Save the last dance For four consecutive days, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, directed by Erminia Kamel along with the Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Stefano Salvatori, mesmerised spectators performing Pinocchio ballet. The show was put on to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Nino Rota. The music for the ballet was composed by Verdi and Rota. The company also presented Shakespeare's suite Chess ballets with music by composers Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Orff. Kamel, who quit ballet dancing some time ago to make time for instructing the newer generations of dancers, surprised her audience when she appeared on stage to participate in Pinocchio ballet. Sherif Sonbol captured the moment with his camera. � The General Organisation of Culture Palaces (GOCP) under the auspices of Ahmed Megahed held a prestigious celebration to honour novelist Abdel-Aal El-Hamamsi at the Giza Culture Palace. The celebration featured a seminar titled "The Wisdom of the Eloquent", discussing El-Hamamsi 's work. Among the keynote speakers at the seminar were writers Medhat El-Gayar and Mohamed Zeidan. The seminar was conducted by journalist Mustafa El-Qadi. Megahed granted El-Hamamsi the shield of the GOCP after his speech. The Nile Lions Club (NLC) presided over by actor-cum-singer Samir Sabri held a thrilling seminar at the Cairo Capital Club hosting actress Elham Shahine. The seminar featured a discussion about Shahine's long, successful film career and the great success of her latest film Khaltet Fawzya (Fawzya's Secret Recipe). Shahine was granted the award of best actress for her role in the film from the Middle East International Film Festival. After the seminar Shahine was granted the NLC shield of recognition by Sabri. � Under the auspices of Sami Kamaleddin the Doha Cultural Salon held a thrilling seminar hosting American University in Cairo professor Galal Amin discussing his rich literary career and his belief in the new generation's talents. Novelist Bahaa Taher, script writer Bilal Fadl, writers Medhat El-Gayar, Suleiman El-Hakim and Mohamed Naguib, poet Mohamed Abu Zeid, and media figure Gihan El-Gharabawi were all present. � The Cairo Opera House witnessed two exceptional concerts last week: Spanish singer Pastora Soler held a sensational concert with world renowned tenor Sobhi Bedeir in cooperation with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Another breathtaking concert by Iraqi oud master Naseer Shamma took place at the Small Hall with the attendance of a large number of Shamma 's fans who enjoyed his peerless performance. � Al-Gabri studio in Giza witnessed the start of shooting the second part of the successful TV series Al-Masrawya (The Egyptians) scripted by veteran author Osama Anwar Okasha, directed by Ismail Abdel-Hafez and starring talented actor Mamdouh Abdel-Alim, actresses Manal Salama and Meiss Hemdan, actors Wael Nour and Mohamed Abdel-Hafez. � Through their activities and concern for helping orphans and more broadly assisting in the development of Okba district, Volunteers in Action (VIA), a student community service club at the American University in Cairo (AUC), is organising their annual Omar Khairat charity concert at the AUC downtown campus on Friday 20 February. � At the Environmental Pollution exhibition held in Spain, cartoonists Said Badawi and Wessam Khalil were the only Egyptians to win the competition that included 160 participants from 50 countries. Badawi 's work was selected to be on display at the Joy Museum in Spain while Khalil 's cartoon became the cover of the exhibition's catalogue. Badawi is Al-Ahram Weekly 's printing supervisor and the secretary of the International Caricature Federation. � The Ministry of Social Solidarity joined Ayam Masrya (Egyptian Days) series to launch their new project in documenting the history of influential NGOs in Egypt in serving the civil society bodies in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ayam Masrya is one of the leading bodies in Egypt in documenting history. The first step of the project was initiated by the first issue of the magazine documenting the history of the Egyptian Red Crescent. � At a big celebration, head of the Supreme Council of Press and the Shura Council Safwat El-Sherif, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tareq Kamel, along with head of the Press Syndicate veteran writer Makram Mohamed Ahmed honoured the first batch of journalists who finished their training course in the project "A Laptop for Every Journalist". At the end of the ceremony, journalists were granted LE2,000 to go towards the purchase of a new laptop. Among those awarded the grant was our colleague at Al-Ahram Economic magazine Samia Fakhri, wife of Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own photographer Sherif Sonbol. A wedding in purple, what a spectacle! At a bilingual ceremony at Cleopatra Church in Heliopolis, Al-Ahram Weekly 's very dear friend Manal Rizkalla wed Shane Schofield, attended by friends and family from around the globe. Rizkalla, the PR officer at the US Embassy in Cairo, is formerly a staffer at the Weekly and has always had impeccable taste. Witness the flowing "bright diamond" wedding gown, gorgeous flower arrangements and the bride's insistence on a purple theme. The wedding party, which included Schofield 's parents and two brothers -- who travelled all the way from Australia to see him wed -- tastefully used this luscious colour in their outfits. Schofield, a geologist posted in the Middle East, threw a joyous reception at the Executive Club in the World Centre, where guests jived to Anglo-Arab tunes. Attending the celebration were US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Haynes Mahoney and Cultural Affairs Officer Helen Lovejoy, who along with other guests enjoyed great food and entertainment. The happy couple headed to Italy on Valentine's Day to enjoy a most romantic honeymoon.
