A Trade like Any Other: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt

Karin Van Nieuwkerk certainly did a thorough job interviewing and exploring the roles a select sampling of women have had in the entertainment industry in Egypt and this book is one I'd recommend to lovers of history, dance historians and dancers in general. Her book is well researched and offers valuable information. However, because this paper was written for academic purposes some may find the writing style to be a little too formal. This sometimes makes the book a little dry and difficult to follow. However the effort is well worth it even if you normally don't read academic styles. She interviews several dancers who reveal a little bit about Egyptian society and their own lives allowing us to see how they came into this dance form despite the stigmas attached to dancers in Egypt. This is helpful for western women looking to understand the position of female entertainers in modern Egyptian society (also in most arab societies). Although much of their experiences are somewhat limited to the Mohammed Ali street area and Cairo in a larger sense much of it still applies to Egypt in general and much of North Africa and the Middle East. It takes a good look at the love-hate dynamic relationship Egyptians have with female performers and loos at the religious cultural, and societal implications of female performance. However, the book was written on research from the 1980's from a select sample of women in a relatively small sample area so when reading it remember that this research does not reflect the current entertainment trade in Egypt nor does it necessarily reflect the way things are everywhere in the Middle East/North Africa (although since it is specifically about Egypt one really shouldn't have that expectation anyways). For those who have already read the book or want to read a shorter updated piece, there is a follow up article by Karin Van Nieuwkerk available online at the following address:http://www.muspe.unibo.it/period/ma/index/number3/nieuwkerk/karin_0.htm

This book is packed with a great deal of first hand interviews, and really does get into some of the complicated Cultural shifts that Egypt went thought that impacted the Rise and fall of Dance in Egypt. Unfortunately, the author uses 3 words wherever 1 or 2 would suffice, and repeats herself often. The book would be greatly improved by a good copy editor.The contents are worth the effort. I think that this should be required reading for anyone studying Dance anthropology or seeking to study Bellydance.

I don't think I would leisure read this book. It has a lot of great information in it, but it's written like a college thesis. Some of the research is pretty weak and has a small sampling of people. That said, there are few books on the market that cover the topics that "A Trade Like Any Other" does. Any one that is truely looking for information on the lives and work conditions of singers and dancers throughout the last couple hundred years in Egypt should read this book.

This was disappointing for me. I have a bellydance troupe, and have been to Egypt ,and this book read like someones' essay for school.There is a lot of information indeed, but way too much of the authors opinion of things to wade through. I did find a lot of misinformation too.A lot of "traditions" had never been heard of by my friends,young and old, living in different areas all over Egypt. Some were obscure indeed.

This was a book club assignment and it had far too much tedious history and not enough of it was interestingly written. I couldnt get through more than 1/4 of the book and I ready 2 a week.

Too many books about Oriental/belly/Middle Eastern dance lean toward fantasy rather than scholarship. Van Nieuwkerk's book explores the seemingly paradoxical love-hate relationship many people have toward Egyptian belly dancing and dancers and details the history of the dance over the past few centuries.

As the other reviews have said this is an academic piece of research, so the style may not be to everyone' taste but I loved it and couldn't put it down. The author is clear about her goals, how the research was conducted and which areas she doesn't examine in detail (such as modern theatre and tv). It gives a very clear picture of who a bellydancer in egypt is as a person, and how things have evolved to the way they are over the last couple of hundred years or so. I would have loved more history, and more details about how actual movements and costumes have changed, but I can understand that accurate information from hundred' of years ago is difficult to come by...i did find some of the quotes from religeous scholars of times past(and times now actually) particularly enlightening! (I suggest you keep germaine greer at the ready to recover...but of course to understand where we are, we must understand what has come before. And maybe how much hasn't changed?...oh the views of men!) I would also love to read similar accounts about dancing/performing from other areas of the middle east, india and around the world, I suspect they have much in common.

the author writes honestly from her own research and experience, well worth reading to gain a perspective on egyptian dance culture.

Livré rapidement. Livre en excellent état. Super.