1421 S. Park St
Madison, WI 53715

email · 608-438-6632


Yousry SharifMMDC Presents

Yousry Sharif

August 2 & 3, 2008
Performance August 2, 7pm

This entire form may be downloaded
as a PDF here.

Schedule

Saturday  
Check in/Shop with Vendors 9:30-10:00am
Workshop 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Lunch (on your own) 12:00 pm– 1:30 pm
Workshop 1:30pm –3:30 pm
Show (doors open at 6:30) 7:00 pm
Sunday  
Check-in/Shop with vendors 10:00 am-10:30 am
Workshop 10:30 am– 12:30 pm
Lunch 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Workshop 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

 

Location

Kromrey Middle School 7009 Donna Dr, Middleton, WI 53562

Use Door #9 on Park Street!


View Larger Map Motels: The MMDC recommends the Best Western, and has arranged for a special workshop rate of $99.99 (up to 4) if booked by July 18. Mention group code: CGMMDC

Best Western West Towne Suites

650 Grand Canyon Dr, Madison, WI 608-833-4200 or 800-847-7919

Registration

Register via check or using a credit card via PayPal. After July 21, workshop and show prices will increase, so register early and save:

Saturday Workshop Only
$90
Sunday Workshop Only
$90
Show Only
$10
Package (both workshops and show)
$160
DVD (available to seminar participants only)
$25

Make checks payable to MMDC

Mail to:

MMDC c/o Lianne Schroeder,
1614 Laurel Crest,
Madison, WI 53705

Master Class

Master Class Friday , August 1 6:30-9:00 at MMDC Studio

This class is audition only with a limit of 25 participants. Cost is $65

Send a 2-4 minute DVD of a performance or YouTube link and a short biography to:

Lianne Schroeder
1614 Laurel Crest,
Madison, WI 53705
Deadline for audition: July 18

Payment methods will be emailed upon acceptance.

About Yousry Sharif

 

Yousry SharifIn 1980, a young dancer came to New York City to perform as a selected member of Nagwa Fouad’s touring show. Spotted by the keen eye of Ibrahim Farrah, he was instantly invited to remain in the City and to teach and dance in a New York that as hungry for Egyptian dance and for those with intimate knowledge of its indigenous flavors. The young artist did stay, and New York – indeed the “bellydance” world – has never been the same. The “boy on the bridge,” whose incredible, natural talent brought him from his Egyptian home to a place unimaginable and a status unplanned, has become an internationally celebrated and sought-after choreographer and instructor of Oriental Dance. Yousry is a natural genius, not only through what typically many excellent dancers learn and share – great technique, practiced skill, knowledge, and experience – but through those components, with which one must be born – genuine feeling and the musical ear. Combine those elements with vision and invention, and we have a whole new promise for the continuation of Oriental Dance’s evolution and renaissance – Yousry Sharif.

In the 1980s, Yousry established his own school – which over the years has become the most popular and respected Middle Eastern dance institution in New York – and The Yousry Sharif Dance Ensemble. The group performed at universities, art institutions, and theatres, including The Brooklyn Museum, An- nenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Detroit Insti-tute of the Arts, and American Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Hall of Fame, and with such famed artists as Lebanese singer, Sabah and Simone Shaheen. With his ensemble, he began to hone his own creative sensibilities and broaden his scope from traditional renditions to original choreographies, for which he is now distinguished.

His school, now known as the Egyptian Academy of Oriental Dance (created with Nourhan Sharif, his wife and partner), is based in Yousry’s unique style and expert articulations. Yousry’s style and technique is no longer just “folkloric” – though that is in his blood: Those “traditions” dictate his evolutions and remain the foundation of his choreographic ingenuity. Yousry is both represen- tative of that era and this generation. He is the bridge between the traditional and the new. He employs movement and music from folklore, traditional oriental cabaret, to contemporary rendi-tions and often, seamlessly, infuses flamenco, jazz, ballet, and modern movements into his work. He is one of the few contem-porary artists who has the gift to artfully and organically combine or individually address these variant idioms – and remain true to himself and to his roots. What best demonstrates good teaching is to witness what artists have emerged from that teacher, and Yousry has amassed an international roster of fine, professional protége

Over the years, his popularity has grown to such an extent that he tours the globe eight months of the year to headline seminars as guest artist/instructor. An innovative and incredibly musical artist, Yousry is admired and enjoyed by diverse communities, from Middle Easterners who seek entertainment exemplary of their homelands, to purists who wish to preserve traditions, to dancers who yearn for the contemporary. His work is continually applauded by Western and Eastern media including The New York Times (Jennifer Dunning); Dance and the Arts, Habibi Maga-zine, Arabesque, and international publications, too numerous to mention.

Mr. Sharif has an uncanny ability to unearth exceptional new music from the Middle East from which he constructs his incomparable dance designs. With Nourhan Sharif, he has produced unequaled, classically-oriented CDs and performance DVDs of his choreographies which are an invaluable asset to students, professionals, and the sophisticated audience. His productions include the acclaimed Wash Ya Wash and Nourhan Sharif series, with additional new releases continually in the works, all with the dancer in mind and the awareness that, today, good music – for the dancing artist – is hard to find! Yousry Sharif continues to put his extraordinary signature on contemporary Oriental Dance by keeping true to its history and advocating for new breadth in expressions.

This entire form may be downloaded as a PDF here.