Al Aswany on the subversive dance of women

Dirty Dancing in Egypt

by Alaa Al Aswany, The New York Times, May 13, 2014

And it is because Oriental dance poses a challenge to a religiosity that sees any form of display as an act of impurity that it has always been misunderstood and associated with dishonor.

That is precisely what makes it a subversive art: The dancer who shakes off the shackles of the patriarchal order strikes fear into the hearts of religious conservatives, and may even pose a threat to tyranny. Hence its periodic repression.

Read more from Al Aswany here.