{"id":3551,"date":"2011-12-11T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T06:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=3551"},"modified":"2011-12-14T18:12:08","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T01:12:08","slug":"sausan-egypts-golden-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2011\/12\/11\/sausan-egypts-golden-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s Golden Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

a Timeline & Synopsis<\/h2>\n

\"Asmahan<\/p>\n

by Sausan<\/a>
\nposted December 9, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

We have always danced. \u00a0As a people, a nation, a country, a culture, we have assembled and we have danced, be it for weather, war, fertility, socializing, prosperity, or self. \u00a0We, in a word, dance. \u00a0Dance gives us a means of expression, a connection to our culture, and within the different countries of the world, dance has evolved within the structures of its culture and according to the culture from which it was born.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s cultural expression through dance comes to us with many names. \u00a0Presently known in many parts of the world today as \u201cBelly dance\u201d, Egypt has given us one of the most dynamic, yet misunderstood, expressions in the world today–\u201cRaqs Sharqi\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pre-Classic Dance Era: \u00a0Before 1849 <\/p>\n

As far back as 1400 BCE, girls are depicted dancing on the walls of tombs. \u00a0One of the most popular illustrations of ancient Egyptian dance in any medium is a painted fresco from the tomb of Nebamun, an Egyptian "scribe and counter of grain" who lived during the New Kingdom and died sometime around 1400 BCE. \u00a0Then King Amenhotep<\/span>, who later renamed himself as King Akhenaten<\/span>, the Heretic King, ruled with wife and Queen Nefertiti<\/span> in the 1300s BCE. \u00a0This was a time of artistic change and contribution and of productive building. \u00a0It was also a time of religious change. \u00a0As the pharaoh who declared that there was to be only one god, it is speculated that his wife Queen Nefertiti brought together all temple dancers and an Egyptian universal dance was born. \u00a0These dances would continue to evolve throughout the ages passing down its core movements in a cultural expression to the native people of Egypt. \u00a0Today, the West knows this dance as \u201cBelly dance\u201d.<\/p>\n

From around 1850 to 2000, Egypt saw the birth, rise, and transformation of its cultural expression through dance. \u00a0With each period, a new energy in the dance was introduced and, with it, new dancers with new dance movements and new costumes. \u00a0Below listed are the three major periods of the Golden Age of Egypt\u2019s Dance Era with the three most famous dancers in each who reigned supreme. Of course, the dancers listed as the three most famous ones are only a few, but they comprise the total of nine of the most remembered and celebrated of all Egyptian dancers of their time known to the West.<\/p>\n

The Pre-Classic Period: \u00a01850 – 1929 <\/p>\n

During this sixty-nine year period, artists, authors, and adventurers traveled to the Middle East and wrote about the exotic sights and sounds of the places to which they traveled. \u00a0As well, the occupation by the English in 1882 brought out British troops who would later spend their time in local nightclubs watching the exotic dancers of Egypt. \u00a0Out of this period came three celebrated dancers, Kuchuk Hanem, Shafika Al Cobtiya<\/span>, and Badia Al Masabni<\/span>. <\/p>\n