Kathleen W. Fraser - Before They Were Belly Dancers: European Accounts of Female Entertainers in Egypt, 1760-1870

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ISBN 978-1-4766-1916-3 (ebook)

2015 Kathleen W. Fraser. All rights reserved

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On the cover: Egyptian Dancer in a Tent by Willem de Famars Testas, 1863 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
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To Jenny,
Laura, Miriam
and Hannah

Not chaste, they are by no means common.

William George Browne

Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria from the year 1792 to 1798

Fig. 1.Richard Pococke. Dancing Women of Egypt. c. 1738.

Fig. 2.Wilhelm Baurenseind. Reprsentation des Danseuses et de Leur Musiciens Kahira (Representation of Dancers and Their Musicians at Cairo). c. 1761 (From Baurenfeind, dessinateur, Illustrations de Voyage en Arabie [Amsterdam-Utrecht: S.J. Baalde-J. Van Schoonhoven, 1776]).

Fig. 3.Luigi Mayer. An Egyptian Ball, at Ned Sili. c. 1798 (From Luigi Mayer, Views in Egypt [London: R. Boyer, 1813]. Reproduction by permission of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, New York).

Fig. 4.J.J. Rifaud. Danse d Almes et leur musique (Dance of the Almes and Their Music). c. 1825 (With permission of the Socit Royal dArchologie, dHistoire et de Folklore de Nivelles et du Brabant Wallon).

Fig. 5.Vivant Denon. Alme. c. 1800 (With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum ROM).

Fig. 6.Egyptian Copt (unidentified). Alms. c. 1800 (From Commission des sciences et arts dEgypte. Description de lEgypte [Paris: Imprimerie imp., 18091822]. Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto).

Fig. 7.J. Riudavets. Feria de Tanta (Tanta Fair). c. 1880 (From Eduardo Toda yGell, A Travs del Egipto [Madrid: El Progresso Editorial, 1889]).

Fig. 8.Heinrich von Mayr. Kostueme von Oberaegypten (Costume from Upper Egypt). c. 1838 (From Maximilian Duke of Bavaria, Herzogs. Wanderung nach dem Orient im Jahre 1838 [Munich: Verlag W. Ludwig, 1978, repr.]. Image reprinted here courtesy of the publisher).

Fig. 9.Andr Dutertre. Alms ou danseuses publiques (Alms or public dancers). c. 1800 (From Commission des sciences et arts dEgypte. Description de lEgypte [Paris: Imprimerie imp., 18091822]. Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto).

Fig. 10.W.H. Bartlett. Untitled. 1845 (From W.H. Bartlett, The Nile boat; or glimpses of the land of Egypt [London: Arthur Hall, Virtue, 1849]).

Fig. 11.J.J. Rifaud. Repas de noces dun chaik el beled (de Thebade) (Wedding Breakfast of a Village Shaik of Luxor). c. 1825 (With permission of the Socit Royal dArchologie, dHistoire et de Folklore de Nivelles et du Brabant Wallon).

Fig. 12.Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection. Egypt: Dancing Girl. c. 1890 (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ6287592]).

Fig. 13. Jean-Lon Grme. Alme. c. 1868 (From Paul Lenoir, Le Fayoum, le Sinai et Petra: expedition dans la moyenne Egype et lArabie petre, sous la direction de J.L. Grme [Paris: H. Plon, 1872]).

Fig. 14.Willem de Famars Testas. Egyptische danseres in een tent (Egyptian Dancer in a Tent). 1863 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).

Fig. 15.Jean-Lon Grme. Danse du Sabre, from the painting by Jean Leon Grme (partial) (Saber Dance). c. 1875 (From Photograuves After Paintings byJean-Lon Grme [New York: D. Appleton & Co., 187- or later]).

Fig. 16.David Roberts. Dancing Girls at Cairo. c. 1839 (From David Roberts, Egypt and Nubia [London: F.G. Moon, 1849]. Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto).

Fig. 17.Edward Lane. Dancing Girls (Ghawazee or Ghazeeyahs). c. 1840 (From E.W. Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians [London: A.M. Nattali, 1846]).

Fig. 18.mile Prisse dAvennes. Ghawazi or Dancing Girls. c. 1835.

Fig. 19.Eugne Fromentin. Danse dAlmes, Sihout, daprs un croquis de M. Stop (Dance of the Almes at Asyt, After a Sketch by Mr. Stop). c. 1869 (From Djamila Henni-Chebra and Christian Poch, Les danses dans le monde arabe [Paris: LHarmattan, 1996]. Image reprinted here courtesy of the publisher).

Fig. 20.Thomas Gold Appleton. A Ghawazee. c. 1875 (From Thomas Gold Appleton, A Nile Journey by T.G. Appleton [London: MacMillan, 1876]).

Fig. 21a.Alexandre Bida. Danseuse Alm (Dancing Alm). c. 1855 ( Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

Fig. 21b.Alexandre Bida. Joueuse de Tarabouka (Girl Performing on the Darabukka). c. 1855 ( Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

Fig. 22.Brandin. Alme, danseuse au Caire (Alme, Dancer at Cairo) (Garnier Frres Edit., Paris. Imp. Dufrnoy, Paris).

Fig. 23.Gustav Richter. Egyptian Dancing Womenafter Gustav Richter. c. 1861 (From The Aldine, the Art Journal of America vol. 9 [1879]).

Fig. 24.Louis Forbin. La danse de lAlme Beni Souf (Dance of the Alme at Beni Suef). c. 1818 (From Louis Forbin, Voyage dans le Levant en 1817 et 1818 [Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1819]. Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto).

Fig. 25. Jean-Lon Grme (18241904) French, Dance of the Almeh, 1863. Oil on wood panel. 19 32 inches (The Dayton Art Institute. Gift of Robert Badenhop, 1951.15).

Fig. 26.George Montbard. Ghwazi dansant la danse de la gupe (Ghwazi Dancing the Dance of The Bee). c. 1880 (From Georges Montbard [Charles A. Loyes], En Egypte: notes et croquis dun artiste [Paris: Monde illustre, [18]).

Fig. 27.Alfred-Henri Darjou. La Danse de la Gargoulette (Pot Dance). 1869 (From Florian Pharaon, Le Caire et la Haute Egypte [Paris. E. Dentu, 1872]. Princeton University Library).

In 1896, my paternal great-grandmother and her only child, my grandmother, set out from Peoria, Illinois, on their Grand Tour of Europe, an extended vacation that eventually included a Cooks cruise of Egypts Nile. At the dock in Asyt, under a bright February sun, my great-grandmother wrote in her diary:

Boats were drawn up along the shore; camels with huge loads went by and altogether it was a strange and lively scene. Today just before the steamer started it was still more so. Many freight dahabeahs [boats] were unloaded onto the camels and men with pig- and goat-skin water bags were filling them from the river. A great gaunt, pink-legged ostrich strode by. A dancing girl with her face tattooed danced on the sand to the music of a coconut fiddle.