Amal Choucri Catta is mesmerised by the earth's rebirth "Between Dusk and Dawn" and "Banat Bahary" presented by the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre, choreographer and director Walid Aouni, and Cairo Opera Orchestra, conductor and composer Nader Abbassi. Venue: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 26, 29, 31 May, 9pm The stage was dark with mystery on the opening night of Walid Aouni's latest shows Between Dusk and Dawn and Banat Bahary. Performed from 26 to 31 May at the Cairo Opera's Main Hall, the works enjoyed extraordinary musical compositions created by Nader Abbassi, who conducted the Cairo Opera Orchestra as well as the lovely solo interludes of oriental instruments. Reminiscent of sunny days and moonlit nights, of hazy horizons beyond the sea's dark waters, the tune beat its charming rhythm to the hesitant steps of Aouni, in black attire, slowly advancing on the stage to uncover the giant painting of Mahmoud Said's renowned The City, named by many Banat Bahary, placed centre-stage on a huge white wall. Regardless of numerous additional details, the original painting, of rhythmic resonance, is divided into three main subjects: three young women -- Banat Bahary -- in the centre, a man and his son on a white donkey on one side and a juice-vendor on the other. However, as Aouni and his audience realised, the centre-space of the painting he had uncovered was empty, the three lovely divas having disappeared. Flashlight in hand, Aouni decided to go in search of the ladies, when he suddenly bumped into one coming from the left and into the two others on the right. Thinking they would be returning to their place in the painting, Aouni left the staged. The three beauties, however, in their colourful dresses and wrapped in their black melayas, chose to offer the audience a specimen of their oriental dance: they had been standing demurely in their predestined spot since 1997, when the artist had decided to place them there. Tired of a seemingly everlasting inertia, they had gone on a spree, discovering today's world, which they probably disliked though they did love Abbassi's tune, which brought back nostalgic memories of when living was easy and their world was filled with laughter. Their dance was a charming medley of oriental belly-dancing and modern choreography -- enjoyed by the performers as much as the musicians and the entire audience. When the tune reached its end, Banat Bahary retired once more to their place in the painting -- it was safer, after all, than the hectic, merciless world of today. As the curtain fell on the dark stage, the audience cheered: Walid Aouni had done it again, he succeeded in presenting an original idea based on visual art, and turning it into an eloquent dance performance. Mahmoud Said's The City was undoubtedly a perfect background for the execution of such a fascinating project. Born in 1897, he died in 1964 at the early age of 67, and is remembered as one of the very first pioneers of Egyptian modern art. Having studied law, he pursued the activity of a judge for around 30 years, while simultaneously studying art at the Alexandria Atelier. At the age of 50, however, he decided to devote himself entirely to his artistic visions, adding his own individual perspectives to his creations. His oil-on-canvas painting The City, measuring 198 x 350 cms, is his most prominent work, though a number of his numerous other works have acquired celebrity in past years. At Cairo Opera's Main Hall, the curtain rose to the second part of Aouni's spectacular show, Between Dusk and Dawn, based on an extraordinary musical composition by Nader Abbassi. An infernal sound of worlds in collision, with lightning streaks and thunderbolts casting their deathly rays upon a small group of humans huddled together in sheer terror of the fury of the elements, echoed across the hall. When the nuclear dust finally settled and the air started to clear, the few survivors had difficulty realising they had not perished in the catastrophe. In the eerie, silver-gray shadows of the stage, the dancers' movements were slow as they tried to find their way out of the disaster; their limbs were numb, their gestures sluggish as they went their separate ways. They had come from all continents and, while trying to remember their origins, they suddenly started dancing to the songs of African rituals and the sound of jungles. When the orchestra chimed in, audiences were taken to far-away places, to long-lost empires and legendary sites of forgotten cities. On stage, the atmosphere was overwhelmed by symbolic sequences, and the dancers, with their strange costumes, their grotesque hairdos, their odd make-up and their eccentric behaviour, were reminiscent of past lives, of forsaken cults and abandoned erudition. As they slid, dived and pranced across the stage in search of a new identity, they seemed to be discovering the elements -- good mother earth which they would henceforth treat with love, the air they would never again expose to any form of pollution, the fire that gives them light in the darkness and heat in the cold, and the great waterfalls, the seas and rivers, their source of life, pouring down on stage in huge white sheets, while dancers, in long white coats, reminiscent of ancient guardians of the holy shrines, cast protecting spell over their aquatic fortunes. Creation was starting all over again: man was discovering woman and both were discovering love. They planted a solitary flower on earth's rich dark soil, watching it grow and showering it with affection. There would be peace, henceforth, on man's global space -- Adam and Eve were reborn, and Cain would never kill his brother Abel. Good would prevail, but was that sufficient ? How could they be sure man would not sin again? They will be thinking of these matters as days go by, but for the time being, between dusk and dawn, they will be dancing to the beauty of ravishing music, enjoying their new-found life, their freedom. On stage, a curtain of tingling chains was protecting them from evil, keeping them inside their own quarters, their own community, their own country. Here there was protection, security and peace. And as the curtain fell on the last note, the audience realised they had not only witnessed a magnificent dance performance, but an eloquent plea for peace, for love and better understanding among the human race. The dancers' performance was extraordinary, their timing perfect, their movements in complete harmony with the music, which, was, in itself, magnificent. Abbassi's conducting was brilliant and Aouni's choreography a new, magnificent event he can add to his numerous others. Banat Bahary and Between Dusk and Dawn are two successful spectacles all audiences are sure to enjoy.
