So Nathan and I decided that we wanted to go and check out an opera at the Cairo Opera House. They had a ballet showing called the "Pyramids and Revolution" which sounded interesting.
This is the Cairo Opera House's main building. They had other buildings with small museums and shops also on the site. Nobody informed us that dress code was coat and tie, so obviously I was not dressed appropriately and we got turned away.
Since we were down at Zimalac, we decided to have dinner on the Nile in one of the boat restaurants. It was all very blue.
A picture from our table at the italian restaurant we ate at, which was right on the the river.
We decided to adventure over to Tahrir and see the people getting ready for the protest on Friday. This is Tahrir and there were many people camped out in the middle of the square. Despite all of the protests, everything is still very safe.
A few days later, we decided to try again.
We took a quick picture before heading down to the opera for our second try, dressed more appropriately this time.
In the opera house there were many displays with old costumes, opera bills and other trinkets. This manican was kind enough to pose with me.
There were also models of all the buildings on the site. This is the model of the main opera hall.
This is the main opera hall where we saw our ballet. There were no pictures allowed during the show, so this is the best I could do. Our seats were only 50 EP (less than $10) and we were five rows back from the stage in the center. It was a really cool experience. During the ballet, they told the story of the building of the Pyramids, the times of the pharaohs, Christian and Islamic Egypt, modern and oppressed Egypt and then ended with the revolution. It was interesting how they attempted to tell the story through dance.
The Christian part was done with one male dancer (supposed to be Jesus) surrounded by 15 - 20 female dancers dressed in black robes. The female dancers were worshipping the main dancer and then at the end they had an interpretation of the crucifixion. Before the Islamic portion, the lights went dim and then came back all green (the color of Islam) and everyone cheered. Then came out a male dancer dressed in green and 5 - 10 male dancers dressed in white gowns all holding a long white cloth. It was interesting to see the interpretation of the Christian and Islamic cultures though.
We decided to grab one last pic in the courtyard of the opera house after the show. It was a great first opera/ballet experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment