Little Egypt Doesn’t Dance Here Anymore centers on the iconography and mythology that surrounds the historical figure of Little Egypt, the stage name of the first belly dancer to premier the dance form in North America during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Comprised of installation, drawings and video elements, the works in the show play off the fact that for over 100 years, dancers in North America have directly and indirectly used Little Egypt’s act to replicate, reproduce and reinterpret belly dancing as we know it today.

Nahed Mansour is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist and curator. Working in video, installation and performance, her works typically draw on visual archives to highlight the relationship between entertainment, labour and processes of racialization and gendering. In using found images and found footage in her work, Mansour seeks to draw attention to the reproduction of social hierarchies by means of seemingly innocent forms of entertainment.

Nahed Mansour would like to acknowledge the receipt of OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant.

Exhibitions  

Participating Artists: Nahed Mansour (Toronto)
Curator(s):
Credits: Importing Little Egypt, Nahed Mansour