Film “Latcho Drom” and live belly dance

November 6, 2009 - Posted by Astrid- 0 Comments

A journey of music and dance

An unusual fusion between film and live performance can be experienced on Friday the 13^th November 2009 in the Nature Quest Gallery, Butter Market, Burton Street, Kilrush @ 9pm (doors open @ 8.30pm). The prices are: €8 waged, €6 unwaged, including 1 glass of wine.

Sahera (Susanne Matejka) has been dancing since she can remember, starting on her Daddy’s toes and then moving on to Ballet, Classical Ballroom Dancing and Jazz Dance. When she was first invited to come to a Belly Dance class, she felt that this was just what she had always wanted to do – for reasons still unclear. The dance became a passion and she soon started teaching what had become so important to her. Together with a group of 10 other Belly Dancers, she performed in big shows and for events like weddings and birthday parties in group dances and as soloist in Germany. After moving to Ireland, Sahera started teaching classes in Kilrush in spring and in autumn. She also performed in the annual musical of the Kilrush Choral Society as “Little Egypt” in “The Showboat” 2008 and as “Liat” dancing a hula in “South Pacific” in the 2009 Show.

True historical data on belly dancing is fragmentary. Despite the lack of accurate historical information, a few points can be agreed upon. Belly Dancing is very old. It possibly has its roots in fertility ceremonies, where women danced for women. It is assumed, that slaves from central Africa brought the dance to Egypt. Over the time it slowly lost it’s meaning as a sacred feminine art and became merely entertainment. From Egypt, Belly Dance found its way with the gypsies from India through Asia and North Africa to Greece, Spain and even Rome. It reached America at the World Exhibition in Chicago, 1893. Belly Dance was forgotten in the West until Hollywood re-discovered it for films. With all the cultures involved, different styles have developed and are still developing. This is what connects this dance so well with the film Latcho Drom.

Latcho Drom (Rom for safe journey) is a French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The film does not only show the poverty, misery, and oppression that the Rom (traveling people better known as Gypsies) suffer worldwide to this day but the journey of the Rom people from Northern India to Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, France and Spain, through their music and dance. There is very little dialogue, and little explanation, except at the film’s beginning, which briefly states that the Rom left India hundreds of years ago and made their way north, for reasons now unclear. The film itself is a single “take” of sweeping movement that travels the globe and transitions effortlessly from one rhythmic culture to the next.

Sahera will perform her dances between the scenes and different locations of the film, trying to broaden the range of performances by adding modern style and fantasy – for your entertainment, a reason that is clear.