Out of the Past: An American choreographer interprets the legends and myths of Ancient Egypt

by Janet Jubran, M.A. *

With the Egyptian Ambassador to Germany attending opening night, an unusual dance piece called Egypta premiered in Berlin in November 1996. The 90 minute concert program focused on the myths and legends of Ancient Egypt, from the creation story to the death of the last Ptolemy, Cleopatra. The Berliner Morgenpost acclaimed the work as an "extremely captivating kaleidoscope of women’s lives, female dignity, and feminine beauty" while the Illustrierte Stadtzeitung called it a "sensual show of super class." Another German newspaper, the Berliner Tagesspiegel characterized Egypta as an "entertaining collection of scenes with artistic and visual dance highlights." But although Egypta first came to the stage in Germany, the story of its creation can be traced to American soil.

The original dance suite called Egypta was choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. As a tribute to this early attempt to bring forth the spirit of ancient Egypt, American dance ethnologist and choreographer Laurel Victoria Gray named her own production after Miss Ruth's. Gray , who had been fascinated with ancient Egypt since childhood. By the age of eleven she had read every book on Egypt in the main public library of her home town. As she began to encounter so-called "Pharaonic dance" in her professional career, Gray found the stiff, awkward presentations to be frustrating and even somewhat insulting to the high culture of ancient Egypt. Gray explained: "This civilization was extremely sophisticated; these people performed brain surgery. We are still unable to explain precisely how the pyramids were built, let alone replicate the endeavor. Why do we think their dances were so simplistic?"

Gray's Egypta was conceived in 1995. In it she sought to reconstruct the dances of the Pharaonic times in a way that would breathe fresh life into Egyptian myths and legends. She also felt it was important to introduce African elements into the dances. "The white male archeologists of the Victorian era tried to detach Egypt from the rest of Africa, even denying the obviously African appearance of many of the individuals depicted in paintings and statuary. It is time to put Egypt back into Africa," Gray insisted.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that much of our knowledge of ancient Egypt comes from tombs and eerie tales of mummies’ curses. "We tend to choose slow, mysterious music in an attempt to recapture this mystic feeling," Gray explained. "While the Egyptians certainly did have some rather frightening aspects to their afterlife, as well as a belief in magic, there were many other facets to their culture. We also know that there were a diversity of dances. And the abundant depiction of various percussion instruments suggests the importance of rhythm, such as we find in other parts of Africa." Gray also notes that amateur dancers often employ Arabic music in their attempts at recreating Pharaonic dance, not realizing that the Arab conquest took place long after the collapse of Egypt of the Pharaohs.

Gray turned to Alan Lomax’s theory of choreometrics for inspiration. She felt that the tomb paintings and papyri should be approached as "snapshots" which depicted three-dimensional movements. Lomax’s theory proved helpful for her dance reconstruction because it connects certain kinds of movements to various levels of social development. For example, a hunting society will have different kinds of dance movements than an agricultural society. And a society with a highly centralized government and complex hydraulics system - such as China - will exhibit spiral movements in its dances.

Eager to bring her ideas onto the concert stage, Gray persuaded the German ensemble Raqs Sharqi - with whom she had worked for several years - to collaborate with her. At first they were reluctant, thinking that what she had in mind was simply more of the stilted and pretentious "King Tut strut" which usually passes for ancient Egyptian. But once they understood the concepts behind Egypta, they agreed to begin work. In a few short rehearsals Laurel created what were to become the six core dances: Egypt is the Gift of the Nile, On the Land, Pyramids, Banquet Dance, Foreign Domination, and Death of Egypt. Unfortunately, not long after the original dances had been set, the company split with only two dancers - Havva and Bassiema - remaining.

Egypta seemed doomed but then the Havva and Bassiema contacted members of Berlin’s Oasis Dance Ensemble, sending them rehearsal footage. Oasis loved the piece and wanted to expand it , adding solos so that instead of a dance suite, Egypta would grow into an entire concert program. As Egypta’s originator, Gray heard the news of the changes with some trepidation: "I knew the new pieces would not necessarily be based on my conceptual framework and was concerned that the piece would become diluted. On the other hand, I had almost lost hope that Egypta would ever be performed, so I gave the project my blessing and tried to assist long distance with letters, phone calls and faxes."

Egypta in its new expanded format was performed eight times in Berlin in November of 1996, to great critical acclaim. In February of 1997, it was presented in Dusseldorf where the famous Egyptian dancer Raqia Hassan was in attendance. Writing in the Cairo-based magazine El Gawhara, Miss Hassan praised Egypta:

A German Oriental troupe, called Oasis, was the highlight, their invocation of pharoanic [sic] reality was supreme. They presented a near perfect show, that created a common fantasy for all present, a nearly transcendental experience, grace evoking antiquity, a truly poetic moment. I was speechless. All elements of the stage complemented each other in a unified whole, a pharoan [sic] tapestry communicated through crystal music, the ritual was brilliant. ....I do hope that this amazing troupe would visit Egypt, where I believe they would received with great appreciation....I wished Egyptians could communicate their heritage at the same level...

But the collaboration between the two groups had not been easy. Havva and Bassiema - who live in southern Germany - had to travel many long hours by train in order to rehearse with Oasis and present the show in Berlin. Other communication took place through long distance phone calls and faxes. Finally the stress took its toll. Less than a month before the scheduled debut of Egypta in southern Germany, the Berlin dancers pulled out of the production. Determined to go ahead with the concert anyway, Havva contacted members of the original Raqs Sharqi Ensemble who had learned the core dances back in 1995. She also recruited members of the Dancing School Tosca to perform the Pyramid and Banquet dances. Guest soloist Delilah, a well-known belly dancer from Seattle, flew in from the United States to perform the roles of the Goddess Hathor and Cleopatra. Laurel Gray herself also appeared in an acrobatic dance of the priestess of the Snake goddess Renutet, an early deity linked with fertility. Gray also choreographed a new piece, Procession to Bubastis, which included nearly all of the members of the cast.

The incomparable Delilah dancing as the goddess Hathor

Miraculously, in less than a month the expanded version of Egypta was presented in Memmingen, Germany in April of 1997. It included new costumes and choreography; the cast size had increased from six to sixteen. "It was as if Egypta had a life of its own and we were simply the conduits through which the piece was manifested," Gray recalled. " All sorts of people appeared to help with the production. Most amazing was Delilah’s participation. She had less than three weeks to create two solos but fortuitously she had a complete Hathor costume, as well as a crook and flail, just waiting in her costume closet." Egypta was performed three times in Memmingen; a professional video of this production is currently available in both Europe and the United States.

But Egypta’s originator is still not satisfied; Gray continues to refine the piece. The new American production will consist exclusively of her choreographies and costume designs, with the exception of Delilah’s pieces. Dances featuring Nut and Sekhmet will be added to the show, along with a formal mourning dance.

Gray also continues to research the costuming, hoping to create more authentic garments. "We usually make two mistakes in designing ancient Egyptian costumes," she explained. "We either construct them along the lines of twentieth century belly dance costumes, or we go for the gold lame` Hollywood look. Even when aiming for authenticity, we somehow never get past the white linen dress or the elaborate head-dress of goddesses. But Egyptians had colorful woven textiles, which is why we are using some African fabric in the American production. Also, Egyptian dancers did not wear the elaborate crowns of goddesses. Those head-dresses curtail movements, which is why past attempts at ancient Egyptian dance tend to be so slow and stiff. We simply have put on the wrong costumes."

Members of Gray’s Silk Road Dance Company have already begun work on Egypta. A preview performance of four dances from the suite is slated for July 20, 1998 at Baltimore's International Festival. They hope to premiere the American production of Egypta in April of 1999 and then make it available for tours. "Of course our greatest desire is to fulfill Raqia Hassan's prediction," Gray muses. "We want to bring Egypta back to its land of origin. And the way things seem to happen so magically in connection to Egypta, I would not be at all surprised if the Goddess Isis herself appeared to fly us all to Luxor."