“Tastes change, beauty stays the same,” he says. “But, you know, the golden days of belly dancing are gone. It’s deteriorating all over Egypt. Most of my costumes are exported. This country has many dancers, but the quality is poor. I blame these music videos. They’re harming belly dancing. You get this director who hires five or six girls, dresses them in belly-dancer outfits, but they’re not professional. They can’t dance. But people see them on TV and they get hired in clubs.