The Dance of the bee or Dance of the wasp was a provocative

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

dance, part of the repertoire of the dancing girls of the

Ghawazee Ghawazi (also ''ghawazee'') ( arz, الغوازي) are female dancers who dance in return for money; the male equivalent is khawal. While the performative and traditional ''raqs sharqi'' in urban Egypt was more classical and influenced by more ...

. It was perhaps not unlike the famous Dance of the seven veils. In the dance of the bee, the dancer portrays herself as having had a stinging insect fly into her clothes, and attempts to free the insect before she is stung by removing her clothes one by one. The dance is mentioned in the travel accounts of

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, and was performed for him by a Ghawazee dancer known only under the pseudonym

Kuchuk Hanem Kuchuk Hanem (fl. 1850–1870) was a famed beauty and Ghawazee dancer of Esna, mentioned in two unrelated accounts of travel to Egypt, the French novelist Gustave Flaubert and the American adventurer George William Curtis. Kuchuk Hanem became ...

.Erotic pages from Flaubert
/ref>

References

External links

''The dancer of Esna'', by William H. Peck
Erotic dance {{Dance-stub