page_title: Ghawazi
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ghawazi / History
caption_attribution_description: English: An Egyptian male dancer dressed in female costume (see khawal) standing in front of a divan.
context_page_description: The Ghawazi were a group of female traveling dancers. They first started as Egyptian Gypsies, then the Ghawzis extensively practiced and developed among rural Egyptians or Fellahin, who then developed a more rural and traditional style accompanied by Rural Egyptian songs and colorful dresses of the Fellahin and became a theme of Rural Egypt. Over the years, Upper Egyptians mastered and then developed a different style of traditional Saidi dancing that's accompanied by Egyptian mizmar flute and Qena and Assuit's traditional female clothing of Telli ‎, a super silky type of local fabric. That Upper Egyptian style is the most famous.
  The Ghawazee dancers are some of the indigenous professional dancers of Egypt. These traditional entertainers are becoming harder and harder to find as time passes. There are main movements and positioning of two of the most popular Ghawazee groups that are found in Modern Egypt; the Banat Mazin of Luxor and the Sumbati Ghawazee of the Nile Delta. 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.
context_section_description: In 1834, the ghawazi were banished from Cairo to Upper Egypt by Muhammad Ali. Initially, the Ghawazi were a very small group who got banished because of their low-class dancing. By time the term then didn't refer to them but mainly became a general term for any dancers as it included all the traditional and folk dances of Rural and Upper Egyptians, mainly featuring mizmars and heavy bass lines and other traditional Egyptian music in the background.
  Beginning in the first half of the 19th century, descriptions and depictions of ghawazi dancers became famous in European Orientalism, and the style was described as danse de ventre or belly-dance from the 1860s.
  The first Ghawazis performed unveiled in the streets. Rapid hip movement and use of brass finger cymbals/hand castanets characterized their dance. Musicians of their tribe usually accompanied them in their dance. They usually wore kohl around their eyes and henna on their fingers, palms, toes and feet. According to Lane these women were "the most abandoned of the courtesans of Egypt". He describes them as being very beautiful and richly dressed.
  The Ghawazi performed in the court of a house, or in the street, before the door, on certain occasions of festivity in the harem. They were never admitted into a respectable harem, but were frequently hired to entertain a party of men in the house of some rake. Both women and men enjoyed their entertainment. However, many people who were more religious, or of the higher classes, disapproved of them.
  Many people liked the dancing of the Ghawazi, but felt it was improper because of its being danced by women who should not expose themselves in this manner. Because of this, there was a small number of young male performers called Khawals. The Khawals were Egyptian male tradiitonal dancers who impersonated the women of the Ghawazi and their dance. They were known to impersonate every aspect of the women including their dance and use of castanets.
caption: A khawal (dancing boy) dressed in ghaziya dancing costume (c. 1870).
exif: {}