Black Swan Sherif Sonbol captured this brilliant photo of the Bosnian-Canadian ballerina Leila Bajramovic in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake while performed at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall and Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre), last week. Ballerinas from different nationalities including Egyptian, Russian, Ukrainian, French, German, Japanese, Cuban and Serbian recently joined the Cairo Opera Ballet Company. During an open discussion held at El Sawy Culturewheel with Egypt's presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, the head of Al-Karama Party, Sabahi presented his presidential campaign. He expatiated a little further about his election programme and his plans concerning achieving social justice, sustainable development as well as regaining Egypt's crucial political role in Africa, the Arab region and internationally. The ninth Arab Theatre Festival concluded its activities a couple of days ago at the Cairo Puppet Theatre. Organised by the Egyptian Association of Theatre Amateurs, the opening of the festival was attended by its president Ahmed Megahed, the head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces Saad Abdel-Rahman, the founder of the festival Amr Douwara, and the Iraqi ambassador at the Arab League Qeis Al-Azawi. Also present were the Iraqi Consul in Egypt Essam Al-Beram and numerous theatre critics. The opening featured a dance performance by Al-Nil Troupe for Folk Instruments, followed by a theatre show about young people's issues before and after the 25 January Revolution, directed by Mohamed Gabr. Last Monday, the Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy, held a press conference for journalists to inform them about the rich and comprehensive cultural programme offered by the institute in April and May. The programme will cover several topics such as music, cinema, literature and archaeology. Congratulations to filmmaker and critic Ahmed Atef, who was chosen to join the critics jury committee of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in its 64th round -- scheduled to take place from 11 to 22 May. Atef was one of the most common faces at the world's prestigious festivals; and his latest film Al-Ghaba (The Forest) participated in almost 50 festivals. Atef recently participated in the Tehran and Tanga film festivals; he was granted the award of best script among the Mediterranean basin countries for his film project Al-Andalus. The Champollion Cairo Club (CCC), presided over by Nahed Tadros, held an interesting seminar at Le Pacha Nile Boat. The keynote speaker was Governor of the Rotary Zone 2450 Assem Abdel-Razek, who talked about the charitable projects to be undertaken during 2011. It was attended by society ladies Brigitte Louvivre, Mano Shousha and Laila Helmi. The Egyptian-Iranian Friendship Association (EIFA), headed by Ambassador Ahmed El-Ghamrawi, held a seminar on Egyptian-Iranian relations after the 25 January Revolution. It was crowned by the presence of the Iranian Ambassador to Egypt, Megabit Amany, the Al-Ahram Iranian Affairs expert Mohamed El-Said Idris, the General Manager of the National Centre for Translation Hani Tolba, and the Chairman of the Misr-Iran Development Bank Ismail Hassan. The popular local band West Al-Balad gave a dazzling concert at the British University in Egypt (BUE) to launch the financial conference due to be held during this month at the university. BUE students spent an enjoyable day listening to the melodies of West Al-Balad in the presence of the President of the BUE Ahmed Anis and staff. On the shores of Alexandria, the Iraqi oud virtuoso Nasseer Shamma provided a delightful night of entertainment at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, to which large numbers of Shamma fans eager to finally attend one of his concerts after the 25 January Revolution flocked. Shamma declared the opening of the second branch of the House of Oud in Alexandria as the Cairo branch was founded 14 years ago. The renowned fashion designer Hani El-Beheiri held a fashion show in the Syrian capital Damascus right before the start of protests in Syria. El-Beheiri presented an assembly of soirée and wedding gowns of the latest fashion for 2011 where one of the models put on the Egyptian and Syrian flags together. Many figures were present at the fashion show including television presenter Poussy Shalabi, actress Menna Fadali and the of wife of the Syrian actor Gamal Suleiman as well as Egyptian and Syrian celebrities. Ian Carter, the Hilton Worldwide president Global Operations, and Rudi Jagersbacher, Hilton Worldwide Area president Operations MEA, together with Ramses Hilton General Manager Haitham Nassar, recently had a meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour to discuss the company's role, cooperation and development regarding the future of Egyptian tourism. As a leading hospitality company, Hilton Worldwide will take all affirmative strategies and approaches with its Egypt teams to promote tourism in the next, crucial phase within Egypt and in "feeder markets". Hilton Worldwide operates 16 hotels in Egypt and another three are in the pipeline for 2012.
