Entertainment Guide to Cairo

Art

In a city with 7000 years of history, it is easy to overlook the modern aspects of its culture. Cairo has a vibrant modern art scene, and several galleries scattered throughout the city offer good venues to check out local artists. The downtown area has a great concentration of galleries to view contemporary art, and all are within walking distance of each other. Townhouse Gallery is fast becoming a favourite among the locals, and has three floors of exhibition space that usually changes about once a month. Other good downtown art spaces include Espace Karim Francis, Arabesque and Mashrabia. The Ewart Gallery, at the American University in Cairo, generally has interesting shows, sometimes of student work, and the Sony Gallery, at the American University of Cairo, is the only venue in town devoted to photography. In Zamalek, the Centre of Arts, located near several popular pubs, is a good place to see some work, and often hosts nice group exhibits. Nearby, at the Opera House Grounds, the Hanagar Arts Center and the Cairo Opera Gallery have interesting exhibits making it worthwhile to head out for your night at the opera a bit early.

Cinema

Cairo has dozens of cinemas screening new foreign and Egyptian films. Most foreign films are subtitled and edited by Egyptian censors. Advertised show times are a bit odd in Egypt—the film usually starts an hour after the published time, but this is not always the case! The Renaissance at the World Trade Center in Maspero is the newest and most comfortable theatre in town. Renaissance II is located in Nasr City. Also in Nasr City, the modern Geneina Mall cinema has several screens running recent films. Nearby Tiba, located near the Tiba Mall, has similar offerings. The MGM in Maadi Grand Mall is another good choice for foreign films. Two centrally located hotels, the Hilton Ramses and the Cairo Sheraton also have cinemas. Tahrir Cinema in Dokki usually has a new film every week. Downtown is a good choice for movie-hopping, several older cinemas are located quite near each other, including Odeon (3 screens), Radio Cinema, and Metro.

Many cultural centers occasionally run foreign film series, sometimes —but not often—subtitled in English, including the French Cultural Center, the Goethe Institute, the Information and Cultural Center of Japan, and the Italian Cultural Institute and the Higher Institute of Culture, located in the grounds of the Cairo Opera House. Most of these screenings are free.

The Cairo Film Festival takes place around the end of the year. Several theatres participate in the festival, and it is very popular as it is the only chance to see uncensored films during the year. The films are usually only screened once or twice, and the schedule changes daily.

Dance

Again, the Cairo Opera House is the first place to check for dance performances. The Cairo Opera House Ballet has a respectable repertoire and performs roughly from September to May, and the Opera House hosts a variety of foreign dance companies throughout the year ranging from classical ballet to modern and ethnic. Locally-choreographed modern dance performances are sometimes staged at the Opera or at the nearby Hanagar, a smaller performance space/art gallery in the Opera House grounds. The Gumhuriya Theatre sometimes hosts foreign dance troupes. The Balloon Theatre features traditional folk dancing troupes.

A "tourist version" of the whirling dervishes, a form of spiritual dance practiced by Sufis, can be seen on Wednesday and Saturday at Al-Ghouri Mausoleum near Khan el Khalili. The performance is free and usually fills up quickly, but it is well worth waiting in the queue.

Oriental dance, or belly dancing, is performed all over the city in venues ranging from five-star hotels to more seedy downtown establishments. Famous dancers like Fifi Abdu and Dina give performances sometimes at nightclubs in the big hotels, and the cover/minimum charge reflects their popularity. Downtown nightclubs like Palmayra are less expensive—and the dancers are not as skilled. Several nightclubs on Pyramids Road also feature belly dancers.

Museums

Cairo has numerous museums for just about every interest. The Egyptian Museum, located on Tahrir Square, is the first stop for most people interested in Egypt's Pharaonic past. The collection is extensive and exhausting—best to plan a few trips in order to absorb it all. The Museum of Islamic Art and the Coptic Museum both have comprehensive collections and are located near other sites of historical interest, making the museum stops a nice break and a good way to synthesize things. Several speciality museums are worth checking out if their particular topic is of interest to you including the Agricultural Museum, the Geological Museum, the Post Office Museum, the Railway Museum and the Entomological Society Museum. At the Citadel, you can visit the Police Museum, the Military Museum and the Carriage Museum. Those interested in the pre-revolution period should visit the Abdeen Palace Museum and the Manial Palace Museum.

The National Museum of Egyptian Modern Art, located at the Opera House complex, has an extensive collection, mostly by 20th century artists. The Gezirah Art Center, located near the Marriot in Zamalek, has a lovely collection of ceramics. The Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Dokki displays a private collection of European art—including works by Monet, Gauguin, Pissarro, and Van Gogh.

Music

The new Cairo Opera House is the premier performance space in Cairo. Throughout the year it hosts musical performances ranging from classical and opera to jazz and Arabic music, performed by both local and international artists. The Cairo Opera Company and the Cairo Symphony make regular performances during the season. The Balloon Theatre has performances of traditional Egyptian music, and the Gumhuriya Theatre, a smaller venue than the Opera House, often has music performances.

Many popular nightclubs have regular live music performances such as the Cairo Jazz Club, where you can hear just about any variety of Western-influenced music including classical, and the Peking restaurant in Zamalek. In summer, the floating nightclubs Le Pasha and Imperial usually have live acts. Many of the city's five star hotels also have live lounge singers, performing either Arabic or Western popular music.

Theatre

Most of the live theatre you will see in Cairo is performed in Arabic, of course, and good venues include Kasr el Nil and Miami. The American University of Cairo puts on several theatre performances during the school year at the Wallace Theatre and other smaller venues, and many of the shows are in English. During the spring term, a popular theatre festival is held where local writers are invited to contribute 15 minute scripts, which are selected by jury and then performed over a few nights. For a different kind of theatre, storyteller Sherine El-Ansary, who performs in Arabic and English, does shows at the end of the month at Beit Zeinab Khatoun near Al Azhar Mosque.

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