was the bomb! They put out the Lebanese mezza--a spread of hommos, cheese, pita, olives, grape leaves, nuts, seeds, yogurt, and all other sorts of Lebanese dilectables. Not that I got to eat any of it, because I was "with the band." Considering it was in one of the chiquest (sp?) hotels in Beirut, in Adma, the people were dressed very casually. A lot of women were wearing pants, like they were going to a club; and some of the men weren't even wearing jackets. There were very few long, formal evening gowns, which I would have expected for a Saturday night wedding at a fancy hotel.
On the side stage was a huge wedding cake. It must have been over six feet tall. I was flabbergasted. But then someone told me it was just a fake cake. As I get to know Lebanon, the fake cake doesn't surprise me. Some describe this place as a culture of posers--all appearances, more than substance.
Before the bride and groom enter, about 4 guys dressed, again, in MC Hammer pants (they're very popular in this part of the world) but with headgear that was more Russian looking, and 2 women came in dancing belly-dance style and turning in circles. Then other dudes lined up on the stairs coming down to the reception hall beating their drums. The music was a fast paced Arabic dance groove. It's called the fahzaa.
After a while, out of a side door came the groom on the shoulders of another guy, with his arms up in the air bouncing up and down, followed by about eight other guys. THEN, all this dry-ice smoke came up near the stairs with big silver confetti shooting into the air, and THEN all these sparklers went off along the railings of the stairs, THEN one of the dudes took out a huge white flag and just waved it back and forth. It was an outrageous, over-the-top, spectacle. . . and then the bride and groom came down the stairs together, dancing.
When they got to the dance floor, the bride and groom were picked up and placed on the dudes' shoulders. After a while, they were let down and went into the audience and went around the reception hall dancing with people. Eventually , they came back to the middle. The women formed a circle, doing a debka dance. And then the mass cleared out for a little while, making a circle. One of the dancers did straddle jumps, and very Eastern Europe/Russian squats and arm crosses and jumps and such. And then it became all capoiera-like, when two dudes started fighting with swords!!!!
I was just so overwhelmed. The drums were awesome. The fighting was tight. The people were all participating. How is it that I've never seen anything like this? So now I'm inspired. My next career move will be as a wedding dance choreographer. Think about it. . .I could make this sort of thing happen at your wedding.
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