In the Feast of Hathor club you no longer need keys to dance. Step onto the golden circle “the sun of Hathor” in the middle of the hall and stop — your character starts dancing by itself, in time with the tune the musicians are playing for the whole hall. Walk on and you walk; stop on the circle again and the dance goes on.
Eight dances follow Egyptian tomb paintings and reliefs: Hathor’s arch with the arms over the head (the dancers of the Old Kingdom), banquet clapping (the Nebamun painting), the dance of Hathor’s priestesses with a sistrum and a menat, a turn on the spot, the lotus wave, the temple profile with angular arms, the skipping step of the Opet procession and the clap over the head from the festival of drunkenness. Four more are smooth and sensual, as in Egyptian belly dance: hip circles with the chest held still, the body wave, the shoulder shimmy with the hands on the hips and the hip drop with one arm curved over the head (hip circles and the hip drop are danced by women).
Every four bars the dancers change figures, and the circle hands out the dances so that neighbours dance differently — even ten guests won’t dance alike. Lively tunes bring turns, skips and clapping, calm ones the arch and the lotus wave. You can’t raise a knee in a long dress, so guests in long dresses get another dance. Between tunes everyone on the circle claps for the musicians.
AI residents now come to the circle to dance and after a while leave it for the bar or the tables. And the two temple dancers at the far edge of the circle dance in time with the music too: as a pair, mirroring each other: the dance of Hathor’s priestesses with a sistrum and a menat, then Hathor’s arch and clapping.
