Egypt Fiasco

A couple of pix of my Luxor performance - the keyboard player wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Males in Egypt pretty much only dance folkloric styles in folkloric costumes, such as the above pictured Twirling Dervish. Still, I had gone downstairs a level to get ready and there was a group of male "Tahtib" (folkloric cane or stick) dancers waiting there who were mightily curious so they followed me up to watch. They too liked that I played finger cymbals.

A shot of my double header performance in Sweden - the 17 year old wasn't exactly sure about the whole thing!

Hauled rather less than the usual amount of "loot", AKA "tourist tat" home this time, but the best of all was by far was the traditional Siwan "Troket" (Bridal Shawl) I bought at a "certain shop" our guide took us to once he understood that we were looking for "the real deal", not a bunch of crap from India. Later, he took us to a local museum that he doesn't take many people to - and I saw pretty much the exact same shawl on display there, so mine is definitely genuine.


Showing it off at the first dance class I've attended since my return!

Last picture, the Siwan handicraft "things" are now up, bracketing this triple-moon Goddess macrame' "thing" that one of my teachers gave us a few years ago. My wife's pastor would have an apoplectic fit if he knew about it...

I lied, a few more pix, and a crappy 6 second video have appeared. The one picture is worthy of note:

This is Khyria Mazin, the very last of the fabled Mazin family of Ghawazee dancers who is still dancing. There are other dancers doing Ghawazee style dancing of course, but the Mazin family is considered to be the original. Her sister was present (in Hijab) but no longer dances which makes Khyria The. Very. Last. One. She was, of course, spectacular!

Then this craptastic video, all of 6 seconds long, turned up of my performance in Luxor:

Vulture said:

Neat trip! How were you received as a male performer? Bias varies widely throughout the world!

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Males generally only perform folkloric styles in folkloric costumes - such as the above pictured "Tannoura" AKA "Twirling Dervish" and the male "Tahtib" (stick) dancers. They do not perform the Cabaret style that the women do in sparkly costumes. It is also actually illegal to perform with a bare midriff (a sheer body stocking is OK), and you're not supposed to do floorwork unless you're balancing a candelabra on your head (I do do floorwork on occasion, and I do the "Shemadan" (balanced candelabra) dance, but not at the same time - I ain't that flexible!).

So I'm sure the poor Egyptians didn't quite know what to make of me. The band was sitting by while we did our dances to recorded music (I would have rather danced to the band, but it wasn't an option), the keyboard player certainly didn't know what to make of me, he was sitting there with crossed arms. OTOH, its really hard to read Middle Eastern people as they are VERY polite - he gave me a thumbs up later in the evening. I think he was just being kind/polite, but I dunno. I certainly had the illegal bare midriff, complete with navel piercing and tramp stamp tattoo - I don't know what cultural baggage those have in Egypt.

Interestingly, the Twirling Dervish danced up to me during his performance and expressed his admiration for my finger cymbals which I was playing along with the band. Before I went on, I went downstairs a level to get rid of my coverup, and get my veil and finger cymbals situated. There were 4 or 5 guys down there, all ready to do Tahtib. They too were impressed when they saw my finger cymbals, and actually followed me upstairs to watch. What they thought of the whole thing, only they and the Goddess know. I ain't all that and a bag of chips, I never have been. My costume wasn't fabulous either, it was a cheapie from "Miss Belly Dance dot com" that was lightweight and easy to pack. One of my "High Cabaret" costumes - or even worse, a Tribal costume - would take an entire suitcase by itself. So cheapie costume, minimal jewelry, no makeup whatsoever, only toenails painted; definitely doesn't elevate my look into the professional realm. Maybe that was better for the Egyptians... *SHRUG*

Then there was the photo shoot in the Sahara. Our hired guide/driver, "Achmed" was joined by another "Achmed" who was our 4X4 driver in the dunes. They made it possible to do the photo shoot, changing into that costume in the wind blown Sahara was "interesting". I even did a super brief dance for the two Achmeds - they seemed mesmerized that I could move my hips like that. After the shoot, wife told me to just leave the costume on so she wouldn't have to help me get out of the thing in the desert, so it was on when we stopped a bit later next to another 4X4. I teased our Achmed 4X4 driver who was shooting the shit with the other driver: "How are you going to explain THIS to this poor soul?" The other driver said - in excellent English - that he was a completely open minded person - BUT - that he didn't want his picture taken with me because it would "get around town". We all had a good, long laugh about that. Let me see if I can find the picture of the two drivers...


Our driver, Achmed, to the left, the other driver doesn't look like he's too sure about things!

P.S. The only thing I had other than a bit of jewelry was this headpiece that was presented to me by "Vanessa".


I didn't even have my contacts, I had to take my glasses off and dance blind.

Apparition said:

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Her Maias are to die for. There's not many dancers that flexible, and even fewer men. I'm certainly NOT one of them.