Nesma with her Nesma Al Andalus Danza Company present
Dreams of Al-Andalus
Dance, music y poetry from Al-Andalus
In Dreams of Al-Andalus Nesma delved deep into her personal art to explore the rich heritage of
Al-Andalus. She introduced a totally new theatrical language based on popular Spanish and Arab dances, fusing the Andalusian spirit, Arab music, flamenco and Andalusian poetry.
“Being able to premiere this work is a dream in and of itself. For me it has been an exercise in freedom and the search for beauty in an attempt to escape from every established norm, following the spirit of the muwashshah>.”
World Premiere: The Opera House of Cairo, July 30, 2008.
«The Spaniard Nesma carries with her the savoir faire of Egypt itself, in control of a fine art form which traverses Oriental dance and the seven veils. Dreams of Al-Andalus is a show which conveys prowess and skill in its own right – great skill when it comes to dramatizing, unleashing new choreographies and taking great care in the art decoration of every scene.»
Maurilio de Miguel – El Mundo 11/05/2009
”Magic brought to life.”
Al Ahram Hebdo. – Egyptian weekly. 31/07/2008
”A poetic work which narrates Andalusian history through movement and joy, taking the spectator to a world full of fantasy and imagination..”
Al Arab Al Yom. – Jordanian newspaper. 8/8/2008
“I think of Andalusian dance as a dream with a message of tolerance for all peoples. My aim was to express the human race’s freedom through artistic fusion.”
Nesma, interviewed for El Badeel. Egyptian newspaper. 3/8/2008
“Dreaming of Al-Andalus wouldn’t be possible without knowing Nesma (Julia Salmerón). She has a special gift… she moves like a goddess. She is eternal and mysterious enveloped in chiffon and veils. I would love to dress her as a goddess… and have the mystery of her smile conquer Alexandria and Egypt!”
Encarna Ortega, costume designer
Introduction
In the introduction to Maher Kamal’s disc Ahla Andalusi which contains a great deal of the original
music for this show, the Egyptian playwright and poet Ezzeldin Hassan explains, “Al Andalus’s
history was marked by art, and poetry in particular.
OOriginally from desert zones, Arabian poets likened the Iberian Peninsula to a paradise: Al Andalus, the eternal paradise. It was without a doubt one of the most prosperous and brilliant civilizations of the middle ages, for its culture, architecture, science and, according to many testimonies, for the tolerance and coexistence that it fostered. Cordoba shone around the world. In this unbridled environment profoundly enamored of poetry, the muwashshah developed, influenced by the beauty and joy of Al-Andalus. Lyrical poetry, written for dance and song, the muwashshah’s rhythm depended largely on its melody. They had no fixed rhythmic or rhyming rules as was the norm in classical Arabic poetry. Even with the words, Andalusian poets broke from the mold of the classical Arabic language, mixing words from dialects, both Eastern and Western.”
Thus the muwashshah are not only specifically representative of Al-Andalus, but they arose as a deep manifestation of the atmosphere which enfolded the people, and, being revolutionary and modern, changed the course of their art form and traditional aesthetics.
“ The permanent recurrence of the encounter between Spanish and Arab culture is put on display, at the same time forward-looking and retrospective.“
The artistic decision to work from this universe of dreams, the fact that very little is known about the artistic aspects of dance in the time of Al-Andalus, and the inspiration from the spirit of creativity and freedom of the muwashshah created a welcoming space for the desire to combine elements from different historic moments coherently.
In this illusionary procession, values such as delicacy, power and feminine seduction are expressed from the viewpoint of women, who at the same time as getting to know a tradition participate in the modern world. The permanent recurrence of the encounter between Spanish and Arab culture is put on display, at the same time forward-looking and retrospective. Ancient gestures and habits still alive in today’s culture are introduced, as well as others that we know through research, which have been lost and are rescued here in this fantastic environment: feeling the indefinable magic of realizing a significant moment from the past in the midst of this modest reflection.
Los elementos que me permiten revelar estas intenciones latentes son muchos: música lírica, en composiciones originales sobre poesías de Al Andalus y música española posterior, que introduce la guitarra española como un hilo intemporal; suntuosos trajes de ricas texturas y coloridos, bombachos de inspiración andalusí, corsets gitanos, velos, abanicos, espadas que llegaban de la guerra en las manos de soldados otomanos y que las bailarinas convertían en complemento artístico y estético de su danza; el olor a incienso que inundaba e inunda los mercados de ciudades árabes, y de nuestras iglesias.
Las referencias a la Semana Santa, a los gestos antiguos que permanecen inalterables en nuestro presente; el compartir una comunión y encuentro con otros, rodeados de música, danza y poesía.
”Suntuosos trajes de ricas texturas y coloridos, bombachos de inspiración andalusí, corsets gitanos, velos, abanicos, espadas; el olor a incienso que inundaba e inunda los mercados de ciudades árabes, y de nuestras iglesias“.
As with Scheherazade who was kept alive thanks to her creativity which nourished the life of the man who listened to her, we all live from 1001 myriad dreams which do not dry up the illusion of creating something new filled with wonder, dreams from which we wake every day with renewed energy and drive to slowly make reality of what we want to see fulfilled. Indeed, performing this work is a dream which was a long way in coming, taking shape many years after its conception. A show which at the same time is laden with many other dreams which fuel me, dreams of peace and harmony and a hope for coexistence which feed the universal soul of culture with my modest contribution, but one that is real and appreciable.
The dream of cultural coexistence is not grandiloquent or out of reach: each new apprentice in Arabian dance, bag over the shoulder on the way to class, is carrying out a gesture meaningful for intercultural communication, whether it’s a conscious act or not; I don’t see it, nor do I want to, as anything less than that.
…If only we could hear echoes rising up from the valleys of Andalusia tonight, ‘though we would not remember it in the morning…
Main Performances
Egyptian Tour 2008 organized by the Cervantes Institute and the Cairo Opera House
- The Opera House of Cairo, July 30, 2008 (Premiere)
- The Opera House of Alexandria, August 4, 2008
- Inauguration of the Citadel Festival in Cairo, August 10, 2008
The 2nd of May Celebrations, The Region of Madrid
- The Pilar Bardem Auditorium, Rivas Vaciamadrid, May 1, 2009
- The Municipal Theater, Galapagar, May 2, 2009
- The Municipal Theater, Torrejón de Ardoz, May 10, 2009
Häagen Dazs Calderón Theatre , Madrid, Spain, May 2011
Arabesques Festival in Montpellier, France May 2011
About the Nesma Al-Andalus Danza Company
In the times of Al-Andalus, when the Muslims were expelled from the Iberian peninsula, they took with them their music and dance, and passing through north Africa they reached the Middle East, where their influence was made felt. Founded in 1998, the Al Andalus Dance Company, created and directed by Spanish dancer and choreographer Nesma, arose with the aim of spreading the dance and folklore of Arab countries, as well as the Hispano-Arabic music and dance which were in the original base of Spanish folklore. The company is made up of dancers from different Spanish provinces: the Region of Madrid, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, Andalusia, Galicia and Cantabria. Among their most important performances a few previous works can be mentioned such as: Memories of the Nile, From the Nile to the Guadalquivir, A Life for Dancing and international projects including the world premiere of Dreams of Al-Andalus in the Opera House of Cairo and the performance of Mahmoud Reda’s folkloric dances in the Library of Alexandria.
The Music
Dreams of Al Andalus features recorded original music and live performance.
Maher Kamal, Egyptian singer and composer, has set his music and voice to a selection of Andalusian poems. Other songs were created by the Egyptian composer Ahmed Abdel Fattah and Egyptian artist Ezzeldin Hassan.
The live music is performed by the flamenco singer Nieves Hidalgo, Rafael Morales, Spanish guitarist, and David Mayoral on santur
and percussion.
The Poetry
The poetry of Al-Andalus was of great inspiration for Dreams of Al-Andalus. As we know, a special sensibility for poetry had developed at this time. Poems praising the beauty of nature, platonic love, passion and nostalgia for an eternal paradise were recurrent themes.
With the assistance of Dr. Gamal Abdel Karim, Doctor in Philology (Univ. of Seville) and Professor at the University of Cairo as well as former Director of the Egyptian Institute in Madrid, a select collection of Andalusian poems from the 11th-13th centuries and originating in different Spanish provinces was compiled.
The poets selected were the following:
- Ibn Arabi (Murcia)
- Nazhun Bint Al-Qala’i (Granada, 12th c.)
- Ibn Zaydun (Cordoba, 1003-1070)
- Ibn Jafaya (Alcira, 1058-1139)
- Hamda Bint Ziyad Al Muaddib (Alhama, 11th c.)
- Anonymous Andalusian muwashshah
“Born Free” is a poem written by Ezzeldin Hassan (Egypt, 2008).
Artists’ Information
- Direction and Choreography: Nesma
- Theatrical Creation:: Natalia Méndez
- Music: Maher Kamal, Ahmed Abdel Fattah, Francisco Tárrega
- Wardrobe Design: Encarna Ortega
- Lighting: Maxi Gilbert
Performers::
- Nesma
Dancers:
- Nesma Al-Andalus Danza Company
(11 dancers)
Musicians:
- Nieves Diaz: Singer
- Rafael Morales: Spanish Guitar
- David Mayoral: Santur and Percussion
