Page 8-Wednesday, June 9, 1982-The Michigan Daily Smorgasbord of eastern dances By Ellen Rieser F OR THOSE a little tired of dances like the Freak and the Hustle, last Saturday's perormance by Troupe Ta'Amullat, Ann Arbor's nationally noted Danse Orentale company, featured dances from the Middle East, India, and Turkey. Although Troupe Ta'Amullat was joined by members of Dobro Dosle, an international folk dance company for the Turkish dances, and by two guest artists, the evening really belonged to Troupe Ta'Amullat which did the lion's share of the dancing. Saturday's performance was listed' as the ninth in the series of annual "Rites of Spring" performances by Troupe Ta'Amullat; however, the per- formance deserved a special note for it marked the company's great progress over the past six years in evolving from an amateur group used to performing short programs at festivals to a com- pany that is capable of sustaining a polished two-hour performance on an indoor stage. The program, entitled "Visions from the Nargileh," consisted of over twenty dances ties together with a brief but ingenious conceit of a plot. A traveller (William Canwell), recently returned from many exotic lands, smokes his water pipe (the nargileh) and reviews the sights of his wanderings. The opium in the pipe on Saturday evening must have been of excellent quality indeed for the visions conjured up were both beautiful and mysterious. For those members of the audience who might have thought that they were set to see an evening of what is presen- ted in America in cheapened form as "belly dancing," "Visions from the Nargileh" was an eyeopener. The performance was a smorgasbord of expertly performed dances of radically different styles with costumes ranging from the familiar revealing skirts and veils to puffy pantaloons ac- companied by blouses and modest head scarves. Particularly interesting were "The Dance of the Horses," a dance for six women which made use of pawing steps, "The Cane Dance," which featured three women swinging shepherd's crooks in lively fashion, and "The Ritual Flame Dance," in which six women delicately maneuvered twelve small oil lamps held in the palms of their hands. In terms of originals works (original choreography using Danse Orientale and folk dance forms), "The Seven Levels of Astarte," choreography by Troupe Ta'Amullat's Cynthia Adams, stood out for the eerie quality created by its static poses, concealing costumes, and an unusual original score. The dances ranged from solos to line dances, to male exhibition dances, competition dances, and large scale dance dramas such as "The Seven Levels of Astarte." Some dances were enticing; others, especially the Turkish dances performed by the female mem- bers of Dobro Dosle, were surprisingly demure. Some of the dancers made their own music with finger cymbals; others con- tented themselves with the live sitar accompanyist and taped music. Some music sounded like old folk songs. Other music sounded as if it came from the Egyptian top 40 of 1982. Each dance was unique. One thing that did stand out, and given cultural strictures, this is hardly sur prising,was the lack of dances for both men and women. With the excep- tion of Cepikli, a couples dance spiritly performed by Dobro Dosle, "Visions from the Nargileh" had no other mixed dances. A problem endemic to the program was a lack of stage presence smong several of the dancers. While some dancers looked as if they were enjoying themselves and conveyed that same sense of enthusiasm to the audience, others danced to even the wildest Arabian music with expressionless faces. Dancers. who stood for both technique and presence among the stony-faced masses were Deborah Er- win, Sharon Gordan, Nancy Goings, and Mary Weed. The two guest artists were also splendid although in the case of Lala Hakim, a professional dancer and noted authority on Danse Orientale, her part of the program went on quite a bit too long. By the middle of her first dance, Hakim had the whole audience clapping ebulliently along. However, after her third lengthy solo, Hakim's charm had begun to pale considerably. Despite competition from Lala Hakim, it was guest artist Malini Srirama, a professional classical In- Clockwise from upper left: Nancy Weed, and Cynthia Adams from Troupe Ta'Amullat, Ann Arbor's noted Danse Orientale company. dian dancer from Madras, who stole the shoe by performing a single dance. The Koochupudi style dance involved balancing a brass jar on her head while dancing along the rim of, and moving her feet, a large brass plate. Srirama was so graceful as to make the audience watch her dancing and ac- cept the carefully balanced jar on top of her head as merely an odd part of her costume. While there were minor performance glitches (a bad sound system and pacing problems) and one error in ar- tistic judgment (a solo by a masked woman that looked inspired more by Martha Graham than is did Danse Orientale), Troupe Ta'Amullat's per- formance was overall quite strong. However it is an unfortunate fact of life that sometimes otherwise good and enjoyable dance performances can be ruined by the audience. Such was the case for Saturday's performance. At least fifteen members of the audience See MIDDLE, Page 9 4 Luke Skywalker wants your quarters 4 LOS ANGELES (AP)- Two major movie studios say they have created their own video game companies, and a third studio has joined forces with Atari Inc.-marketer of the home TV version of Pac-Man-to cash in on the video game boom. Los Angeles-based 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. said Monday it has created Fox Video Games Inc., while Univer- sity City-based MCA Inc.-parent of Universal Pictures-has created MCA Video Games Inc. Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of such box- office smashes as Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, entered into an agreement with Atari to develop new video games, the San Francisco Chronicle said today. Spokesman for all three film com- panies said their video games will be connected to their hit movies. "The strong advertising and publicity with movies can be combined in sup- port with the games," said Frank O'Connell, president of the new Fox Video Games. He said consumers can expect to see such video games as "9-to-5," because that 1981 film about office workers taking revenge on their boss has the kind of story that "lets the imagination go and has good visuals in the life of the secretary that lends itself to a game." MCA said Universal movies such as King Kong and Jaws are game possibilities "because they are so much a part of the public consciousness." Sources said the Lucasfilm-Atari products will combine video graphic technology with video gameboard con- cepts currently in vogue, relying heavily on pictorial material of the kind found in film special effects. The partnership marks the first time a movie studio and a video game and home computer company teamed up the multibillion dollar industries. "Most of the games now are of the shoot-'em-down type," a Lucasfilm spokesman said. "We will try to work on getting the player more involved with the games. The video game in- dustry is much like the film in- dustry-it's who can create the most in- teresting story to entertain people." The video games are expected to be released early next year, the spokesmen said. Americans spent an estimated $9 billion on video game machines last year. I I ... Raiders of the electronic arcades