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June 28, 2004 WASHINGTON POST
Silk Road Dance Company
Ancient
Egypt came alive Saturday night at Dance Place with the Silk Road Dance Company
performing Laurel Victoria Gray's evening-length "Egypta: Myth, Magic &
Mystery." With the passion of an educator and avid storyteller, Gray, along with
her 23-member troupe, proceeded to unfold the myths and history of the ancient
world. The work is a "reconstruction of what they might have danced like," said
Gray, who drew her ideas from ancient Egyptian art as well as current Middle
Eastern dance styles.
Originally a tribute to the early 20th-century
modern dancer Ruth St. Denis, it evoked the dramatic gestures of silent films. A
colorful whirl of motion connected a series of recognizable Egyptian tableaux
(at times perhaps too recognizable, verging on cliche). A deep voice coming from
a smoky netherworld narrated the historical dance-drama replete with striking
and sumptuous images: A quartet of glistening aqua nymphs emerged from the Nile,
depicted by billowing silk. Thoth, the alligator god and creator of life, made
his way across the floor swishing a magnificent gold-and-blue brocade tail. The
costumes, designed by Gray and Elizabeth Anna Groth, were scene stealers.
Mythic dances were interspersed with ones depicting the everyday lives
of people in the kingdom. Women shown harvesting in a ritual dance had a
distinctly African flavor, and linen weavers, working at the loom with playful
gestures, framed the myths nicely.
The evening was a visual treat of
whirling, glittery costumes, fluid movement narratives, rich, exotic music and a
dance troupe that was clearly having fun.
— Barbara Allen
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