The Silk Road Dance of Feminine Deity

An Interview with Laurel Victoria Gray

Silk Road Dance Company

By  B. Claire

“Veil dancing is quite misunderstood–the history, the wish-story, the myth-story, of the veil dance,” Laurel Gray says, laughingly.  “It is not Arabic in origin, as most people think. We find it in the Turkic cultures–in the Caucasus, and in Central Asia. In both cases, the veil is attached to a headdress and the dancer holds onto the ends of the veil.  Free, unattached veil dancing may be a legacy from Greco-Roman or earlier times. When we strike poses with the silk veil in dance, we resemble Greco-Roman statues. 

 The earliest example that comes to mind is from 7^th Cen. (AD) Central Asia, before the advent of Islam, in either Persia or Uzbekistan. A bas-relief on a silver urn depicts women dancing: one woman is wearing nothing but her jewelry, another is wearing a diaphanous gown, and both are holding dance veils in their hands. 

Part is conjecture about the veil, but one thing we do know–the veil is a constant. In the 7^th Century or today, the human form is the same; the physical reality of the veil remains the same.”

Dance, women, the world, and all things silk–from costuming to dance veils are floating in the February air between an unseasonably warm east coast and the frozen white brilliance of New Mexico. Laurel Victoria Gray[i], talented artistic director of the Washington DC based Silk Road Dance Company has taken time from a busy schedule to speak on the art and the ages of the dance.  Her training in dance, knowledge of Silk Road cultures, living experience, travels, studies, and artistic collaborations have culminated into a natural expressive outcome: the Silk Road Dance Company.  Founded in 1995, the Company embodies the traditional dance, costuming and spirit of the cultures from along the fabled Silk Road. The term itself was coined by 19^th century German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen to describe the ancient network of caravan trade routes linking China with the Mediterranean. 

As we speak, the world begins to fall away, and we become travelers on the length of silk that has touched the ages and reaches the stars. No, begins in the stars.

“The veil can be used to both conceal and reveal.  When I teach dance with the veil, I have my students completely drape a silk dance veil over their head, concealing their face, arms, body, everything.  In this way, they are actually more revealed–the silk veil is sculpting them completely. Also, the dancer, who is now anonymous, is dancing more authentically–she is freed of her self-consciousness; her concerns of being judged are gone. I have seen women in my classes who start out very stiff and self-conscious blossom and expand into breathtaking movement.  I tell my students, ‘The veil is your partner.’ It becomes another entity. The veil teaches you how to be in the moment–how do you deal gracefully with losing hold of your silk veil while dancing? Dancing outside with the veil is very different from dancing inside with the veil, as you have now introduced the elements of nature.  And one finds movement is different with different weights of silk, as well.

In the Silk Road cultures, women dance for each other, at parties, and at celebrations; I find Western women are thirsty for this feminine expression.  In one workshop I teach[ii], The Enlightenment of the Body, women find the space that allows them to embrace and accept their femininity; it becomes a road of exploration, one of celebration, where there is no competition, judgment or shame.  This dance actually transforms women. I tell my students that the movement they find most difficult is the part of themselves they are not accepting, and this can be the hips, breasts, face, or arms. In the East, a woman can drape a veil around herself and she is in partnership with it.  In the West, we have to use a mirror–a woman isn’t sure where her hips are! In the East, the use and wearing of silk is essential, is a given. It makes a difference when a woman dresses to accentuate the curves of her body, as opposed to hiding them, which brings about a sense of disconnection with the body.   [INSERT PHOTO: #3 Faster photo]

The West is not turning away from the East–I teach eight classes a week, and they are booking solid earlier, in the quarter before. At the Silk Road Dance Company’s last performance at the Kennedy Center, it was standing-room only; normal capacity there for a show is between 300-500; there were over 1,500 people there.”

The Silk Road Dance Company’s recent performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Remembering the Legends – Women of the Silk Road chronicles three millennia of women’s contributions as healers, artists, rulers, and lovers through the traditional dances of the Silk Road cultures.  From the lands of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Persia, Georgia, China, and Mongolia, the powerful shamaness, prophetess, Amazon warriors, queens Esther and Roxanne, and Peri, beautiful Persian fairies, beckon to us through spellbinding choreography, exquisite costuming, and transcendent music.  (See Appendix A: Program Notes).

The Shamaness emerges from the mist, and with her drum, speaks:

Hear the Voices of the Foremothers. Hear!

They ask why you let the earth become polluted

Poisoned, Exhausted

They remind you where you come from

Do you hear?

Again they want to remind you

That the earth is our mother

If we take her life

We die with her.

One jewel among many in the show’s repertoire is The Dancer of Shamakha, one of Gray’s best known solo pieces, based on the historical treasures of the town of Shamakha, now a part of Azerbaijan:

 “Shamakha was famous for two things: silk and dancing girls. Glorious in all Asia Minor, these dancers wandered from city to city, kindling all hearts with the fiery music of their…tinkling ornaments…Goddesses with languid eyes, in which smoldered the fires of all human passions, bodies trembling, waving delicate veils…”[iii]

“You know, before September 11^th, many people had not even heard of some of these Central Asian countries. Now they are wondering, ‘Who are these people, and why do they feel this way towards us?’

I’ll tell you a story about this performance. There is one dance in the program, ‘Cry of the Heart,’ based on the Sufi ritual of Zikr, or remembrance. It draws on the gestures of many Eastern cultures that reflect the heart’s innermost yearnings.  Also it depicts the plight of millions of women who have no voice in their society. The costuming for this dance is visually similar to Afghani garb, and this performance is taking place the November after the attacks; the Kennedy Center is directly across the Potomac from the Pentagon.  As nervous as I was to present this piece, as an artist I was committed to it–this show was a year in preparation.  When the time came to perform ‘Cry of the Heart,’ the dancers, covered in full Muslim women’s garb, silently entered on stage and formed a circle. Amidst a crowd of 1,500 people, you could have heard a pin drop; it was a deeply moving and profound moment.” 

“If we ever needed a bridge of understanding between East and West, this concert beautifully met that challenge. ‘Remembering the Legends’ deserves recognition for presenting the ethnic diversity of the East, its wide variety of cultures, and its ancient heritage.  Through compelling music, breath-taking costuming, and memorable choreography, Laurel Victoria Gray and her Silk Road Dance Company have opened a door to a world that has long remained mysterious to the West.”[iv]

“The audience was spellbound by these dances, by the costumes and colors and stories.  They would applaud after each dance until the change in lighting would signal the next dance; then they would immediately stop, anticipating the next dance.  At the end of the show, the thunder of applause went on and on. That audience was hungry: for a story, for emotion, for beauty and grace, for color, for the feminine, which we in the West have so profoundly denied. The dances of the East always express something–it is a conversation with the audience.  In that regard, Eastern dance is not an abstract art–it is an expressive art. Emotional content is always a central theme for dance, be it play, longing, love, flirting, courage, or loss.  That is why Westerns so love fairy tales–they help to remind us of strength and resourcefulness. Wisdom is transmitted in ways that are not threatening. Who is the best-selling poet in the US today? Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi poet from 13^th century Persia! Why? Because we resonate to the truth and to the emotional content of his themes.

In our performances, the audience always responds to the movements, the gestures, the colors and costumes in an emotionally transformative way. People from the audience have expressed experiencing a physical glow when they saw the beautiful colors (of the costumes). It’s like color therapy for the audience, the costumes actually enchant the audience.  The word glamour means to enchant, to put someone under a spell, and real glamour was consciously designed into these costumes.  The color and fabrics themselves will evoke certain emotions from the audience, and they won’t know why.” 

“When members of the Silk Road Dance Company wear these costumes, they say they can feel the magic of them.  This is even truer when they don the antique dresses from my costume collection; it is almost as if the original wearer of the dress steps out onto the stage with them.

But most important is the magic that the costumes create for the audience; sometimes they admit to feeling a reaction, much like a physical reaction, when the dancers appear.

The unusual colors and rich fabrics, as well as the ‘delayed lines’ of movement created by the flow of silk, swing wide the doors of their imaginations, welcoming them into a different world.  The impact is so intense that it seems these costumes could not be crafted by mere mortal hands. To tell the truth about their creation would be to break the enchantment of the moment. So, when they ask, “where did you get your costumes?” there is only one possible answer: “Magic!”[v]    

“Common to all Silk Road cultures, in the Eastern esthetic, the dance is decidedly and unabashedly feminine.  The lyrical nuances are embraced, and the synthesis of the melody, movement, and rhythm all move together in wonderful harmony.  The delicate shoulder shimmy, which emphasizes the breasts, will often embarrass young adolescent girls in Western audiences because, unfortunately, Western cultures have gotten it all turned around. 

It is a problem in the West, and particularly in America, that we equate sexuality with vulgarity and pornography.  We as a culture need to accept sexuality as elegant, as a positive force; that it is provocative without being pornographic, erotic without being vulgar, sensuous without being debased.

Femininity and softness do not equate to weakness; sexuality, the strongest force on the planet, needs to be revered, honored and elevated back to its rightful place.  If you dare look at the parts of the world, at the societies, that suppress the feminine, where there is disrespect and abhorrence of the feminine, you will see strife and war, suffering and lack.  Those cultures will never have any peace and nature will not bless them–it cannot.

The ancient idea that Deity is Feminine was overlain by the Islamic tradition; today, the cycle of the dance is returning us to that.

Before, the West was not paying attention to the East.  And in every lesson we are dealt, as costly as they are, and as deep the sacrifice made for them, we cannot ignore the fact that women, the divine embodiment of the feminine, must once again be embraced in order for beauty, harmony and peace to reign on this planet once again.”

Don’t miss the Silk Road Dance Company’s upcoming 2002 performances, see www.silkroaddance.com/events/index.html. 

International Women's Day Celebration, March 7, 2002, 1:20 pm, Baltimore, MD.  Silk Road Dance helps to kick off Catholic Relief Services' International Women's Day celebration with the theme, "Women's Journeys" and "Crossing Cultures: An Evening on the Silk Road" July 6 and 7, 2002, Joy of Motion / Jack Guidone Theater, Washington, DC. A diverse suite of dances celebrates Silk Road cultures.

Appendix A – Program Notes:

REMEMBERING THE LEGENDS ©Laurel Victoria Gray, Silk Road Dance Company

[1] Laurel Victoria Gray is an internationally acclaimed dancer, scholar, instructor and choreographer who has taught and performed throughout Europe, Central Asia, Australia, the US, and Canada. She first discovered Arabic dance as an undergraduate at Occidental College and was introduced to Central Asian dance through the graduate program at the U. of Washington. She has traveled to Uzbekistan ten times, living there for two years and appearing on television dance programs over a dozen times.  Her articles have appeared in many publications including Dance Magazine, as well as German and Australian publications.  She has been a guest instructor at the all of the major Middle East dance camps and retreats. Ms Gray is also President and founder of the Uzbek Dance and Culture Society, www.uzbekdance.org, and conducts the Central Asian Dance Camp, held annually in the Wash DC area.  For several years she taught traditional Persian dance at the Iranian Community School in Vienna, Va., and currently teaches 8 weekly classes at the Joy of Motion Dance Center in Washington, DC. A self-admitted silk addict, Laurel Victoria Gray is a wearer of silk as well as costume collector and designer extraordinaire of the costumes for the Silk Road Dance Company, www.silkroaddance.com.

[i] Belly Dance, at The Joy of Motion, Washington, DC; www.joyofmotion.org

[ii]Based on the eponymous work of Central Asian writer Armen Ohanian, who described her life at the beginning of the twentieth century in the Caucasus and Persia.

[iii] Review: Remembering the Legends – The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts presents the Silk Road Dance Company; Janet Jubran, M.A., The Gilded Serpent, 2002;  www.gildedserpent.com/articles16/laurelgrayshow.htm

[iv] Making Magic: Costumes of the Silk Road Dance Company; Laurel Victoria Gray; www.silkroaddance.com