Dance of the Nabbout

Nada Hafez is an Egyptian artist working mainly in visual fine arts and holds a bachelor degree in fine arts from the American University in Cairo and completed a semester in Parsons school of design Paris in painting and drawing.  During her art studies she was privileged to be mentored by several prominent Egyptian artists.

In 2019 she started focusing on Art as a full-time job along with being a mother of two after working in the IT industry for 6 years.

Nada is fascinated by the human body, how it reacts to its surroundings, emotions, how it changes and reacts to internal and external factors.  Also, it’s never ending evolving cycle and she feels that the watercolor medium helps her convey this constant movement and fluidity.  She is also very keen on making art that is both authentic and conceptual. 

The inspiration behind the painting comes from the Egyptian dance mainly coming from the upper Egypt region where it started off as a gallant type of martial art originating from the ancient Egyptians used to train soldiers for combat and was also performed during the Mamluk era during the Egyptian Middle Ages.  It evolved into a popular folk dance called “Tahteeb” , which is a term used for the traditional stick fighting. The stick used in this ritual is called the “nabbout” hence the title of the painting “Dance of the Nabbout”.  As an Egyptian I wanted my painting to represent a sport/performance art traditional to the Egyptian culture.   This painting shows the modern day folk stick dance used in ceremonies (weddings, feasts, celebrations) mainly in upper Egypt and it depicts a male dancer showing off his skills in front of a crowd in a traditional celebratory setting