Dubai Folk Dance

One of the highlights of Dubai is the desert adventures.

One may ask why.

Well, Dubai as a city has lots to offer, indeed. There is the tallest building in the world, the biggest ferris wheel is almost completed. There is the only seven star hotel, the most luxurious mall in the world. Yes, it is all there together with the gold dispensing machine at the Atlantis hotel.

However, after seeing one skyscraper after another alongside fifty new ones under construction, you start looking away into the desert.

And that is where you begin to discover Bedouin's culture.

I picked Safari desert adventure, booked it quick and dirt cheap, which is quite unusual for Dubai. NOTHING IS CHEAP IN DUBAI!

The ride to the desert was little over an hour in a bus supposingly struggling with the air conditioning on that day. Please note the average temperature in July is about 118 Fahrenheit. We shared some some serious sweat and nobody seemed upset since the stories we exchanged with people from Uganda, Korea, Russia and Philippines were making the ride more bearable. As you may guess most of the discussions touched upon US president since it was just around the summit.

Once we have arrived the magic began. We took the jeep ride over the dunes, which was thrilling and spectacular at the same time. After arriving at the camp, we were greeted and showed around by the tour guide.

Before the sunset, we rode the camels, watched the falcons and rode the quad bikes as well.

FUN!!!

You get the picture.

After the sunset it was the showtime.

Among the henna and shisha, and dates, we were seated in front of the stage. The dinner was served - delicious kofta, rice-and-goat open fire dish served along with something fried and spicy that my husband devoured.

The first part of the performance was the belly dancer:

The belly dancer happened to be quite sensitive to applause. Whenever people clapped sparsely, she would come up to the table and with a strong facial expression and sweaty belly she would quickly get a standing ovation.

Next was the tanura show.

Tanoura means skirt in English and Tanoura dance is a kind of folkloric dance which is very common in Islamic countries, mostly in Egypt. The tanoura dance developed from sufi dance in Turkey and Egypt, distinguished by the use of a multicolored skirt. This has also developed into a performance dance by non-Sufis, including dancers outside the Islamic world.

The Tanoura beat is religious in nature and the performers aim is to reach spiritual inner purity and to enter a trance-like state during the performance, being at one with God. the professional tanoura dancer spins around 30 minutes and at the end he just stop without showing any dizziness.

Just looking at the performer made me dizzy, however, he did not shake after stopping at all! Pure nirvana!

Lastly, it was time for the fire show. We were served delicious desserts and drinks while watching. Do not even know the name of any dessert I consumed that night, however, I did not die!

It was 9:30 p.m. and the jeeps were waiting to take us back to the bus through the dunes again.

The ride back conversations resumed and we had lots of laughs. The night cooled down a bit and made the ride even more pleasant. My son exchanged many snapchat names with or new friends.

What a fun night it was.

Please book a safari desert trip next time you are in Dubai, only after you experience the top tourist points of interest in the city. Here is the must see video.