Unfortunately in all the rush of leaving Canada I forgot my SLR at home, so I had to use a really dinky camera which I had trouble taking night pics with but anyway I promised pics...so here are pics from one of my days in Cairo.
The ministry of culture had these free tannoura (whirling dervish) dance perfomances going on near Khan el Khalili (the old market I showed pics of last time) in a place called weklat il ghoori (it was a place for commerce back in the day). I'll quote now from an article online just to give you background info "The outside of the building is stunning, with intricate wood and stone work. The original center was built in 1504 A.D. by Sultan Qunsuwah Al Ghouri. According to Abdel Daym, “Wekalet El Ghouri is one of three buildings, making Al Ghouri complex. There’s El Ghouri Mosque, El Ghouri Palace and Wekalet El Ghouri. When it was built, the complex had many spaces for commerce, for a hotel, even for horses.” from
http://www.communitytimesmagazine.co...ri-arts-center There are much better pictures there too (clearer) and you can see the actual structure ..my pics brought up too much dust from the flash.
Anyway here are my not so great pics
I loved the man with the 'saagaat', the metal disk things you clang together...he would tease the other performers, kind of like in a dance off but with instruments lol
Then the twirling began, I think he twirled for a whole hour it was amazing. Originally, there was religious symbolism but now its just more of a folk dance.
