A Dance Depicting Ancient Egyptian Art

www.thewayofdan... - This video clip is a fragment of a larger work in archaeo-choreology entitled "The Rite of the House of the Morning." It was created after three years of research in the British Museum, London, and has been performed countless times including at the request of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in their Egyptian Gallery. We were also the dancers for the tour of Tutankhamen's funerary treasures at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. The other dancer in this clip, Mimi, went on to perform at the Temple of Karnak by invitation of the Egyptian Government, Department of Antiquities.
It is not in any way meant to be a re-creation or interpretation of the dance of ancient Egypt; it is strictly a tableau of poses found in the art & artifacts, the beliefs, ceremonies, and symbolism of their sacred texts. There is no longer any surviving dance or music from that age due to the many ruling regimes of the Nubians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Muslims. Unfortunately, one can only speculate how their dance and music might have looked or sounded.
The dance depicts the soul or Ba -- the ethereal, eternal part of man revisiting the tomb, and symbolic of one of the aspects of an individual that continues after death. The Ba is depicted as a human headed bird called the Bennu, and the dance contains some of the following images: a Bennu bird coming through the false door to partake of the offerings; a figure with just wings and legs: Isis standing in the Boat of Millions of Years; Selket guarding a shrine; a winged figure from a Queen's necklace; the Goose of Amun; etc. etc. Our inspiration came from the Papyrus of Ani, Chapter LXXXIII, 'The Chapter of Changing into a Bennu'.
Regarding the music, the Egyptians used a long-necked stringed instrument which was plucked, resembling the samisen of Japan. There were also long vertical flutes, square and round drums or tambors, and gilded wooden harps, sometimes accompanied by a type of castanet or just hand clapping. We chose this music (oboe and samisen) as it has the mystical feel of ancient Egypt, to us at least, so we did not choose to use modern day Arab music.
For inquiries, please visit: thewayofdance.com/prod.htm
*All materials produced are Copyrighted and protected by The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Anyone interested in reproduction must obtain permission to use.*

[@DrQiLove]

I thought this was very well done. I am a dancer, drummer and Egyptologist for 27 years. The choice of instruments is exquisite. The ney is much harder to play than the oboe and the oriental sound is probably more like the original than arabic. The dance itself reminds me of moving qigong of which i am a master. It is also reminiscent of north indian temple dancing.

[@KiokoTama]

I love how simple the movements are... a beautiful dance!

[@PlanetaryCitizen]

Very nice! It reminds me of a similar group formed at around the same time here in the uk by the composer Denis Stoll (a student of Sir Thomas Beecham). He claimed to have "heard" this music clairaudiently on a trip to Karnak and wrote it down. They released two audio tapes and I saw them perform in London.

[@pyxiekit]

that was Egyptian's depiction of art i guess, looks at the hieroglyphics i think they got it spot on! good job

[@lesandredevi]

I'm sorry you didn't like the music, BubCar2. The recording availability to us, at the time this dance was conceived and choreographed, could not be compared to the wide selection of authentic CD's today. But artists go by feeling, and we chose music that moved our hearts in memory of ancient Egypt, rather than be constrained by strict cultural boundaries.

[@LaurentziuRo]

mistic, beautiful

[@psymouss]

yess! this is somthin i was looking for! please, could you send in private a link where i can find an ancient nubian style music? you know, that style what the document films are in.. thank you!!

[@Krizerd]

true that, my friend.

[@drgrannum]

This isn't as bad as you all make it looks. Note with historic data and computer software we are able to get a picture of what the culture was like. We now can generate the sounds of lost instruments. So, take this as a part of our quest as MAN to find out about our past.

[@Muielamanelisti]

I want to go back in time to show the ancient EGIPTIANS " THE MUMMY" MOVIE :)) They will be like WTF :))) COOL

[@AGNELLIVS]

скорее всего в древней музыке Египта была в основе музыкального лада - пентатоника. здесь же - арабские мотивы...

[@AlexandreMasquio]

If you liked this video, you´ll also like this one: "Ancient Egyptian Princess" /watch?v=wn-FDnQNXy8 It´s about painting, architecture and music based on Ancient Egypt. Thanks, bye!

[@Idonotknow123408]

that was silly...I liked it.

[@sajokal20]

@tamertarek my poor eurocentric ,you have to know the truth and what Champollion the first egyptologist and frensh linguist who discovered how to read hyeroglyphs said : """« " The first tribes which populated Egypt, that is to say , Nile valley between the cataract(waterfall) of Syène and the sea, came from Abyssinia. " Champollion-Figeac, "Ancient Egypt", p. 27. ...( Ancient Abyssinia represents now "Meroitic-Soudan, Ethiopia,Erytrea ,Djibouti,Somalia ) .

[@smileyz59]

hehehehehee this is some remix version of chinese/eygptian music and dance hehehehehhehehehe did getit

[@iqentab]

one thing i am to disagree with is when the dancers face the camera. this was VERY against ancient Egyptian culture, as it was not only a rude gesture to stare into ones eyes, but it would be seen as giving one the "evil eye." this is why you will nearly NEVER see any hieroglyphs or paintings ETC with people facing the "reader."

[@ododidit]

race/colour/ does any of this matter? NO! we are all people of this planet we need to stop dividing ourselves into groups and realise we are all the same and join together in a comon goal, To remove evil men that control the world and evolve our senses and persue truth and happiness

[@samewish]

when i watch this video, i will think ancient egypt dance & music some part same as geisha japan culture dancer... -_- is japan culture copy some ancient egypt culture? this is just my opinion.-_-

[@anak1]

Oops, posted Nubian dance link wrong. It should be: watch?v=p3OT2pX9c-k

[@coolio3241]

i asked for art, not people dressed up as big birds doing the chicken

[@hiattech]

Have you ever heard Japanese music before? This doesn't even sound remotely Japanese.

[@anak1]

I think the orchestration didn't seem believable considering Egypt's location and the various ethnic groups that inhabited ancient Egypt. Seeing as the Egyptians were related ethnically and linguistically to Berber and Nubian groups, wouldn't these places be the first places to look into for research? These groups pretty much use the same types of instruments the Egyptians did. Berber music link: watch?v=cfk7D2Gp6_I Nubian dance link: watch?=vp3OT2pX9c-k

[@gomezesmorticia]

You are an idiot, with a name like coolio you must be ghetto

[@PalomaSantosOficial]

que picaretagem...hahaha mais parece musica do japão...rs aff

[@BFinesilver2]

sorry, just boring

[@silakrest]

terribile...