The Zar Dance DVD

[Levanah]

Hi All.

I just purchased the "Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group performance The Zar Dance." DVD. I found this to educational,
informative, stimulating, and inspiring, as well as enjoyable and entertaining.

I was impressed by the the quality of the fine music compiled and played by well-known middle-eastern professional musicians, and the artistry and excellence and passion shown by the dancers. It is obvious to me that Ibrahim Farrah was a truly wonderful artist in every sense of the word.

I found myself almost involuntarily jumping off my comfy bed and dancing and humming and chanting to the music in my room, and even afterwords throughout the day.

I liked the fact that the dance performance was shown along with
extra excerpts and clippings from the actual Zar Dance done in the
different middle-eastern companies.

I am glad that I have this DVD in my dance library.

Levanah
NYC, NY.

[ANA_bellydancer]

Thanks for sharing this!

[bintbeled]

I've been waiting for this to come out, and bought a copy at Rakkasah. Can't wait to see the additional footage!

[Levanah]

Hi, Me Levanah again. I was delighted to receive some great replies from
some of you wishing to purchase this wonderful "Zar Dance" DVD. Please
contact Phaedra directly if you would like to buy this. Her contact info is:
phaedra@phaedradance.com. (@phaedradance.com). She gave me permission to give you all her email. I purchased this from her. It is well
worth it. Hope this helps. Levanah

[badriya_al_ahmar]

I bought this a month or so ago and just had a chance to watch it last night--I highly, highly recommend this DVD on a number of levels. The zar presentation is spine-tingling. Ibrahim Farrah's explanation of how he became interested in zar and how he went about staging it was a wonderful look into an artist's mind. The interviews with him and the dancers about dance in general capture the excitement of that time, when they were presenting something really new to the arts community of New York/the East Coast. And then there's the commentary on growing up in an immigrant community and finding your place in a new country. It's all fascinating stuff!

[melodyrnr]

Me too.....I enjoyed it very much for all the same reasons listed above. I loved the interview with Ibrahim where he explains that the zar often allowed girls/women the freedom to behave in a way they would have normally been forbidden to. In this way they 'exorcised' the mental demons of say being married off as a young girl and the anguish of having the ties of friends and family suddenly severed.
Kind of pricey but it was worth every penny. Kudos to Phaedra for putting this out there for us.

[vron]

How much is this dvd? I've got it on my wish list. Thanks.

[phillyraqs]

Vron, I believe it is $50 plus shipping.

I keep meaning to post a review of this dvd - I was really impressed with it. At first, it goes through Bobby's zar dance tableau and I thought, oh, is this it? But then the interview with him, with members of his company, and the extra footage was just great.

For those of us that started dancing after Bobby's passing and never got to see his troupe, it was a great inside look into that scene, and great and very rare information and footage on zar.

[vron]

Thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

[Levanah]

Hi. For all questions about The Zar Dance DVD: The cost, how to order it, etc., you can contact Phaedra at: phaedra@phaedradance.com. Enjoy!!!
Best regards, Levanah