Slovakian beauty A picturesque country of fertile lowlands and rugged mountains lies in the heart of Europe. Slovakia is where the cultures of the West and East meet with the cultures of the sunny South and neighbouring North of Europe. Rich in natural beauty, historical and cultural sights, Slovakia is also opulent in national art and folk culture. National songs, music, dances and costumes are manifold and diverse in every region, each filled with poetry and dynamic temperament. For three consecutive days, the Slovak National Folklore Ballet, L�ènica performed their spectacular dance shows, dazzling frequenters of the Cairo Opera House with the bright colours of their costumes. Ready at the performance with his camera was Sherif Sonbol. Inspired by their national traditions, the dancers create by their mastery and fantasy a folkloric show filled with a high level of artistic performance in capturing the originality of each dance. The L�ènica ballet has more than 59 years of experience in countries all around the world. More than 2,000 young people have been members of L�ènica ballet and the ensemble has showcased Slovak folklore in more than 60 countries in five continents. L�ènica has performed in top venues including on Broadway in New York and at the Royal Opera House in London. Last week, our colleague Rania Khallaf celebrated the book signing of her first novel, The Tale of the Zebra, published in January by Al-Dar publishing house. The magical celebration, held at the prestigious Kotob Khan book shop in Maadi, Cairo, was attended by a number of writers, including renowned novelist Mekkawi Said, also the co-owner of Al-Dar, head of Publication Department at Al-Shorouq Publishing House Seif Salmawi, novelists Amina Zedan, Mohamed El-Ashri, Wagdi El-Komi, poetess Gihan Omar, owner of Afaq publishing house and book shop Sawsan Bashir, and Al-Ahram Al-Arabi 's literary editor Sayed Mahmoud and Syrian businesswoman Hala Shash. Karam Youssef, owner of the Kotob Khan, bombarded Khallaf with daring questions, and raised the issue of her spontaneous use of language, and what she termed as "an overdose of sexual connotations" in the novel. The one-hour-long discussion was followed by the signing of the book for fans, who inspired the discussion with intimate thoughts as well as their own interpretations of the novel's main theme, and the imaginary world created by the author. From among Al-Ahram Weekly folk, the zebra enjoyed the company of Gamal Nkrumah, Aziza Sami, Amira El-Noshokaty, Inas Ahmed and Faiza Radi. The Egyptian Association for the Art of Cinema (EAAC), headed by Abdel-Moneim Saad, held a lavish ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Egyptian Cinema Oscars. The jury committee, headed by veteran actress Madiha Yosri, honoured a galaxy of actors and actresses during the lavish celebration held at the Pyramisa Hotel. Top among the honourees were Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni for his continuous efforts in supporting the festival, Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab, actors Mahmoud Yassin, Nour El-Sherif, Ezzat Abu Ouf, Khaled Zaki, Talaat Zakaria and Mohamed Heneidi, the gorgeous Yossra and Laila Elwi, veiled actress Shahira, head of the Egyptian Actors Union Ashraf Zaki, singer Azza Balbaa, and music composers Yasser Abdel-Rahman and Hani Shenouda. The National Discourse Forum (NDF) of the civil society organisations celebrated Nile Day last Sunday. On this occasion, a forum was organised where head of the NDF for the Nile Basin Emadeddin Adli disclosed that the celebration marked the 10th anniversary of launching the Nile Basin initiative. It also coincided with the announcement of the establishment of the Supreme Council for the River Nile Protection due to be headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo was at the centre of an impressive Egyptian-German dialogue represented by Egypt's veteran novelist and writer Gamal El-Ghitani on the one hand, and by German Ambassador to Cairo Bernd Erbel on the other at Maye Cultural Salon. Listening to Erbel's script of the documentary, and El-Ghitani 's acute and learned remarks, the audience got caught in a thrilling dialogue between the two Mahfouzists, each from his own perspective, on Cairo, the old and new never-ageing city. This rich dialogue was embellished with graceful melodies played on the oud by Mamdouh El-Gebali. photo: Sayed Shaarawi Talented media personality Nihal Saad flew to New York this week to head the Press and Information Office of Egypt's mission at the UN. At an elaborate farewell reception held at the Semiramis InterContinental, friends, colleagues and many renowned political and media figures bid goodbye to Saad. Guests included former foreign minister Ahmed Maher, chairman of parliament's Foreign Relations Committee Mustafa El-Feki, member of the National Democratic Party's Policies Committee Mohamed Abdallah, Palestinian politician Marwan Kanafani, Ambassador Nihad Abdel-Latif, former ambassador Magda Shahin, Managing Director of the Suzanne Mubarak Peace Movement Nagwa Shoeb, Counsellor Magdi Deif, Al-Beit magazine's Chief Editor Afkar El-Kharadli and Hanaa El-Hilali from the Information and Decision Support Centre . Also attending were accomplished press and broadcast journalists Mona Ragab, Suzi Geneidi, Hanaa Semari, Mariam Sami, Lamia Radi, Farida El-Shobashi, Mervat El-Qaffas, Nabil El-Shobashi, Hend Farrag, Nermine Noamani, Elham Nammar, Al-Ahram Weekly 's Nevine Khalil, as well as gifted actor Khaled El-Nabawi. Prominent diplomats at the reception included Yasser El-Naggar, Amr Al-Jowaili, Ahmed Abu Zeid and Hatem Attawi. As lead Nile TV anchor, Saad will be greatly missed on the TV screen, but is sure to make Egypt proud in the Big Apple. Last Monday, the Arabesque Festival for Arab Art was launched at the John Kennedy Centre in Washington, US. It is the first festival of its kind as it presents a comprehensive programme that includes music, theatre, dance, visual arts, cinema and literature coming from all over the Arab countries. Under the supervision of Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy (The Culture Resource) Centre in Cairo, a number of Arab artists are participating in the festival, which will end mid-March, such as Marsal Khalifa and Al-Mayadin band, pianist Fathi Salama and his Sharqiat band as well as a galaxy of the most popular Arab singers such as Farida from Iraq, Ahmed Fathi from Yemen and Salma El-Assal from Sudan. For more information on the programme log on http://www.kennedy- center.org/programs/festivals/08-09/ arabesque/arab_calendar.cfm On the Valentine's eve, Nubian pop star Mohamed Mounir held an exceptionally glamorous concert at the Cairo Opera House's Open-Air Theatre. Some 60,000 of Mounir 's fans crowded at the Cairo Opera House to attend the concert and celebrate the Valentine's, swaying to Mounir 's melodies. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid The American University in Cairo (AUC) held its illustrious annual graduation ceremony at the Cairo Conference Centre. Among the graduates were the granddaughter of National Democratic Party Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif, the granddaughter of veteran actress Karima Mokhtar, son of Counsellor Hani Seif El-Nasr and Sarah, the daughter of Al-Jazeera channel correspondent Hussein Abdel-Ghani. photo: Ayman Barayez A fashion show by designer Mahmoud Ghali was held at the Salaheddin Hall in the Cairo Sheraton Hotel on Valentine's Day. It featured 10 models presenting 50 soirée and wedding gowns for the latest fashion of 2009. Among them were former Miss Egypt Fawzia. The fashion show was presented by the hotel's PR Chair Magda Sami and revenues were donated to charity associations. Present were Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab, head of the Garden City Lions Club Awatef Serageddin, media figure Soheir Shalabi as well as members of charity associations Samia Abul-Fotouh, Gihan Halawa and Bahia Youssef. At Miami Theatre in Downtown Cairo, a galaxy of guests enjoyed the Egyptian adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece King Lear. After the performance, veteran actor Yehia El-Fakharani who is playing the lead role welcomed the guests warmly on stage. Among them were Lebanese Ambassador Khaled Ziyada and his wife, Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser, writer Lotus Abdel-Kerim and businessman Magdi Diab. Congratulations! A new book titled American Sadism has been released by academic researcher and writer Mohamed Hussein Abul-Ela, analysing the American empire from the early 20th century ending with the Bush-Obama era. The book was released by Madbouly El-Saghir Publishing House. At the AUC's Ewart Hall, Downtown Campus, Cleveland Bayard Dodge DVP for this year Professor Emeritus Afaf Marsot will deliver a lecture titled "Images of Women" on 4 March from 5-7pm. "Between India and Egypt" is the photo exhibition held by gifted photographer Ashraf Talaat inaugurated at the premises of the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture by head of Chancery Pritam Lal and Information and Culture Secretary of the Indian Embassy Rajesh Swami. Talaat visited India, where he took a unique collection of photos. He is a graduate of Ain Shams University, with a degree in agriculture. However, he chose to work in photography and today has more than 18 years of experience in photojournalism and advertising photography. He has worked for several publications, including Egypt Today, Business and Carnival. His photographs have been published in several press publications in Egypt, the United States, Austria and England. Talaat participated in more than 50 photo exhibitions all over the world and has won several awards in international contests. He has been a jury member in more than 30 photography contests and is a member of numerous international photographic associations and organisations. ( see Listings p.7 )
