Pre-Golden era in Egypt

Type: Stereoview Year: 1899 Description: A steroview of Nubian dancer from 1899, Keystone View Company. On the back side, one can find a text from that time period (includes some xenofobic statements): ‘"I am black but comely... As the tents of Kedar... Look not upon me because I am swarthy." Cant. I. 5. F. We might imagine we see here the Shulamite, the shepherd girl, dancing in ecstatic solitary abandon, while unawares Solomon is approaching in his chariot. But while this one is black like the Shulamite we have not here the shy country girl alone among the hills whose dancing is like the song of the forest bird, spontaneous and inartificial. As the charm of the natural habit of a wild animal is lost when it is domesticated, so the dance of the Egyptian professional becomes almost disgusting when we know that it is not prompted by happy innocence. These Ghawasi, as they are called, are a tribe in Egypt like our Gypsies, which term they also apply to themselves. They keep their tribe pure from mixed blood by avoiding intermarriage with other tribes. They are not held in high esteem by the Egyptians for the Mohammedan creed does not countenance music and non-religious dancing. The European dance does not seem graceful to the Arab, and the joint dance of the sexes is to him immoral.’ Read an article about the stereoviews and see the images in 3D from the comfort of your home! Visit the section 'Articles'.