Thread: how much does Safti Craft cost

has anybody compared prices on Nile group, Safti, and Ahlan wa Sahlan lately?

I am trying to put together a grant proposal by the end of this week, and can't find any numbers to plug into the proposed budget.

Please help me get to Cairo!
..l;,

I think about $1000 for the week. For me this included all classes (7 days), two dinner + shows (+ bus there & back) and Safti picked me up at the airport. Everything is well organized and on time too. :-)

NileGroup is:
260 euro (312 $) the price for the double room, 7 nights, included breakfast, opening Gala Dinner and Closing Gala dinner, all the entrance to the night events at the Hotel, and both way transformation from airport-hotel-airport.

About the workshops:
Its 30 euro per 3 hour workshop
So depends on how many someone book
The workshops are from Thusday to Sunday (6 days), most pick 2 workshops per day = 6 hours. So 60 euro X 6 = 360 euro the workshops.

Add your ticket from your country, money for food/various, and ofcourse how we cant forget COSTUMES !!! lol

We are lucky from Greece since we can find both way flight Athens-Cairo with 160 euro, so its cheaper for us

maria aya

so Aya, is Nile group the one with Mahmoud Reda? It is very confusing that there are so many seminars, and the websites for all of them are hard to navigate. I could apply for my university to sponsor my fees if I could just get some official, formal info. There's no way they'll give me anything if they see those jumbled-up websites though!

I wish the info on these sites was ORGANIZED and presented more clearly. It's so frustrating (I know, I'm being way too american about this). I only need to know how much money to ask my sponsor program for. Why are these festivals so secretive about the pricing???! I

Safti's is the one with Mahmoud Reda and Farida Fahmy (doing most of the teaching but there are other teachers too).

oh, ok. that is the one I am interested in. was interested in.

This must be the group I contected once before in their first year.. I could have gone through my university, but I never heard about the pricing info so I gave up on the idea. It was really disappointing.
I did try to follow up on it the next time I saw it offered. So I emailed and requested pricing info. They responded back and ripped me a new one, saying that I wasn't serious enough and yelling at me for not coming the first time.

I was so upset! It was so mean. I wanted to go so bad, and the only reason I couldn't attend previously is that I had no budget information to put on my application, because they wouldn't give it to me.

I'm not even sure I want to go now, if that's the way they treat their customers. Whenever I have met Mahmoud or Mrs Fahmy in real life they have been very polite and nice. So I thought I must have gotten the groups mixed up, because I can't imagine them being mean like that. Maybe it was somebody in their office who answers emails and not them. I know language can be an issue (although I don't recall any broken english in the messages)

What has been the experience of other attendees to this event? Should I forgive or should I forget them?

Speaking as someone who has been experiencing total email outages and other weird things because of my email host, I would say to give to give Safti a second chance. Maybe the emails didn't arrive, maybe whoever was supposed to respond wasn't comfortable with emailing... Or you could PM Safticraft here on Bhuz.

Yes, Safti is really nice - I can't imagine what went wrong with the communication but try again!

Yes, do try Safti again. He has always been quick to respond and very kind in his emails to me :)

Are you thinking of the upcoming February seminar, Lotus?

no, I have school during february.
I'm interested in the summer course, but the grant application deadline is coming up very soon.

Originally Posted by lotus

so Aya, is Nile group the one with Mahmoud Reda? It is very confusing that there are so many seminars, and the websites for all of them are hard to navigate. I could apply for my university to sponsor my fees if I could just get some official, formal info. There's no way they'll give me anything if they see those jumbled-up websites though!

I wish the info on these sites was ORGANIZED and presented more clearly. It's so frustrating (I know, I'm being way too american about this). I only need to know how much money to ask my sponsor program for. Why are these festivals so secretive about the pricing???! I

Clearing up things

NileGroup is happening 3 times per year, and its a big festival, around 200 people each time, November, April and June.
Held at Pyramissa hotel, and also Mahmoud Reda and Farida Fahmy give workshops, but its not the Safti Seminars.

From what I know Safti Seminars are very limited to participants, up to 15 people and the students to be have to sent bio and DVD performance to be aproved from M. Reda and Farida Fahmy to be accepted.

As for the sites, dont know the others but if you check the Entertainment - Calendar its the most organized and EASY to navigate site ever.

Maria Aya :)
that just returned from NileGroup festival, writing review now

argh! there's no pricing on that one either!!!

what's the deal with these organizers? June's not that far away.

It seems extremely unreasonable to me that anyone would expect customers to book a thousand dollar plane ticket and request time off from their jobs without even such basic information as how much the festival costs.

Check Hotel at the Entertainment - Calendar to see the price for the rooms.
Reservation have to be thou the festival to have these prices other way are higher.

Each 3hour workshop costed last week 30 euro, dont think it will be more than 35 euro per workshop for April and June since they kept this price for 8 festivals, maybe its time to raise a little.

The scedule for each festival is posted around 2 months before the date of the Festival, but the teachers are the same up or down everytime.

Now about the sceduling thing, dont forget that this is middle east

Maria Aya

Originally Posted by lotus

argh! there's no pricing on that one either!!!

what's the deal with these organizers? June's not that far away.

It seems extremely unreasonable to me that anyone would expect customers to book a thousand dollar plane ticket and request time off from their jobs without even such basic information as how much the festival costs.

I think the reason they don't put the prices on the websites is the Egyptian taxes authorities.

Originally Posted by TuijaR

I think the reason they don't put the prices on the websites is the Egyptian taxes authorities.

Probably true. The best thing is to find a phone number and call someone! I'm sure they'll be happy to fill you in on the prices for the workshops, galas, etc.

I live in Cairo and know a bit about the events, participants really enjoy them and many people aim for June so they can bo both! Nile Group has three great festivals a year Nile Group Oriental Dance Festival, Feb/Jun/Nov - people liked their limited class sizes and great teachers. Ahlan we Sahlan the biggest mid year Jun fest www.raqiahassan.net with a huge program. Unsure what's happening with Safti as Farida and Mahmoud no longer work with him - maybe he's getting new teachers. Prof. Hassan Khalil hosts private group seminars and excellent courses at his ISOC studio where dancers can do a live-in and he has an amazing studio space with swimming pool, etc. Otherwise, the events all seem to be getting better as festival organizers work with participant feedback.

I hope this helps.

hello Keti,

thank you for the update!