I am lucky enough to live in Lotus Niraja's general area, so I get to see her dance once in a while, and I am always enchanted. I saw her in a show last night, and was just posting a little review for my students on out student page. When I got done, I realized that the review should be in the Bhuz fan forum! So here it is. It could be a LOT more detailed, but I haven't had my coffee yet.
And bear in mind that it's written for students, who don't have the breadth of knowledge of my Bhuz buddies.
"Lotus was amazing. She really is a brilliant dancer, and I LOVE to watch her. She can be lyrical, she can do crisp accents, she can be soulful, she can be earthy, she can be cutting edge, she can be so funny you laugh out loud. She was wearing a lovely Sahar Okasha costume, too! I loved her drum solo. She danced to the live music of Hicham and Mohsein from the Casablanca. Mohsein is an OK drummer but he never looks at the dancer when he plays -- it's like he's giving orders and the dancer has to follow, rather than a dialogue between drummer and dancer. Believe me, Lotus got his attention.
When we were in Egypt, Lotus was one of many dancers performing at one of the evening parties, with a band led by Khamis Henkish, who has gotta be the most famous Egyptian drummer EVER. Each dancer got one song, and a strict time limit, because there were so many dancers. During most of the performances, Henkish was paying attention to the other drummers -- he was obviously tutoring a small group of them -- and ignoring the dancers. However, when Lotus danced, he watched her, and when her song was over, he played a drum solo for her that was amazing -- a nice match of drummer and dancer, both enjoying the interplay. It was quite a compliment -- she earned that drum solo!
Some time after that a dancer from the Midwest that I know danced, and at the end of her song, instead of leaving the stage, she went over and argued with Henkish to get him to play a drum solo. It was the opposite of the Lotus experience. The drum solo he played was nothing special, and she looked like nothing special dancing to it.
Lotus is just about the queen of dance, I think. "
And I have to add that the NDC rocked last night, too. I especially loved their version of the Dandesh "mango" song, with each troupe member imitating a different famous dancer. What a wonderful evening.
Lotus, this is for you!!
