Ms. Carlton snares us immediately with engaging narratives that take us back to the time and place of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, according to legend the debut venue of the legendary Little Egypt. With effortless transitions, she leads us into realizations regarding the times, historical information, the beginnings of our dance in this country, the legend of Little Egypt and its popularity, and more.
Ms. Carlton is a deep and thoughtful writer. While the book might appear to many to be, at first glance, simply an exposition on whether the Little Egypt legends are true--did she save the Exposition from financial ruin with her dancing, did her dancing cause Mark Twain to suffer a coronary at the Exposition, did Thomas Edison film her at the Exposition, did she even appear at the Chicago Exposition--the examinations of issues, suggestions, and conclusions run far deeper than merely validating or debunking legends. Many people--historians among them--take at face value the story that "Little Egypt" appeared at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Ms Carlton not only thought to questions this and the other legends, as most don't, but also thought to question why the legends are so popular. She also has interesting reasons for doing so, among them an analysis of the beginnings of our dance in this country, its presentation, the images surrounding it and why those images sprang up, and a search for a possible lineage or "role model" for dancers. This latter material is what I, as a professional dancer coping with public education and perceptions of my chosen art form, found most fascinating and illuminating. I believe others will find it so as well.
Ms. Carlton does an excellent job of recreating and thoroughly acquainting the reader with the atmosphere and thought of the place and time. It is almost like an immersion. Her chapters often begin with brief vignettes, like a novel, that draw us in, not only to the subject matter, but to various sympathetic viewpoints. Has anyone wondered who these Exposition dancers were, and how they felt? They, and other characters, are brought briefly to life by an author who can capture likely flavor and characters. They, and the scenarios, are also brought to life by the numerous wonderful pictures. One friend was willing to pay the price of the book (a not-excessive $14.95) simply to have the picture of the sword dancer and her costume! It is evidence of Ms. Carlton's skill that, by the end of the first chapter, ". . . bloomed the White Flower . . .," I almost felt that I could see the light on the water and impressive buildings of the White City of the Exposition. Her evocative prose also brings home, however, exactly what it meant to have ethnological exhibits placed in the context of a carnival, next to amusements. here we begin to gain the first suggestions of why the Little Egypt legends have taken some of the turns they have.
Chapter two, "A Sliding Scale of Humanity," expands upon this suggestion by pointing out exactly how ethnocentrically Middle Eastern and other cultures were viewed. Some of the quotes of the day, from legitimate souvenir portfolios, are profoundly disturbing in their confident, disparaging racism. This sentiment of the times is something we tend to forget in the age of political correctness--but interestingly enough, even as I write this review there is a discussion taking place on the Internet, led by some very eloquent articles from Andrea Deagon, regarding Western marginalization of women's art forms and Arabic culture--in particular, our dance. Dancers who wish to address these issues will find great food for thought in this book. Moreover, any dancer who has ever been frustrated with a club's exchange of quality dancing for the lowest common denominator appeal of a pretty girl in a skimpy costume, without much (if any) training, will find the granddaddy of such cases here, alas, in the example of the Persian Palace. It is perhaps the first recorded sacrifice, in this country, of Middle Eastern cultural art forms for crowd-pleasing, culturally-inaccurate but moneymaking titillation. Significantly, this occurred despite strenuous objections from the Persians themselves. It is not hard to imagine today's parallels.
A battle for elevation of the art form that we may not be aware of fighting is distinguishing Danse Oriental from "freak show entertainment." Most of today's younger dancers would not have thought of a carnival as a venue for Middle Eastern Dance; it is an association that has long been forgotten by most, but persists in song lyrics such as "She walks, she talks, she crawls on her belly like a reptile" and, perhaps, in songs such as David Bromberg's "Sharon the Carnival Dancer" (Which, interestingly enough, the author does not note, though she does extensive tracking of "The Little Egypt Song" we are all familiar with.) In this book, however, we see just how extensive the association of Middle Eastern Dance was, not only with Burlesque, but with pure sideshow material--beginning, possibly, with imitation Exposition presentations at booths on streets alongside the fair, but not properly part of it. The breadth of dance imitations in sideshow venues is evidenced by the designations of carnival operators as "sheiks" (p. 59) and the possible Arabic origin of the word "ballyhoo," (p. 56) issues which Ms. Carlton explores in fine style. The latter in particular contains an excellent example of her dryly humorous turns of phrase, in reference to the word being something Sol Bloom could have used to round up his milling performers had he only known it. this and phrases such as "dancers who imitated Pharaonic friezes and never ventured to shake their hips," (p. 84) in reference to Ruth St. Denis' troupe, gets points across incisively, with humor and subtlety, but in ways we're sure not to miss.
Although the author does not address this in depth, it is interesting to speculate on why the dance has moved away from the "curiosity show" image--other than the efforts of high-minded, serious artists. Ms. Carlton comments that, in general, "Midway-type areas that mix so-called popular ethnology with amusements have nearly disappeared" (p. 85). Is it that, given National Geographic specials on television, we no longer find such showcases novel, or have no need to travel to see such a thing? Or is it that we are now uncomfortable with the trivialization of cultures that such specials present in a serious and less ethnocentric light? One hopes for the latter.
One hopes also that we have become capable of allowing women to be strong without being of questionable character. Ms. Carlton makes some excellent points in Chapter six when she discusses the dual image of Little Egypt: as notorious dancer and as Horatio Algier style heroine. A woman who has power, she gently implies, has something analogous to "the Midas touch" (p. 77) and the ability to make or break inventions such as the zipper, or the fair itself. Would it have been possible to imagine a saintly, well-behaved women with such dangerous power, at that time? It is one of the many questions the book evokes, along with one involving one of my favorite topics, semantics and body perceptions. Ms. Carlton sagaciously points out that
"The Oriental dances on the Midway Plaisance drew much unfavorable comment. A popular explanation for this is that the corseted Victorian-era woman found the uncorseted dancer shocking and personally offensive. Putting on display the unrestrained movements of hips, pelvis, abdomen, etc. completely violated her sense of what was proper behavior." (p. 47)
She also notes that Victorian-era dances were in prescribed patterns; improvisational dance may also have been considered "primitive, wild and immodest" (p. 47) by these standards. I have long contended that different areas of the body are differently "loaded" in varying cultures, and that ours is less disturbed by display of the extremities than the midriff (The reverse is true in some other cultures). Consider that, while there was a furor surrounding "short shorts," it was nothing to the furor surrounding the bikini. One also wonders at the "boom" of interest in Middle Eastern Dance virtually coinciding with the demise of the girdle as a universally worn garment. At any rate, Ms. Carlton raises some salient and excellently-argued points. Any work that sets people thinking as much as this book is outstanding for that reason alone.
If by now the reader is thinking that, given all the baggage of the dance, so skillfully illuminated by Ms. Carlton, the struggle for respectability looks to be steeply uphill, take heart. Lighter notes do exist. If, in the case of the Persian Palace, we have the first "bad club practices," In Chapter four we have, amusingly enough, perhaps the first new-ager, in the form of Ira Craddock. We note she speaks for the dance, not against it. A positive tradition in its infancy? Ms. Carlton offers another powerful, positive voice and role model for the dance in the figure of Fahreda Mahzar, who is considered as a possible candidate for the designation of "Little Egypt." This is a woman who, along with Mademoiselle Rosa, was
"sincere in presenting Oriental dance. Both women pursued successful careers after the fair. The accomplished this in spite of pressures to play up to harem fantasies and despite knowing, as they surely must have, that few Westerners were ready to see in it anything more than a primitive pastime of a less developed culture. By maintaining their standards, each woman provides a model for contemporary Oriental dancers and there is no need to dress up their life stories with ballyhoo." (p. 94)
There are substantial pieces on Mahzar; Mademoiselle Rosa, however, is not fully explored. This and numerous other tantalizing references--to sword dance, to Canadian actress Maud Allan as the originator of the modern bra and belt cabaret costume, to a type of Raks al Saif that involves not sword but a tray of lighted candles balanced on a bottle on the head, to the bee dance as possibly a fertility dance from ancient Persia--make one salivate thinking about possible further exploration of these topics by this skilled author. To our regret, they are not explored foci here, but perhaps someday . . . Similarly, while there are, in some cases, excellent descriptions of certain dance forms--Chapter three's sections on the Ouled Nail and the notes on pantomime dance existing in other forms besides Persian (or, for those of us who have studied with Zeina/Dee Birnbaum, Sulu Kule gypsy) come to mind--in a few cases one wishes for a glossary with definitions of terms such as "Nautch dancers," lest those who are new to the subject matter be left without an idea of comparisons or references. Besides, it would be fun to look up the definition of "Blue noses."
While such a glossary might have been a welcome addition, however, one must admit it would have perhaps been a Herculean and space-consuming task. We are gifted with an index as well as extensive footnotes, illustration credits, and, bless the author, a substantial list of selected bibliography materials. In general the research behind the work is extensive, scholarly, accurate and substantiated. If you don't believe me, believe Morocco of New York, who was so impressed with the quality of the research that she called Ms. Carlton to compliment her. "Rocky" also endorsed the book more than once at a recent seminar she taught in Lexington, Kentucky, and we all know she doesn't say anything she doesn't mean or isn't willing to be quoted on.
Being of similar inclination myself, I would like to conclude by saying that I sincerely feel that this book is fine writing, fine reference material, and a class production all around. I heartily endorse it. As for whether any of the legends are actually true--Ah, that, my friends, I deliberately have not given away. You'll have to read it to find out--and I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience. I certainly did.
NOTE: Shakira is a professional Middle Eastern Dancer who teaches and performs nationally and internationally, currently teaching six to eight seminars per year. Currently making her living solely as dancer, she has been dedicated to this art form, and to elevating it above the issues it faces, for 18 years. She is also, however, a published poet and writer herself with a B.A. in English (Magna Cum Laude) from Duke University.
* * * * * * * * *Electronically published on the International Dance Discovery Website with permission of the author. First published in The Crescent Moon, September-October 1995.