São Paulo – The 18th edition of Mercado Persa (Persian Market), a Arab dance festival, is due from April 15 to 17 at Esporte Clube Sírio (Syrian Sports Club), in the city of São Paulo. The event will feature dancers from Brazil, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina, the United States, Germany, Spain, Japan, among other countries, and aims to reach an attendance of over 6,000 in three days.
According to Shalimar Mattar, a dancer and the festival’s organizer, the name "Mercado Persa" is a tribute to the early merchants of the Middle East. "The event sets out to be a combination of all things related to dances of Arab origin. The Persians were the first merchants in that part of the world, they would bring products and information to the people," she explains.
Shalimar says the event will also feature dance contests, art exhibitions, parades of typical costumes, workshops, fine art contests, beauty pageants and makeup contests, among other attractions. For dancing alone, there will be at least 480 performances during the three days of the festival, the organizer ensures.
For those who wish to taste the delights Arab food, the restaurant of Clube Sírio will be selling delicacies such as tabule, kafta, stuffed zucchini, dry curd, hummus, Syrian bread, babaganoush, grape leaf rolls, kibbeh, safiha, and other specialties of Middle Eastern cuisine.
The festival will count on a team of 50 professionals who will take care of booths "reminiscent of an old Persian market." Besides belly dancing, there will be performances of folk dances from several Arab countries, and of "fusion dances," says Shalimar. The latter category includes rhythms that combine belly dancing and samba and belly dancing and classical ballet, for instance.
Service:
Mercado Persa
Place: Esporte Clube Sírio – Avenida Indianópolis, 1192
Date: April 15th to 17th
Time: Friday, from 08:00 am to 11:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, from 09:00 am to 09:30 pm
Tickets:
70 reals (US$ 44) – club’s box office
35 reals (US$ 22) – (half ticket for students, people above 60, dancers and musicians)
Tickets do not include food and extra attractions
For further information, call +55 11 5041-6103 or +55 11 5542-3860, or send an email to atendimento@orienteencantoemagia.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
