Shafiqah The Copt, the most famous, most influential, and the richest-ever Ghazia of Old Egypt.[1]Egyptian group of Ghawazi dancers(c. 1880)
Ghawazi (also ghawazee) (Egyptian Arabic: الغوازي) are female dancers who danced in return for money in public settings, and the streets. There were male dancers as well, including men who performed movements associated with women and who were pejoratively called khawal (there were also male dances unlike these, either from Egypt or deriving from the Balkans, Greece or other areas of the Ottoman Empire). While the performative and traditional raqs sharqi in urban Egypt was more classical and influenced by more formal and classical Western styles such as classical ballet or Latin American dance, the term ghawazi in Egypt refers to the dancers in rural Egypt who have preserved the traditional 18th to 19th-century styles.
The practice began as a few Egyptian Domari refused to dance for free, unlike the custom among all Egypt. Rural Egyptians or Fellahin adopted the practice, developing a more rural and traditional style accompanied by rural Egyptian songs and the colorful dresses of the Fellahin, becoming a theme of rural Egypt.
Over the years, Upper Egyptians (Sa'idis) mastered and then developed a different style of traditional Saidi dancing that is accompanied by the Egyptian mizmar and Qena and Assuit's traditional female clothing of Telli (Egyptian Arabic: تلي)), a silky type of local fabric. That Upper Egyptian style is the most famous, in which the dancer is accompanied by a traditional Upper Egyptian mizmar and a singer singing and narrating folk songs in Saidi Arabic about local heroes and popular love stories in towns.
Traditional Ghawazi dancers are becoming harder and harder to find as time passes. There are main movements and positioning of two of the most popular Ghawazi groups that are found in modern Egypt; the Banat Mazin (Egyptian Arabic: بنات مازن) of Luxor and the Sumbati Ghawazee (Egyptian Arabic: غوازي السنباطي) of the Nile Delta. The Banat Mazin are famous for their traditional Upper Egyptian vintage-style costume, so you can see how the movements would be affected by the costuming. The Sagat (finger cymbals), are optional but recommended in the Upper Egyptian/Saidi style.[2]
^شفيقة القبطية... أبرع راقصات عصرها, retrieved 16 July 2023
^RAQ-ON DANCE 2017 BELLY DANCE AND FOLKLORIC RETREAT WITH INTERNATIONAL DANCERS LEILA FARID, TAMALYN DALLAL, AND SAHRA SAEEDA
Ghawazi (also ghawazee) (Egyptian Arabic: الغوازي) are female dancers who danced in return for money in public settings, and the streets. There were male...
term ghawazi in Egypt refers to the dancers in rural Egypt who have preserved the traditional 18th to 19th century style. The Arabic غوازي ghawāzī (singular...
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