Karim Nagi 3-day in Richmond, VA

March 30-April 1, 2007

Hosted by Batsheva,

Reviewed by Johonna Gamble

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So this year I decided to make a real effort to make it out of my immediate area to attend bellydance events or activities at least once every couple of months or so.  Looking at the schedule for activities about the area that would work in well with my already busy weekends, I found Karim Nagi coming to Richmond, VA for a 3 day weekend (Fri-Sun).  For some of you his name may be familiar, since his credits include the music on BellyQueen’s Belly Jam DVD as well as being the producer for Turbo Tabla, which just released its second album, as well as being a musician and producer for The Sharq Ensemble with one CD to date. For those of you unfamiliar with Karim, he was born in Egypt and now resides in the Boston, MA area.  He picked up the Tabla at 21 after playing other drums and the piano, and has moved forward with it superbly.  Besides teaching raks sharki and dubka he also teaches Arabic music appreciation classes for school programs.

Since impressive portfolios don’t really get me excited over a teacher, I mostly bought in for the location and the extras. Things like free admission to the shows on Friday and Saturday nights and the t-shirt (can never have enough t-shirts ;->) as outlined in the event fliers. 

Friday was beautiful.  An early hot spell brought all the flowers into bloom, so as my family and I drove up the I-81 corridor and over I-64 we got to see splashes of pink, purple, white and yellow on all the flowering trees.  We got to the University of Richmond campus and with a little searching found the location.  Karim was wonderful.  Jovial and direct, he was very upfront that he was not angry no matter how loud he got, since he was talking over the drum which he had tucked under his arm with a strap going over a shoulder to stabilize it while he moved about the room and demonstrated.  He quite excellently took us through 4 rhythms and movements to go with each.  There aren’t many men I’ve met in this business who can drum, dance and give directions all at the same time.  And he did all three very well.

Referring back to the fliers and an on-line directory for the restaurant, I knew that the dinner at the Indian restaurant was $15 per person and since I had brought my husband as well as our two boys, ages 4 and 1, along for the trip, we went ahead and found someplace more suited to feed children and headed to the hotel.  After I had them all settled in, I went to the restaurant for the show and dance party.  When I got there, there were some difficulties.  As I walked into the restaurant, an hour after the start time, I was informed at the door that it was $25 to eat, see the show and participate in the dance party. That it was a package deal, that performers were the only exception to having to pay whether you ate or not, and you had to be 18 to attend.  That didn’t go over very well, so I left knowing that I would miss a great party, but looking forward to the next evening, and getting the situation all straightened out.  I left a message on the answering machine of the organizer about my issue and expected it to be resolved by the next evening’s performances since the fliers for the weekend included both shows and dance parties in the price of the 3-day registration.

Saturday morning I get dropped off by my men, who are off to see the Children’s Museum and head in.  When I spoke with the sponsor, she apologized repeatedly but blamed the changes on a misunderstanding with the restaurant.  “The owner of the restaurant has put out a ‘lot of money’ for this event and dictated the price…. She was unaware that the students would not be able to get in for just the show or dance party without paying the full price of the dinner….She had assumed that they could.”  I knew then that I’d have to pay $25 that evening for something that was ‘included in my 3-day registration’ and that I couldn’t take my boys with me so I was pretty angry, but had limited recourse since I wanted to continue the classes with Karim.  Hearing all the fun things that had happened the night before just made it worse.   (I so wished I’d seen Karim dancing on the bar with his drum…)

The classes on Saturday were terrific.  With limited space (over 20 students and 3 vendors in a room that measured about 30’ by 50’), Karim put us through finger cymbal training with dance steps, and dubke (line dancing) all the while keeping us from running into each other or the vendor’s wares too often.  During the lunch break I got a chance to visit and found out that he’d owned a clothing store at one time, has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and had worked in advertising.  When I asked why he didn’t go on for his doctorate his quick reply was that he didn’t wanted to go to school for another 6 years, and that it wouldn’t have taken him all the places his music has ;-).

The evening’s food and performances were average.  The restaurant didn’t have an area that was viewable by the whole audience, so the dancers had to move from table to table.  This type of intimate venue is not what many dancers are used to so they too swiftly moved from table to table trying to cover the whole area several times during a performance.  This left me wanting more time with a dancer so she/he could showcase more than a move or to and disappointed that I was barely able to see a dancer let alone get an impression of their dancing.  The dance party following was very enjoyable with Karim mixing us up an eclectic brew of rhythms and music to groove to.  He even did a cane dance.  Hmmm!  Now, that was good.

Sunday put my boys at Books-a-Million for books and trains and me back with Karim for drum solo techniques and communication with the drummer.  Very nice!  The class included rhythm explanations, pacing of the beats, movements, and lots and lots of ideas on where to put your fast and punctuated movements to the rhythm.  After a lunch break I was back again for what turned out to be a drum workshop covering Saudi, Saidi, and Sudasi.  I just clapped the rhythms, since I don’t have a drum, and soaked it all up.  It was great to be a sponge.  I got a chance to really understand the differences between these rhythms and how they sound.

On the three hour drive back to our home, my husband and I discussed at length how I should write up this article and what if anything we wanted to do about the false advertising that happened at this event.  I was very conflicted.  I had a fabulous time in Karim’s classes, but the whole affair left me frustrated and angry.   So, I waited a bit of time to come up with a good way to conclude this experience.  My conclusion is this….Karim is a must see, take from, kind of instructor.  I loved my classes and what I learned.  I found Karim Nagi personable, open and will gladly recommend him to anyone interested in this dance or the cultures it comes from.

For more information on Karim Nagi, the classes he offers, the seminars he sponsors or his latest DVD or CD releases, please visit www.turbotabla.com.