National Folkloric Dance Companies in Egypt 

Mahmoud Reda (1930 – )

Mahmoud Reda was born in Cairo on March 18, 1930, the eighth of ten children. Influenced by his older brother Ali, a dancer himself, as well as by films starring American actors and dancers Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, Reda became interested in dance. He took formal ballet classes, which in Egypt was not considered effeminate as it often is in the West, rather it was considered a high art and a legacy of colonialism. He originally trained as a gymnast, representing Egypt in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He joined a South American dance troupe after graduating from Cairo University and toured Europe. When he returned, he aimed to begin his own dance company and joined the Heliolido Club—a middle-class sports club in a suburb of Cairo\’s Heliopolis—in Cairo where he met Anglo-Egyptian dancer Farida Fahmy, who became his dancing partner. Reda choreographed his first work commissioned by the Egyptian government in 1954 and traveled to Moscow with the troupe that performed it. In the 1950s, dancers from the Moiseyev Dance Company of the Soviet Union were sent to Egypt to “advise” the Firqat al-Qawmiyya.³ Reda, along with his brother, Ali, turned this company into the Reda Troupe in 1959. In an interview with Anthony Shay, Reda says that he “never thought of Egyptian folklore,” even though he and his brother had a “passion for dance.” It wasn’t until Reda auditioned for an Argentine company that was performing in Cairo that Reda asked himself, “Why am I doing Argentine dance? Why not Egyptian?” Initially, the Egyptian government offered no financial support or otherwise to the Reda brothers, because, “the reputation of dance in Egypt was terrible and associated with prostitution.”⁴ After appearing in a film⁵ directed by Ali Reda, and receiving accolades from the Egyptian elite, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture decided to sponsor Reda\’s new dance company, the Reda Troupe, in 1961, incorporating it into the government.

Mahmoud Reda is credited with bringing the many folkloric and indigenous dances of Egypt to the stage, modifying them for the theater setting. Neither Western dances nor pure folkloric dances were acceptable in mid-20th-century Egypt; Egyptians perceived Western dances as vestiges of oppressive colonial influence, and indigenous folkdance was often seen as too vulgar or low class. The Reda Troupe was also able to break through the stigma and prejudice against dancers in Egypt through Farida Fahmy’s social connections, and Cairo society quickly deemed their performances acceptable. Reda himself said in an interview with Anthony Shay, “The reputation of dance [in Egypt] was terrible. We decided to avoid the strong movements of the belly and hips, and we covered the dancers.”⁶ Reda also bolstered the image of the dancer by using choreographed groups rather than improvisational soloists, which helped distance his choreographies from the stigma of the belly dancer.⁷ Shay claims that Reda consciously and specifically attempted to erase the equation of dancer, male or female, with prostitution, by erasing or altering any movements he perceived as overtly sexual.

Like many individuals of his time, Reda was not interested in reproducing authentic dance traditions on stage. They had to be remade for the approval of the new postcolonial elite;⁸ indeed, Shay notes that Reda “felt compelled to create a new and hybrid genre of dance […] to attract audiences from the elite classes whose support and approval he sought for the success of the fledgling company.”⁹ Reda’s long-time dance partner Farida Fahmy notes that Reda’s goal was to develop “a new theater dance form rather than transplanting dances from their local setting onto the stage.” She also says that Reda’s choreographic works “were never direct imitations or accurate reconstructions,” but rather they were Reda’s “own vision of the movement qualities of the Egyptians.”¹⁰ Oriental dancers continue to perform the stylizations and “folkdance” styles created and reinterpreted by Mahmoud Reda, and these dances are often considered “traditional” Oriental dance. However, it is, as Shay notes, an “invented tradition.”

In addition, Mahmoud Reda bridged the gap between indigenous movement and choreographed performance. While he did not depend on accurately reproducing traditional Egyptian dances, he did not just present Western dance forms costumed in Egyptian textiles.¹¹ He also imagined dance traditions for different regions in Egypt, such as the Nile Delta and the Suez Canal. Reda said, “The (male) fellahin of the Delta had no distinct dance tradition, so I created one. I did not want to leave the region without a dance, so I formed a style from everyday movements.” ¹² Dance ethnologists and anthropologists still find it incredibly difficult to uncover dance traditions in these regions today as the indigenous people there are resistant to sharing them with outsiders.¹³ Reda also famously invented dance styles, such as the Melaya Leff—a character dance using the melaya, a large black modesty shawl worn by women, especially in Alexandria —and the “Sugar Doll Dance”—based on a confection served at local folk festivals that Egyptians could relate to in their childhood memories. ¹⁴

In 1972, Reda stepped down as the principle dancer of the troupe but continued to choreograph and direct. By this time, the troupe had grown to one hundred and fifty dancers (from an initial group of twelve dancers and twelve musicians), musicians, and stage crew. Under Reda’s direction, the Reda Troupe went on five international tours, performing for world leaders and even at Carnegie Hall. In 1983, Farida Fahmy retired from dance and left the troupe. In 1990, Reda retired as director of the Reda Troupe. The company exists today in name only, but it has inspired the creation of regional, university, and community folkdance groups all over Egypt. The Reda Troupe has also inspired the formation of similar folkloric companies in Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries. ¹⁵ Reda continues to teach and tour throughout the world, even in his 80th decade. ¹⁶