Before They Were Belly Dancers: European Accounts of Female Entertainers in Egypt, 1760-1870
- Author: Fraser, Kathleen W.
Book
$33.00Contents
- Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Section One: Background
- 1. On Writing This Book
- 2. Selected Egyptian History—the Study Period
- 3. Writers and Painters in Egypt from 1760 to 1870
- Section Two: Setting the Stage
- 4. A Name for the Dance and a Name for the Dancer
- 5. The Low Reputation of Female Entertainers
- 6. The Geography of Going to the Show
- Section Three: Going to the Show—Professionals at Work
- 7. The Corporation of Female Singers—the Chanteuses
- 8. Identifying the Raqqâsin, Corporation 200
- 9. Identifying the Ghawâzî, Corporation 192
- 10. Male Performers—Dancers and Musicians
- Section Four: The Lives of Female Entertainers
- 11. Relationships with Various Groups in Egyptian Society
- 12. Professional Relationships with the Audience
- 13. Training
- 14. Economic Position of Female Entertainers
- Section Five: Biographies
- 15. Thirty-One Female Dancers and One Male
- Section Six: Gossip, Hearsay, Rumors and Myths
- 16. The Missing ‘Awâlim
- 17. The Massacre of “The Four Hundred”
- 18. Banning the Dance in Muhammad Ali’s Egypt
- 19. Myths of Origins of Female Dancers and Singers
- Section Seven: Building the Aesthetic of Performance
- 20. A Costume Benchmark Set by Edward Lane
- 21. The Musicianship of Dancers
- 22. The Aesthetic of Dance Movements
- Section Eight: Choreography and Performance
- 23. Six Choreographic Elements Basic to the Dance
- 24. Extending the Definition of Choreography
- 25. Three Identifiable Dances
- 26. Accessory Dances
- Epilogue
- Appendix One: Biographical Facts About Selected 18th–and Early 19th-Century Travel Writers and Artists
- Appendix Two: Travelers’ Terms for Female Entertainers: Selected Passages by Date of Travel
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index