http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp
I kept meaning to post the pics to this thread. :) leila came to my house when she was in town a little while ago so we could all costume shop and meet the baby. he is sooooooooooo freaking CUTE. he's a chunky little chublet, and such a happy little guy. he was asleep in the car when she and dahlia got here, and being a mom myself, I'm all, shhhh, quiet, do you want to leave him in the car? and leila is all, no, let's wake him up! she brought him in and laid him down on my changing table, and he looked at me and gave me this humongous smile. he smiles with his whole body! UGH. loved him.
after the costume feeding frenzy and everybody left, leila, dahlia and I had dinner and had a chance to chat and catch up. right around when the baby was born, leila and safaa had to move out of their apartment. safaa apparently set them up in this gazillion floor walk-up in an iffy part of town that had no electricity for several hours every evening. then he'd be gone most of the day, and then left leila with the (brand new!) baby and two of his other kids and took off for four days. she got fed up and moved the family out to some fab villa and that's where she's living now. ha!
live-in help is really affordable in cairo so she's got a nanny to help with the baby. she said that once she was ready to go back to work, it only took a week or two for the word to get around, and she's back up to her regular workload with dance, modelling and acting.
lizajuk - one thing that came up at dinner was how leila had a bad experience helping out a friend in the UK. they were hosting a big workshop weekend with 'a dancer from egypt'. the person they booked had to cancel at the absolute last minute, and she begged leila to come and teach instead. she didn't want to change the subject matter as it had already been publicized, and she assured leila that it would be ok (she wanted leila to teach ghawazee, which she doesn't know anything about!). so, with only maybe two days to prepare, leila flew in and did her best. as it turned out, the sponsor said NOTHING to the patrons about the last minute switch. so, of course leila was underprepared! and instead of getting showered with gratitude for stepping in and saving the day, leila got trashed for being unprepared and not very knowledgeable about her subjects. nothing like giving up work at home to do a favor only to have your reputation unfairly tarnished.
I'm guessing that the event you attended was this same one. leila said she didn't have the time or energy to get on tribe or wherever people were trashing her to set the story straight. maybe if the subject ever comes up again you could help get the word out as to what happened. I've taken several workshops with leila and I find her to be very knowledgeable, generous, and kind as an instructor. and she's a sweet, classy and very professional person. :)
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