Tarik Sultan
New member
Didn't the Ottoman Empire influence have some effect here, as it reigned over the majority of North Africa at one point and for some time, so it stands to reason that the dance could have evolved from this source and been to some extent heavily influenced also.
Well, like I said, the majority of Turkish dances are line and circle dances, so if there was an influence, we would have seen line and circle dances being the norm in Egypt, but this isn't the case. In fact, with the exception of the Nubians, solo improvisational dances are the rule in Egypt, but the exception in Turkey. Now there are Asiatic influences in Egyptian dance. The way the hands and arms are used are clearly Asiatic, but I tend to believe that it probably came into the region during the time of Persian domination of Egypt right before Alexanders conquest. Now I'll admit that this is just educated guess work on my part and those elements could have come into the area either through the larger islamic cultural exchange, or with the Turks, but I would go for the Islamic cultural exchange via the silk road as #2 and Turks as #3 for the arms. It is definately not of African origin.