Male Belly Dancer

• Photographer
  Pan Chaoyue, China
• Studio
  Xinhua News Agency

With the dream of further-study on belly dance, Saif Al-Huriya,
Morocco-born belly dancer from Chile, spent up his savings in
Egypt and left the country with disappointment, saying that
"Male dancers are more difficult than the female to survive in
the industry."
The world-famous dance called Belly Dance or Oriental Dance is
not only a performance for tourists, but also a popular form of
entertainment for the locals in Egypt. A belly dancer's life is
rarely known outside the community where the majority of the
population is conservative. The dance, oftentimes requires
revealing costumes and suggestive moves, stands in contrast to
many who believe it is taboo.

Pan Chaoyue (b.1988) started his career as a photo editor in China’s official news agency Xinhua (Beijing) in 2011. He was assigned as a photojournalist with Xinhua’s Middle East Bureau in Cairo to cover stories in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, UAE, Kuwait and others since Sept. 2013 till Jan. 2016, witnessing social and political changes brought by the Arab Spring.

Awards 2016 Mobile Photography Awards (MPA) Photo Essay 1st Prize;
2015 International Photography Awards (IPA) Editorial War/Conflict 3rd Prize;
2014-2015 Nikon Photography Contest 3rd Place in Single Open Theme