Exposure Grant. She was one of the first inducted into the AAMED Mideastern Dance Hall of Fame as "World Class" for "International proliferation of her art, her myriad of talent and for her untiring pioneering in this, her chosen field of ethnic dance", was named 1997 Instructor of the Year by IAMED, was voted Best Dancer & Best Instructor + Casbah Dance Experience was named Best Troupe of the Year 2 years in a row by Mideastern Dancer magazine. Morocco was also voted Ethnic Dancer of the Year in '97, Instructor of the Year in '98 & given the Lifetime Achievement award in 2002 by Zaghareet Magazine. In 2005 MECDA voted her their Humanitarian Award for her “body of work” over a lifetime in furthering and enriching Near and Mid-Eastern music and dance & in 2006 the Isis Foundation gave her a Lifetime Achievment Award in Ethnic Dance from the Near and Middle East. Morocco's research video series (#s1-6) was given the Giza Award in 2000, an interview with her, describing her philosphy & some of her life's experiences, was commissioned by the Dance Division of the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts in NYC to be placed its Oral History Archives for future researchers & she was nominated for the Dance Heritage Coalition's list of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures". In July, 1999, Morocco was invited to Cairo, Egypt to present her paper (as a keynote speaker) on "Dance as Community Identity in Selected Berber Nations of Morocco" & to give 2 dance workshops, one in Raks Sharki (Oriental Dance) & the other in Moroccan Guedra & Schikhatt, at the international conference of the UNESCO organization ICHPER-SD (International Council on Health, Physical Ed., Recreation - Sport & Dance). In May, 2001, she was also honored for her more than 41 years' work in this field at the 2nd International Conference on Mideastern Dance at Orange County Community College in California. She presented a paper ("Preserving Cultural Traditions: Difficulties Inherent in Adapting Guedra for Stage") at the International Federation of Theater Research's Congress, held at the University of Amsterdam (Holland) in July, 2002, lectured twice again in Cairo on apects of Oriental dance in 2000 & 2002, at Raqia Hassan's weeklong seminar and is now one of the regular teachers.

Since 1964, Morocco has written regularly for several publications in her field and been reprinted in dance, medical and feminist publications in the U.S., Germany, Sweden, Finland and Norway. She continues her extensive performing career as a soloist and with her dance company, including Lincoln Center, the U.N. (General Assembly and Dag Hammerskjold Theater), Delacorte Dance Festival, Columbia University, Statue of Liberty, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, lecture/performances for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Asia Society and Museum of Natural History, in Moscow And Leningrad (USSR), on Broadway ("I Had A Ball"), her own TV Special: "Testspiele" (WDR#l/Koln, Germany), 1st Women's Festival of the Performing Arts, numerous U.S. TV shows and films, *4* 5-Lecture Series at the Museum of Natural History and innumerable clubs and ethnic/family celebrations.

Director/researcher/choreographer of Morocco & the Casbah Dance Experience (Mideastern and North African dance & music in concert), her award-winning non-profit, tax-exempt dance company and school [501 c]3] IRS Tax Code), which had its debut at Lincoln Center in '78 and was the only dance company to be presented five times at Riverside Dance Festival, which also honored CASBAH by placing a tape of their '83 concert in its permanent archive (1 of 4 shown at their '85 fundraiser!).

Morocco created the Casbah Dance Experience to show the varied, fascinating ethnic dance forms of the Mideast and North Africa to the general public and give "a bit of home" to North Africans and Mideasterners in the West. She's spent over 46 years trying to find, recover, preserve and present them before they disappear, due to modernization and/or fundamentalism. It's a valuable heritage that must be saved from extinction!

Morocco collects all music, steps & styles possible of each dance from many on-site viewings, questions and participation, etc. and chooses a variety of the most typical steps & figures, presenting them in choreography true to their origins, while pleasing to the eyes & ears of the theater public. Morocco led many highly successful dance/culture tours to Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, introducing Western performers, teachers and fans of these dances to the rich variety of music & dance indigenous to those areas. She's taught at SUNY-Purchase and Amas Repertory Theater and continues to teach at her own Academy of Mideastern Dance in NYC.

Morocco opened the door for Mideastern Oriental dance in museums, schools, at Lincoln Center, SUNY-Purchase and as a valid, valuable concert form. Research has taken her to Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, Kirghizia, Georgia, Armenia, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc.

Morocco continues to perform, teach, research, write and lecture and hopes to keep on "till 6 weeks after I'm dead"...

What

Beautiful, romantic slow dance for use as a solo or incorporated into a longer Oriental dance routine.

Level

ALL

When

Saturday 14/06/2008 08:30 - 10:30

How Much

£25

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