Photos from
Cifuentes’ Sommer Festival in Berlin
Cifuentes’ Sommer Festival in Berlin
Report and photos by
Ma*Shuqa Mira Murjanand Carl Sermon
posted December 14, 2011
This year, Carl Sermon and I were fortunate to be invited to participate in the 8th Annual Sommer-Festival in Berlin, Germany. Horacio Cifuentes recalled my early performances with Isis Wings in the ‘80s with a pair of wings that I designed and first used at the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose, CA, USA. Therefore, he invited me to teach a workshop utilizing Isis Wings (which, interestingly enough, are pronounced as “Ee-sis Wings” by Europeans). Carl and I were the photographers of the Oriental Dance and Tribal Dance (wettbewerb) competitions, as well as the Matinee Show and Gala Show held at the historic Russisches Haus Theatre in the former East Berlin.
The Sommer Festival in Berlin is presented by Beata and Horacio Cifuentes as an intensive offering of Oriental dance encouraging professional development for dancers through the opportunity to participate in the finest quality of instruction, competition, and performance. It is a well-organized long weekend in Berlin filled with workshops in Oriental dance and tribal dance held in four dance studios and two show venues.
The idea of presenting a dance festival together with a contest is to promote talent, encourage excellence, and motivate dance artists from all over the world to come to Berlin and participate and results in this special and amazing event of learning and performance.
This year, the Gala show was graced by international stars such as: Yasmina of Cairo, Mohammed El Hosseny of Finland/Egypt, Rachel Brice, Elisabeth Strong, and (myself) Ma*Shuqa Mira Murjan, Patricia of Hannover, Germany, Guzel of Korea, Jamilah and Anna Redlin of Poland, Maki of Japan, and Illan of France.
The contests provide the opportunity to display talent and skills, attracting talented professional dancers from around the world. The winners of the raks sharqi contest and the tribal competition experience great benefits gaining international recognition to support professional dance careers. Former competition winners have been featured on the cover of dance publications such as, Tanzoriental magazine of Nurnberg, Germany; and receive invitations to return to this annual Berlin dance festival the following year as workshop teachers, performers, and judges.
Carl and I enjoyed the event, sampling Turkish and German food and touring museums. We enthusiastically recommend the event as a chance for intensive professional development and opportunity to see high quality accomplished performances by European dancers who commit to serious study of Oriental dance as participants in the CATT training program.
If you attend this festival, plan to bring walking shoes to get to the dance studio venues and prepare yourself for an all-inclusive weekend!
This weekend is a uniquely challenging intensive study that includes a fascinating cross-section of both Oriental and Tribal dance workshops, competition, and two performances. We hope to see more American dancers participate in this event, sharing top-quality performances with Europeans in the future. We invite you to enjoy these images of beautiful performances from the Sommer-Festival 2011 shows.
[12-27-11 ed note: Photos have been juggled since original posting to refect the winners by category] 2011 Contest Winners the Berlin Sommer Festival by CategoryPreliminnaries in all categories were held on Thursday evening , September 1, 2011.
Raks Sharqi Solo Professional1st prize – Valeria – Russia Valerie of Russia wins!
2nd prize – Agata of Poland Agata Zakrezewska of Poland3rd prize- Ranya of Slovakia
Other contestants: Alexandra of Switzerland
Carol of Venezuela
Anna Chucha Cukrowska of Poland
Yoon Ha Kim of Korea
Raks Sharqi Semi Professional1st prize – Varda of Poland
2nd prize- Agata Zakrezewska – Poland (pictured above)
3rd prize- Alexandra – Switzerland (pictured above)
Celine of GermanyInara of GermanyLea Elcagu of SwitzerlandNashita of Czech RepublicNichole McLaren of SwitzerlandSelena of Poland
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The Carnival of Stars Festival is produced by Pepper Alexandria and Latifa at the Richmond Auditorium each year at the beginning of August. The stage at this facility is hard to beat. The wonderful lighting and the large stage make every dancer feel like a diva! Once again, Carl has done an amazing job catching the character of each dancer. - 5-24-10 Loyalty, A Virtue Out of Fashion?
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