Ghawazi

Ghawazi (also ghawazee) (Arabic: الغوازي) are female dancers who danced in return for money in public settings, and the streets.

[2] The Arabic غوازي ghawāzī (singular غازية ghāziya) means "conqueror", as the ghaziya is said to "conquer" the hearts of her audience.

They were also known as awālim (singular alma, transliterated almeh in French as almée), but in Egypt, Awalim are the traditional Egyptian dancers and singers of the city, not rural areas, who used to perform in respectable events such as the weddings and festivities of notable people.

[3] Both terms are 19th-century euphemisms for "erotic dancer";[4] almeh literally means "learned woman" and came to be used as a replacement for ghaziya after the ghawazi were legally banned in 1834.

An almeh originally was a courtesan in Egyptian culture, a woman educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse.

[6] 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 word khawal in Egypt is modern derogatory slang for a man participating in passive gay intercourse.

Representing diverse historical backgrounds, most of the Ghawazi of the Qena region belong to ethnic minorities such as the Nawar (or Nawara), Halab and Bahlawen.

The coats are typically ankle-length, though some modern Ghawazi troupes wear a shorter version over a full, knee-length skirt.