Ghawazi

Who is Ghawazi?

The Ghawazi dancers of Egypt were a group of female traveling dancers of the Nawari people, a subgroup of the Dom people, sometimes referred to as "Gypsies".

The ghawazi style gave rise to the Egyptian raqs sharqi by the first half of the 20th century, and in turn to the Western forms of belly dance.

While the performative raqs sharqi in urban Egypt was heavily influenced by Western styles such as classical ballet or Latin American dance, the term ghawazi in Egypt refers to the dancers in rural Egypt who have preserved the traditional 18th to 19th century style.