The Ministry of Tourism is back with its winter performances in Salalah! I saw a brochure this morning. The first one is on Wednesday (the day after tomorrow):Performance: Morris Dance
Country: England
Date: Wednesday February 29th, 2012.
Location: Salalah - Al Murooj Theatre in Ittin
Time: 8 p.m
Morris dance is spectacular to watch. I've never seen it live before so I'll try to make it (if I can escape yet another wedding). You can read more about this ancient dance here.
PS (if you're from the Ministry of Tourism and you're reading this, please bring Irish clogging next time ..... sincerely, Nadia)
Hey! Thanks for sharing. I'll definitely come
ReplyDeleteEr, English Morris Dancing is normally performed by a bunch of beer bellied middle aged men. Whats with the pretty ladies? :-)
ReplyDeleteMorris dancing is alwats done by men only....
ReplyDeletePlease push them not to do it on wed.day. Thursday is perfect for me.
ReplyDeleteQ. is there any other event in almorooj in the coming months?
بكون هناك إن شاء الله ، والله يعين الجميع على الحرارة المرتفعة بمدرجات المسرح
ReplyDeleteشكراااا
Anon- yes there are several events planned over the coming weeks. More info here: http://www.omantourism.gov.om/wps/portal/mot/tourism/oman/details/!ut/p/c5/jY7LDoIwFAW_hS_oqUhhi1AeFgpYiciGYGIICQ8XxsS_t8Q16L3LyeQMqYn-qX31Xfvs56kdSEVq1jAZJDn3KTKHArFyUqaUZ4Lbml9Z44VutLcTAAfhIRa8EGczpXDpP3Z2KlQg-R6hb2lb2bIsLQ7szB_2kdTdMN905WXp3u5Y-NbSwrFyLr58rUXQbZ5ZREbzeCePsazeKu7zzjA--0xC-g!!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfOUs3RVMyMDYwTzU3MTBJU1BRMEtFTDFHUDc!/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/mot_english_lib/mot/events/festivals/cultural+theatre+program
ReplyDeleteI'm most looking forward to the Turkish & Iraqi performances!
My Morris team are one of the teams performing, and I can confirm that there are men and women in the team, and many are young and definitely not suffering from beer bellies :-) Hope you enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to say this, but this performance made me embarrassed to be British! It was so amateur. Some of the music & singing was nice and would have been great in the right atmosphere (e.g. a pub or village fair/festival) but on stage, in a huge venue it just wasn't appropriate. There was nothing professional about any of it and certainly not something I'd expect to see on an international stage. Who picks who performs at these events? I mean no malice to the performers - it's great that people keep up these folk traditions, but an international stage isn't the place to display them - sorry!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the comment left on Feb 29. I am also British and went to see the show last night. Well done to all those who took part, but I'm sure they must have been as bemused as I was. I can only imagine what the Omani and Asian ex-pat's must have made of the performance! I hope all the acts have a safe trip home where I'm sure their skills will be more appreciated!
ReplyDeleteAgree with the above comment, although the main singer was very cute.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't there but I have seen all the teams involved and they are some of the best in the country at what they do. I presume you are just very ignorant of your own traditions....
ReplyDeleteI watched the show too. I would be quite interested to know what you mean by "amateur"
ReplyDeleteThe sides performing were, I understand some of the best in England, and knowing a little about the morris , I think the show was a fantastic variety of a wonderful tradition.
I would agree that a stage is not the best set up for something that probably should be set differently, but these dancers are not professionals- morris is never that.
Take care not to follow the age old prejudice against one of Englands best traditions.
I wonder what you thought you would be getting, as you went to a show of "Morris dance" Isnt that exactly what you got?
I'm sorry, but I am a huge lover of the arts and watch an enormous amount of professional dance & theatre. These performers might well be the best at what they do, but then I'm afraid I simply don't think 'morris dance' is appropriate for an international stage. Britain is full of incredibly talented, professional performers and if this performance was supposed to showcase Britain in Oman then it absolutely failed. What I meant by 'amateur' was that nobody looked remotely professional. 'Dancers' weren't in time with one another and a lot of the moves could be done by anyone. When I see a performance I want to be impressed by the talent - not feel like I could get up there and join in. Like I said, I mean to malice to the performers, I simply think this was an inappropriate thing to bring here. I'm assuming a lot of money must have been spent to bring all these people to Oman from the UK and I think it could have been better spent on a different style of dance/performance. I doubt that any of the audience had any idea what was going on and without knowing the background to it it simply isn't an impressive thing to watch.
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