This past Monday, in Downtown Cairo’s Rawabet Theater, novice dance troupe Cramp Group presented a new two-day contemporary dance performance by choreographer Mounir Saeed titled “The Streets.”
“I wanted to re-create on stage the concept of ‘the street’ in Cairo and how each street in common areas of Egypt — such as Imbaba, Ain Shams, Mohandiseen — all share a similar personality, and that personality shapes us,” Saeed told Daily News Egypt.
“The Streets” is a high-energy collective dance performance featuring eight local contemporary dancers, two actors and two musicians interchanging live instruments including, drums, a Spanish guitar, a cello, violin and a Kawala (traditional Arabic flute).
Despite the dancers’ notable enthusiasm, the performance exhibited a series of discordant storylines strung together by pseudo improvised stage direction, confusing set design, and less than fluid body movements.
While the show was a valiant effort for the still-amateur choreographer, “The Streets,” unfortunately, lacked the finesse and basic techniques of modern dance.
Looking past the rough edges, the show was certainly entertaining — outstanding segments included a range of Zumba solos and collective Capoeira-styled performances, playfully dictated by a lively array of music ranging from basic Jazz beats to more plaintive oriental sounds.
The multi-segment storyline was difficult to decipher. It stretched to address the common themes of growing up in the spiritual urban jungle that is Cairo: neighborly relations, sisterly friendships, mysticism, poverty and, of course, football.
At times, it was difficult to tell if the dancers were missing their marks, or if there were simply no marks to begin with, but one notable dancer stood out: Salma Abd Elsalam. Her centered alignment, soft and relatively fluid motions oozing with conviction, made her movements a joy to watch.
The show had a coming-of-age feel to it, both in storyline and production; tales of emotional struggle, video games and Arabic monologues channeling Juliet Capulet.
Overall the performance failed to mentally or emotionally stimulate the audience, however, Saeed’s “Streets” showed great promise and enthusiasm, with a touch of Egyptian comedy.
“The Streets” is the third production Saeed has created since graduating from Cairo Contemporary Dance Workshop/Studio of Emad Elddin in 2009. Both his previous productions, “The Game” and “View the Dead Art,” received consistent reviews — promising vision, but lacking in execution.
“The main problem is that we are lacking further education in the field of physical theater,” Saeed said. “It’s important for the survival of artists here to have more studio spaces to rehearse, more dance companies to join, otherwise all the talent will continue migrating abroad.”
Hala Imam, the former director of Cairo Opera House’s Modern Dance Academy, told Daily News Egypt: "It is a very difficult time for modern dance. Like many things in Cairo, things will have to go downwards before they can boom again, but things will boom again.”
Imam graduated with a bachelor’s degree in costume and set design and later went on to study modern dance at the Cairo Opera House’s Modern Dance School. Soon after, she became a member of the Modern Dance Company there and later served as director of the school for nearly six years voluntarily without pay due to the program’s limited funding and her insatiable passion for dance.
According to Imam, the independent theater movement in Egypt is continually faced with challenges and obstacles that threaten its very existence and development.
Some of the most notable hurdles are the lack of funds for productions, the almost absent independent rehearsal or performing spaces, and the void of education programs, all of which fall under the lingering shadows of the bureaucracy previously associated with the government-funded Modern Dance Academy.
The Modern Dance Company was founded by controversial Lebanese dance veteran, Walid Aouni, in 1993 and funded by the Endowment for Cultural Development. Together, they hoped to develop modern dance by providing a legitimate educational institution while increasing the number of accessible performance and rehearsal halls.
Unfortunately, between Aouni’s role as artistic director of the academy, Cairo Opera House’s Modern Dance Company, the Festival of Modern Dance Theater, and his own company, “Knights of the Orient,” the academy lost priority and fell by the waist side.
“Shorty after the Jan. 25 Revolution, the Academy of Modern Dance closed its doors due to lack of funding,” Imam said. “With the departure of Farouk Hosni as Minister of Culture and the separation between Antiquities and Culture [funding was previously channeled through Ministry of Antiquities] every structure that we worked with lost financing.”
Mohamed Shafik, one of Cairo’s leading established contemporary dancers, told DNE: “With the closing of the academy, there are no longer any proper dance institutions for higher education. That and the fact that independent companies are not authorized to rent a state theater, which include all the Opera House halls, Alexandria Opera House halls, Geneina Theater, and more.
“The only way you can present your work [as an independent group] is through small independent theaters: Rawabet, Sawy Cultural Wheel, Studio Emad Elddin, and a few others,” Shafik added.
“The government doesn’t provide independent choreographers or dancers with any resources,” Imam said. “Previously, the only means of presenting our work was in the annual Modern Dance Festival, but that was also closed earlier this year due to lack of funds.”
Currently, the only functioning government funded dance institution [in Egypt] is the Academy of Arts’ Higher Ballet Institute, which is also in association with The Cairo Opera House and the monopoly that puppeteers the Egyptian dance industry.
Despite these obstacles, the independent dance movement continues to show endurance and resilience. Established dancers like Mohamed Shafik, Hala Imam, and Dalia El Adl continue to organize independent workshops and courses proving their undying commitment to the art.
“I’m starting to give a course at Gold’s Gym,” Imam said. “There’s also Tawazon Wellness Studio, Samia Allouba Center for creative movement, Studio Emad Elddin and a few others.”
So where does that leave the tragedy that is Egyptian modern dance? It leaves it to the strong-willed, the committed and the visionaries.
“The most important thing is to keep dancing — no matter how, we just have to keep dancing” Imam said.
While the show was a commendable effort, “The Streets,” unfortunately, lacked the finesse and basic techniques of modern dance .
