Ghawazee Dance Class

Gypsies, from the term "invaders of the heart". Families of dancers with their own distinct style of dancing passed on from mother to daughter. The men of the family play music and the women perform at festivals, weddings and private parties. The movement vocabulary is more limited and repetitive, but they are able to continue their shimmies and finger cymbal (zills) playing for hours. There is a long history in Egypt about the dancers of the Ghawazee, through the orientalist period, a lot of the Ghawazee dancers were depicted in paintings. A good source of information of this time is found in the book "Serpent of the Nile". Some Ghawazee dancers still exist in Aswan, in Egypt.