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Why the Fuss Over Egyptian Style Music and Oriental Dance? - Page 3

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The clubs featuring these headliners were 5-star nightclubs, and heavily patronized by wealthy Arabs from nearby countries such as Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian entertainment industry promoted their work, and the news media made them famous throughout the Arab world.

As air travel became more affordable and accessible in the late 1970's, an increasing number of Oriental dance artists from Europe, North America, and Australia made the pilgrimage to see these shows. These "dance tourists" were captivated by the superb performances and the popularity these stars had in their own countries. Soon, many people were bringing home music, props, and costumes they had bought "over there" in hopes of copying the types of shows they had seen.

At the same time, Turkey's Oriental dance scene was primarily aimed at the sleaze market. Dancers were very scantily clad, and the nightclubs that featured them were low-class dives. They did not present an example that dancers in Europe, North America, and Australia would want to emulate.

The Egyptian influence took a strong hold over the dance scene around the rest of the world. Egypt was the best place to go in the Middle East to see excellent performances of Oriental dance in high-class nightclubs, and it was also the best place to go to buy costumes. Egypt was the one country in the Middle East whose Oriental dance performers were famous and highly paid.

The Dance Scene Today

Sadly, the dance scene in Egypt declined over the course of the 1990's.

One issue is that there has been a decline in the rich Arabic tourists from the Persian Gulf region who used to patronize the 5-star nightclubs in Cairo. It was the older generation that used to be fond of going to these clubs and watching dance performances. The younger generation prefers other entertainment, and goes elsewhere to find it. As a result, several of the 5-star nightclubs have closed due to this loss of revenue.

Another impact on the Egyptian dance scene is the fact that the Muslim extremists targeted Egypt as a place to bring their conservative influence. They offered to pay money to families if the women would wear traditional Muslim attire instead of Western garb. They began to wreak violence on people who didn't conform to their rigid interpretation of Islam.

These extremists particularly targeted public dance performances by women, because Islam states that women should cover their beauty and show it only to their husbands. They threatened to disrupt with violence any events that involved women performing Oriental dance in front of men. As a result, people have backed away from hiring female dancers for weddings and other happy events, because they don't want their special occasions ruined by violence. When I was in Egypt in 1999, I was invited to two weddings, and neither had a female dancer. Instead, both featured ensembles of young men dancing.

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