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(Written in early 2004)
"Ra" time for birth
"Ra" was a project that sat in my unconscious for years, coming to my conscious thought in 1999, and was obsessing my thoughts by 2000.
I mentioned the show "Ra" to the troupe.
Some of them quietly thought and shared with me that I was getting totally off track. We normally did Folkloric and Egyptian Orientale. For people who have only known me since 1989, that might be the basically reasonable conclusion. But first I was into Ballet and Stage dance (as in Broadway Musicals), then my first College Degree is in Modern Dance.
The challenge of a different choreographic aesthetic.
My first dance-related work was choreographing Musical Theater (such as "Brigadoon" and "Paint your Wagon".) I was very excited to do a full-length work with a storyline, all choreography would be created expressly for this work. Not just a series of dances strung together, the individual choreographies somewhat altered to reflect aspects of the stated story. Not that I think this is bad, it can make for a very interesting work, but I wanted the challenge of creating dance in the musical theater aesthetic: Each dance, each movement, has to further the storyline or the character development of a continuing character.
Besides the challenge, it was calling to me.
When I was touring, the "Ra" project was my subject to talk about; luckily European dancers are very open to grand archetypical subject matter for dance theater, even in theater Middle Eastern dance. When I traveled, I could see the characters, their movement, their costuming, in front of my eyes. There was coincidence after coincidence; a book was given to me as a gift - with the head of the pharonic "Ra" on the cover - before she knew about my ideas, Aziza and I looked in the internet to find out that the major temple of Ra (5th Pharonic Dynasty) was located blocks from where I used to live in Cairo, and that the term for "Priest of Ra" there was "Sahra". There was too many coincidences to enumerate, and I run the risk that people will think I am crazy already. Suffice it to say, I artistically had to do it, whether it was off my previous path or not.
Physical challenges:
It was a project that needed many more dancers than my troupe. The movement I was imagining included movement inherent in Brazilian Capoera, Yoga postures, AfroCuban undulations and Death dance, and gymnastics.
In the end we had 41 dancers in the cast. Four dancers were Brazilian, including two male experts in Capoera and Maculele, two dancers were AfroCuban, JJ St. James taught us the (very aptly) "Salute to the Sun" Yoga postures, Kamala's girl turned out to be a ranked gymnast who brought another gymnast friend.
Jerimiah of Solace agreed to let us use his music, in the end we used 11 of his pieces from his 3 CDs, and only 2 pieces from other sources. His music was perfect for the theater; wonderful rhythms (made-up "Middle Eastern" rhythms made me crazy), while his sometimes dark chords, sometimes joyful melodies paint elaborate emotions while not limiting movement.
September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001 was a double tragedy for several of us. While the world reeled with the shock of seeing the Twin Towers fall, we got the very personal news that Lou Shelby had gone into coma. I remember the tears flowing as I sewed costumes, chin held high so that the fabric wouldn't get wet. We were less than a week away from our stated performances and from my theater background, the show goes on when we have advertised that it will go on. Lou, father to Roxanne Shelby (assistant director of our troupe) and like a second father to me, passed on. The final incident was that we had been using Roxanne cell-phone as the contact for ticket information, only advertised on the flyers for this show, she received a phone call while she was standing in the cemetery selecting a gravesite. It was an angry, anonymous man, calling all of Middle Eastern people murderers. I called the theater, they agreed to reset the date.
We finally dance!
The performances were reset for April 20 & 21, 2001, then well over a year since we started! The performance was not easy, the subject matter was not light, especially after hearts had been brused just a short time before. For many of us it was cathartic. Luckily it had a happy ending, one of my favorite dances was the "Celebration" at the end.
I learned it is not easy to be director of totally new work and to dance in the same production. The dances I was in were the weakest dances, I feel, because while we were rehearsing them I couldn't stand back and see it.
It was also so different from what we normally do that some dancers didn't really know what it was supposed to look like until it was happening around them in front of an audience.
The last unfortunate thing was that, due to some last minute confusions, all videographers showed up on the same night (rather than over 3 nights like scheduled), all (except for quick-thinking Jeannie - thank you) sat up at the top of a banked audience. All the dancers look 5 inches shorter and 20 pounds heavier than in real life. So I can't use the video. I do thank all the videographers. I thank all the dancers and experts on the various world dance forms.
There are a hundred funny or poinent stories, most of which I could tell, but this is getting long and that is for another time.
What's next for "Ra"?
I don't feel it is over. But then I never feel it's over until its been videotaped in a way that represents the moment. To put on that big of production would be asking too much of the original cast (and two have had babies since then! Congratulations!) I may restage selected dances and insert them into a future show. Ya Amar!'s 10 anniversary is next year (2005) so that might be a good time.
I don't give up easily.
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