At the mention of "Arabia," no doubt many people's thoughts will turn to the glamour of that arid, but beautiful, land: the vast, boundless desert; the jingling camel trains and the enchanting yet mysterious, veiled women with big, dark eyes.With the visit of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a Syrian dance group debuted last night at the Beijing Exhibition Center, bringing us a taste of this exotic land and its culture. Shen Ting has more. 
 
Exotic middle-eastern music, dazzling costumes and fluid dancing led the audiences into the fairytale "A Thousand And One Nights."

"The night of Syria" is performed jointly by the Enana Dance Theater, the most prestigious dance group in Syria, and a female band called "Orient."

Last night's performance was really a visual and aural feast of Arab culture. Members of Enana presented Arabian epics through their graceful body language. According to the plot of "A Thousand and One Nights" and "Arabian princess's love story," they created different characters through the use of different costumes and headwear. The make-up was a more delicate feature, whether applied to the eyes or nose, even the style of moustaches, all displayed extremely careful design.

Arabian ballads enjoy a unique position in global music circles. With its special wind, string and percussion instruments, Arabian music conveys rich and subtle feelings. The impressive playing of the "Orient" female band was a breath of fresh air for the Chinese audience.

But surely, there's more to Arabian dancing than one style. Elegant "Magic Lantern" dance, the masculine "Yataghan" dance and charming "Belly dances" guide enthusiasts through one of the world's most beautiful art forms.

Jihad Maflah, leader of Enana Dance Theater said the dances showed different aspects of Arab culture: "In this performance, we have various dance forms to symbolize Arabian traditional culture. For example, we have a dance at the beach, we have a dance representing war, we have a wedding dance… all of them are Arabian traditions and now we express them with our body language."

The dancers will give two more performances during the week.
 
(Chinabroadcast.cn June 24, 2004)