Nehad Selaiha hails the 10th Egyptian International Modern Dance Festival which opened at the Opera House on 16 June After the last two or three anaemic and lackluster editions, the Egyptian International Modern Dance Festival is showing signs of recovery. This years edition, its 10th which opened at the big hall of the Opera House on Tuesday 16 June, promises to put this highly important event back on the right course, hosting a variety of foreign productions from different countries, including Spain, Greece, Russia, Turkey, France, India, Palestine, the USA, Algeria, as well as 15 productions by young Egyptian choreographers, some making their debuts in this event, a lecture- demonstration performance featuring new dance tendencies in Egypt, curated by Adham Hafez, not to mention a new 'documentation of dance' event consisting of 7 films about some of the most important contemporary modern dance choreographers -- including Marta Graham, Alvin Ailey, Maurice Bejart, Pina Bausch,Carolyn Carlson, Anne Teresa de Keersmacker, and Marie Brolin-Tani and -- to be shown on successive days at the Creativity Centre at 6 pm starting 24 June, plus a film version of the Modern Dance School's graduation project entitled I Want to Fly. Another exciting new feature of the festival this year was inviting the distinguished and gifted Swedish choreographer Marie Brolin-Tani to direct the Egyptian modern dance company in a production of Shakespeare's Othello of her own choreographing and presenting it at the opening ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony that featured a short film documenting previous editions in word and image, followed by the address of the festival's director, Walid Aouni. I normally get bored with such speeches. But this year, by the admission of all present, Aouni's speech was fresh, simple and moving, and was accompanied by a decent English translation, clearly projected on a screen at the back. Starting with a quotation from the 12th Century Sufi poet Galal El-Din El-Rumi, how else could it be? El-Rumi's words --Dance Ethe universe is dancing� were chosen as the motto of this year's session, and, in his speech, Aouni corroborated them with the authority of Naguib Mahfouz no less. --When the late great Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was asked -- in the 21st Century -- about the possibility of applying this quote (meaning El-Rumi's words) nowadays and to what extent modern dance can affect our world,� Aouni said, Mahfouz had --replied: 'Did the universe ever stop rotating?'� Thus, from the very start, the festival acquired a spiritual aura and a philosophical dimension. Then it was time for the Swedish/Egyptian Othello, and what a wonderful surprise it was. Choreographer Marie Brolin-Tani used Shakespeare's play as a source of inspiration to explore and body forth through dance its tempestuous emotional content. She sharply pared down the play, removing many characters and details, toning down the racial theme by choosing a brunette Desdemona who could pass for a southern Italian, a region not very far from North Africa, Othello's birth place, and focusing on two naked passions: Othello's sexual jealousy and Iago's vengeful drive. The most salient alterations were removing the whole of the first act of the play, together with the storm at sea episode that is verbally recaptured at the opening of the second, and not even suggesting it by means of video projections as scenographer George Tsypin did in Lar Lubovitch's famous 1997 3-act modern dance version of the play. Here, Venice with its dignitaries and doge disappears, making Desdemona and the rest of the characters, except Othello, Cypriots; Bianca and Emilia become Desdemona's pals instead of a prostitute in love with Cassio and a femme de chamber married to Iago; Othello does not commit suicide but kills Iago and is killed by him; and the whole action is temporally transposed to an ahistorical present. The original musical score by Danish composer Henrik Munch partook of the same generality, mixing elements from different musical traditions, with a pronounced African strain in the sequences that follow the intrusion of 'the green-eyed monster', and punctuating it with evocative atmospheric sound effects -- a dog barking in the distance, the whistle of the wind blowing from the sea, the hollow echo of footsteps menacingly approaching and retreating. Likewise, Hans-Olof Tani's stage set could be any place by the sea. Consisting solely of a row of huge screens hung diagonally from the flies to form a series long corridors extending from the back of the stage half way through it, leaving only the front part of it free, it had a strong visual impact, suggesting several feelings at once. With nothing behind those tall screens except an empty panorama which kept changing in colour as the lighting (also by Tani) alternately suffused the stage in a golden or a flaming red glow, or enveloped it in shadows, or in a smoky blue haze, they vaguely suggested to me the high sails of ships at a sea port, a town square surrounded by a maze of long, narrow alleyways where the truth can easily hide or get lost, as well as the barriers and intrigues that separate people from each other and block any real communication. Since the focus in this production was mainly on the passions of the three main characters -- namely Othello, Desdemona and Iago, with Emilia and Bianca joining in occasionally -- the ensemble dances here, though well designed and competently executed by the corps de ballet, were less dramatic and, therefore, less gripping. The choreography was at its best and most compelling in the Othello/Desdemona and the Othello/Iago duets. Indeed, the duet dances between the gracefully tall and physically imposing Mohamed Said, as Othello, and the small, wiry and muscular Mahmoud Mustafa, as Iago, were truly inspired, particularly in the latter part of the show, when Iago began to sow the deadly seeds in Othello's mind, gradually brining this human bulwark of masculine strength under his power. As Iago repeatedly wound himself round Othello's body, jumped over his shoulders, clung to his back or sides, or slithered between his legs, he reminded one of the devil in Goethe's Faust who first appeared to him in the shape of a shaggy, vicious dog. The movement design for this couple had a palpable, sensuous feel too, vaguely hinting at homosexual possibilities, to the enrichment of both characters and the conflict between them. And the same sensuousness, indeed, sensuality, also strongly marked the movement in the sequences between El-Said and Sally Ahmed as Desdemona, often thrillingly bordering on the erotic. This sophisticated erotic strain came strongly to the surface in the murder scene in which Othello strangles Desdemona while she hugs him with her legs as if he is making love to her. It was an electrifying scene, beautiful, poignant and deeply tragic, a true union of Eros and Thanatos, and it more than deserved the huge round of applause it got from the audience. Equally stunning and excitingly original was the final battle between Othello and Iago, both stripped naked to the waist, having donned off their business jackets, shirts and ties, in which they kill each other. For in Brolin-Tani's version of the play, Othello does not stab himself over Desdemona's body and Iago does not run away. Such an ending would have been somehow out of tune with the kind of relationship that the movement suggested binds the two men from the start. The only way these two mortal foes/lovers could end was in a mortal embrace. Brolin-Tani worked wonders with the members of the Opera House Dance Company, honing their skills, already substantial, discovering hidden emotional and physical powers in them, liberating their bodies and bringing out the best in them. Mohamed El-Said, Sally Ahmed and Mahmoud Mustafa gave brilliant unforgettable performances. Brolin-Tani was absolutely right to use the word 'development' in her 'word' in the programme. --It has been fantastic,' she says, 'to work with the Egyptian Modern Dance Company and to meet and see the development (my italics) of the 20 dancers during our six weeks together.' Everyone who saw this performance was dazzled by the dramatic powers and physical skills of most of the dancers, particularly the leading ones, remarking that this performance was a new birth for the troupe.
