Conservative critics call her a siren, but Ruby, the Egyptian singer whose moves turn heads across the Arab world, says she dances for fun, not to seduce.

Ruby burst onto the Arab pop scene in 2003, gyrating her hips through the streets of Prague in a belly-dancing costume in the video to her song "You know why."

Her performance prompted an Islamist politician to raise a complaint in Egypt's parliament and the 22-year-old was ostracized even by some of her close relatives. She caused more of stir in her second video by singing on an exercise bike.

"Why do people have the idea that every singer or girl who likes to dance is bad? Why don't they change their thinking? Why don't they object to Jennifer Lopez? She sings and dances," she asked.

Ruby's music videos are not screened on Egypt's conservative state television, but privately owned satellite channels beam her into houses and coffee shops across the Arab world.