Suraya Hilal Dance Company      presents:                     Wednesday 28th February 2008 at The Drum (Auditorium) (Birmingham, Uk)

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th 2008 at the Rotebühl Theater (Stuttgart, Germany)

The Hilal Dance Company, is uniquely placed in the contemporary dance world, drawing upon the essence and roots of Arab/Egyptian culture. The company’s founder Suraya Hilal, has been lauded as one of the great talents of our time and her company’s work, represent an unparalleled development of Arab/Egyptian dance.

Oscillations, feature the new work of Suraya Hilal in collaboration with Choreographer, (& Artistic Director of the Iskandar Dance Co.) Alessandro el Bascioni. In this production Suraya is joined by two excellent dancers and the special Classical Arab Trio Ensemble.

This exciting new work boldly explores the true meaning of the oscillating journey, the swing of the pendulum, the search for equilibrium (El Mizan) in mind and body and in life.  The work infuses the traditional with the ideal, heritage moulded to modernity, the classical reinterpreted through originality. This production proposes that through finding equilibrium, one can see a union of opposites, a state beyond separation, cultural identity melting with the universal and a sense of inner freedom is found.

Press quotes:

"Suraya Hilal is a choreographer of subtlety and high skill & a dancer of quality - an exhilarating evening" THE TIMES

"Hilal & El Bascioni show elegant double forms; supreme ease paired with discreet sensuality”. (Rheineshe Post)

“Hilal Dance Company....moves through space with upright elegant steps. Moods change with the music and the authentic, multi-layered garments, and the seemingly feather-light solos, duos and trio are filled with dramatic tensions. The cannon of movement of the dance is so rich and complex that the choreographer dispenses with the use of scenery & rightly so.” (Westdeutsche Zeitung)

Artist’s Biographies:

Suraya Hilal, born in Cairo, draws inspiration from her cultural roots and her work is also informed by global contemporary dance practice. Over a twenty-year period of creative work, research and teaching in the UK and Europe, Suraya has evolved and progressed many of the traditional forms of movement in Egyptian/Arab culture giving them a modern presence. By the year 2000, the totality of her practice became known as Hilal Dance®.

Over the years, Suraya has created and toured many theatre productions, including Celebrations of the Nile, Jewels, Divine Rites, Colours of Cairo, Beloved, Return of the Spirit, Journey to Lights, Spirit of the Heart and, most recently, Al Janub and Aseel (2003/06). Her work has been showcased throughout Europe to great critical acclaim in many well known theatres including: The Place London, Sadler’s Wells & the Queen Elizabeth Hall London, The Purcell Room London; the Edinburgh Festival; Tanzhaus Düsseldorf; Haus der Kulturen Berlin; Tans Hus Stockholm; as well as in many other major cities and venues. Her work has also been the subject of documentaries by Channel 4, Granada, ITV, and BBC2.

Alessandro el Bascioni, international dancer, choreographer and teacher based in London, has trained and specialised in Hilal Dance for over 10 years. His earlier training has been in North African dance and African Contemporary. In recent years he has toured extensively with the Hilal Dance Company in major productions including Al Janub (2001) and Aseel (2004) where he began his collaboration with the international artist and founder Suraya Hilal.

In 2005 he set up and launched his own Iskandar Dance Company, with the premier of the new work El Saqiyeh (The Waterwheel) in the Tanzhaus nrw, Düsseldorf in March 2006. The work has showcased throughout Europe with critical acclaim in well known theatres including: Kulturhaus, Switzerland, Dance Base in the Edinburgh Festival, International Dance Festival at the Tempel Karlsruhe, The Drum Auditorium Birmingham, CCA Brussels, Lilian Baylis (Sadler’s Wells) London, IMA (Institute du Monde Arabe) Paris, Teatro delle Erbe, Milan.

Sarah Hamilton, Sarah trained and received a BA in contemporary dance at the Victorian College of the Arts, Australia, graduating with a teaching major in 1983, and has over 20 years’ teaching experience. Sarah’s initial training was in contemporary and classical western dance and for a period, studied   Indian classical dance (Odissi). Sarah was introduced to Suraya Hilal and her work in 1995 at the Adelaide International Workshop Festival and ever since has studied and trained in Hilal Dance. She attended many courses in Europe and was invited to attend the professional course with Suraya Hilal in Milan. 

Sarah received the Hilal Dance License for teaching and performing in 2000 and has gone to develop Hilal Dance in Australia through her own teaching and organising week long workshops in Hilal Dance bringing Suraya Hilal and Alessandro el Bascioni to teach in Australia.  Sarah has recently founded her own Mosaic Dance Company as director and choreographer and is currently touring her own work called Mizmar in Australia.  Sarah has been working with Suraya Hilal on the work Oscillations since 2007 and will be touring with the Company in February and March 08 in Europe.

Alaitz Arregi Sudupe, comes from a professional artistic family of singers, dancers and musicians from the Basque country. After studied Fine Arts in College she went on searching for a new avenue for her own artistic expression by studying different dance forms among them Flamenco and Indian dance. She moved to London to study Hilal Dance in 2000 where she began training with Alessandro el Bascioni and after three years she joined the Iskandar Dance Company and toured with the production of “El Saqiyeh”.