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Tarik Sultan · 01-06-2008, 04:55 PM

To answe the question, not all the Egyptian dancers were kochecks. However, Egypt being part of the Ottoman Empire and adopting its fashions, all the male dancers in the Empire wore the same outfit. It consisted basically of a large skirt that was worn over their regular street clothes. In Turkey, under their kaftans they wore a fitted shirt with long sleevs and fitted pants. on their heads they would wear either a skull cap or a fur hat. This outfit was adopted in the 1500's, before that, they didn't wear any costume at all. They just danced in their kaftans with a turban on the head. Some wore the outfit of the middle class men which was a shirt, vest, and baggy pants. The only costume item being a conical hat.

As for finger cybals in Oriental dance. They were a part of the dance in previous decades. The Mohamed Ali dancers always played them. Nadia Hamdi explained to me that when she was growing up all dancers on the Street played them because they were taught by their families to do so. Her mother and grandmother taught her very carefully. She said that they were very serious about it and when she would mess up they would wack her on the knuckles with a ruler. In fact, it was her opinion that a dancer who didn't know how to play them was incomplete. When I saw her dance in Cairo she played them during her ORiental routine, not to baladi music, but to classical Oriental dance music. She also played them during a Baladi number later in the show.
In 1988 when I saw Shusu Amin she also played them for most of her Oriental routine and I saw many no name dancers who did the same.

01-06-2008, 04:55 PM	#24 (permalink)
Tarik Sultan V.I.P. Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Jersey City, New Jersey Posts: 1,453	Kocheks and finger cymbals To answe the question, not all the Egyptian dancers were kochecks. However, Egypt being part of the Ottoman Empire and adopting its fashions, all the male dancers in the Empire wore the same outfit. It consisted basically of a large skirt that was worn over their regular street clothes. In Turkey, under their kaftans they wore a fitted shirt with long sleevs and fitted pants. on their heads they would wear either a skull cap or a fur hat. This outfit was adopted in the 1500's, before that, they didn't wear any costume at all. They just danced in their kaftans with a turban on the head. Some wore the outfit of the middle class men which was a shirt, vest, and baggy pants. The only costume item being a conical hat. As for finger cybals in Oriental dance. They were a part of the dance in previous decades. The Mohamed Ali dancers always played them. Nadia Hamdi explained to me that when she was growing up all dancers on the Street played them because they were taught by their families to do so. Her mother and grandmother taught her very carefully. She said that they were very serious about it and when she would mess up they would wack her on the knuckles with a ruler. In fact, it was her opinion that a dancer who didn't know how to play them was incomplete. When I saw her dance in Cairo she played them during her ORiental routine, not to baladi music, but to classical Oriental dance music. She also played them during a Baladi number later in the show. In 1988 when I saw Shusu Amin she also played them for most of her Oriental routine and I saw many no name dancers who did the same.