What is "ghawazi"

Ghawazi \Gha*wa"zi\, n. pl. [Etymol. uncertain.] Egyptian dancing girls, of a lower sort than the almeh.

The Ghawazi (also ghawazee) dancers of Egypt were a group of female traveling dancers of the Dom people (also known as Nawar).

The ghawazi style gave rise to the Egyptian raqs sharqi by the first half of the 20th century.

While the performative raqs sharqi in urban Egypt was heavily influenced by Western styles such as classical ballet or Latin American dance, the term ghawazi in Egypt refers to the dancers in rural Egypt who have preserved the traditional 18th- to 19th-century style.