What is Belly Dance?

The Belly Dance is identified by swaying hips, undulating torso, and emotional expression. Characteristic movements in the dance include, sinuous patterns, undulations, thrusts, lifts, locks, and drops, and shaking or quaking body movements. The focus is on isolated movements of individual parts of the body with, in the first instance, little attention given to footwork, which is added after mastering the basics. Arms and hands move fluidly, like serpents or ribbons in the air. Unusual strength and control is needed in the belly area.

In my work as belly dance instructor and performer, I have been asked a number of good questions over the years relating mainly to the origin of the dance.

So let’s give you some answers:

The origin of the words 'Belly Dance'

It comes from the French Dance du ventre, which translates as "dance of the stomach". It is also often referred to as "oriental dance" and also sometimes Roks Sharkee, which is Arabic for "Dance of the east".

There is much speculation about the origin of belly dance.
The truth is ... nobody knows how or why the belly dance started as a dance. Modern archaeology is continuously using new techniques and technologies to shed more light on our belly dance past. Yet, at this time, no one knows the exact reasons for the original development. What we do know is that belly dance has been practiced for thousands of years by many different cultures for many different purposes. It has been used in Goddess ritual, spiritual practices, childbirth preparation, communal bonding, celebration, entertainment, physical education, and simply for enjoyment.

What we also know is that belly dancing is for women and by women and until in recent history is was an expressive art that manifests itself early in the lives of Middle Eastern women.

A Saudi woman told me once, that stones are placed in the navels of young girls as they practise the abdominal exercises, the stone being held in place solely by muscle control. As the girl matured and became more adept, the size of the stone is increased. .

Lets have a quick look at the Timeline:

5000 BC • Tomb paintings found in the Middle East depict early dancers

3000-1400 BC • The Minoan and ancient Greek culture. Terpsichore, one of the nine muses of Greek mythology, the muse of dance, was believed to have invented dance; dance was used as a means of cultivating both body and soul. Dance, along with writing, music, and physical exercise, was basic to the education on both, boys and girls.

60 BC • Romans import dancers from the orient, which have been sold to them as slaves by powerful men who kept a harem of beautiful women for their own pleasure and amusement.

28 A.D Salome, the daughter of Herodias does a dance that so moved him, he offers her anything. She requests the head of the Holy man (John the Baptist)
 

527 AD - A celebrated oriental dancer, actress, and alleged courtesan, becomes the Empress Theodora, wife of the Byzantian Emperor Justinian, and as the de facto ruler of Byzantium, she enacts laws protecting women’s rights.

New Byzantium converts were accustomed to dance as a central part of worship so the church incorporated and absorbed their dances into the Christian rituals just as they did with many other myths, and symbols that predated Christ. Records of dance at this time are found on sculpture and miniatures, but was rarely written about.

 

In the 17th century • Construction of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (Byzantium or Constantinople). The palace typifies the setting for dancers brought in to entertain the ladies of the harem.

These women developed the art of belly dance in their own midst as a way of keeping themselves amused and fit for the demands of their master, which still today is the fundamental desire to belly dance – of course today’s women enjoy this dance mainly for their own benefit.

1851 • Oriental dancers appear at Crystal Palace Exhibition in London; Queen Victoria is present.

1876 • Columbia Exhibition, America’s Centennial Celebration. Tunisian belly dancers appear.

The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mines opened in Philadelphia in the spring of 1876. The show celebrated the 100th anniversary of American Independence, the country's emergence from reconstruction, and the successes of science, industry, and cultural exchange. The visual extravaganza included such disparate elements as a giant Corliss steam engine, a Turkish scarf dancer, and an Algerian cafe with native entertainers. This may have been the first view of Middle Eastern dancing girls in America.

1880 (or earlier) • Shimmy dance evolves in the African American community from Haitian and ancient African roots.

1893 • Sol Bloom brings the Algerian village to the Chicago World’s fair. A dancer called Little Egypt (who is probably a fictitious amalgam of dancers who performed at the fair) is credited with saving the fair from financial ruin. The public is entranced while the censors are enraged.

The name “belly dance” is coined.

1915 • Explorer Theodore Pedersen ventures to Siberia and makes one of the earliest films. The work records tribal elder women wearing hip belts dancing in a forest and shaking their hips after taking magic mushrooms.

1936-1952 • During the reign of King Farouk, Tahia Carioca becomes the most famous belly dancer in the world.

1954 •Jamila Salimpour (known as the Mother of Belly Dance in America) begins teaching belly dance to women with a 78-phonograph album of Cheftitelli music.

1950-1970s • Eddie “the Sheik” Kochak begins releasing the famous “Strictly Belly” music dance series.

From the early 60s • Belly dance culture has been evidenced in the UK and Ireland. Many festivals are held, with two of the most popular being the Annual Glastonbury Majma and Raqs Britannia.

Little Egypt (AKA Lorraine Shalhoub of Lebanese/Syrian ancestry) appears on the Steve Allen Show. Also produces with Sunny Laster  album "How to Bellydance for Your Husband"

1970 • Women’s liberation movement members, claiming belly dance treats women like sex objects, picket Jamila Salimpour’s students in Berkeley while other women’s libbers burn their bras and sign up for belly dance in droves. A renaissance is underway for the art called danse oriental, danse du ventre, belly dance, Raks el Sharki, and Middle Eastern dance.
 

1979 • Bert Baladine begins teaching belly dance to the wives of American serviceman stationed in Germany and gives rise to a fast growing popular interest in Germany.

1980 • Rakkasah, an annual week-long dance festival takes root in California. Produced by Shukriya, it has continued to this day for close on 30 years. Eventually it spreads to other locations, supporting the growth and preservation of the art of belly dance.

Sheena Hall, Belly Dancer of Russian decent gains recognition as a belly dancer entertainer and belly dance becomes part of the Entertainment Industry.
1982 • April 29 is proclaimed International Dance Day by the Council for International Dance (CID, established in 1973). It’s intention is to bring greater awareness and support to dance arts. “In more than half of the 200 countries in the world, dance does not appear in legal texts (for better or for worse!). There are no funds allocated in the state budget to support this art form. There is no such thing as dance education, private or public.”

1985 • Dance to the Great Mother; a belly dance performance by Delilah (Visionary Belly Dancing Productions) in the third trimester of her pregnancy is recorded on videotape. The dance is a testament to the spirit of universal feminine beauty and creativity.

1989 • Gaby Oftring of Germany works with midwives, belly dance instructors and pregnant women to encourage reinstating belly dance as a preparation for childbirth. She releases the program “Belly Dancing During Pregnancy.”

1997 • First IAMED (International Academy of Middle East Dance) featuring awards and concerts in Hollywood. Delilah of Visionary Belly Dancing is voted first Belly Dancer of the Year.

2000 • Pop singer Shakira uses belly dance in her performance; belly dance gains a new degree of popularity in pop culture around the globe.

2005. Belly Dancer Sheena dares breaking the set boundaries of belly dance and creates Oxyrobix in the UK, a 21^st Century update of belly dancing, incorporating other dance styles. She is publicly accused of giving the belly dance genre a bad name. Nevertheless, Oxyrobix becomes quickly a popular style of belly dancing among the masses and other belly dancers start to embrace the idea of belly dance fusion, the most popular one, being Latin.

Did you know?

Most of the belly dancing in the world is NOT done on stage by costumed professionals but by "regular" people at various social gatherings, such as parties, weddings, anniversaries, and other special occasions!

That's right, people belly dance simply because they enjoy it- not to lose weight, not to seduce men, and not because it is a source of income. In the Middle East and surrounding Mediterranean regions where it is a part of cultural tradition, this is a dance of community and celebration, for people of ALL ages, shapes, and sizes. It's a beautiful, entertaining, expressive, creative art form that just happens to be great low impact exercise.

Belly Dance is being praised for its countless health benefits.

Being unbeatable for overall well being and health!

In the West, people have been using it for the purposes of healing (physical as well as emotional), meditation, weight loss, stress relief and to improve muscle tone, endurance, balance, flexibility, body awareness, and coordination.

Belly dancing boosts self-esteem

Back and joints pains are relieved

Bone density increases – particular helpful for women during and past Menopause.

It helps in preparing for childbirth

Do belly dance to get back in shape after childbirth and it can help to reduce stretch marks.

Belly dancing helps to relieve PMS

Although so many women start studying it because of its health benefits, they eventually find that Belly Dance allows them to express their femininity and rediscover their body's natural movement, whilst having fun, looking beautiful, and feeling good. It’s a "Centeredness" or the "inner dance" which is the distinct quality of this art form.

A regrettable aspect of modern life is that we don't use our bodies enough. Computers and cars mean we sit and stay inactive too much and we don’t do sufficient about that.

Muscles that don't get used much become "flabby" looking, a good reason to find something energetic and fun to do to improve our neglected body parts.

With belly dance, your legs, bum, and arms will become more shapely and your waist will pull in as the diagonal muscles from the ribs to the hips tone up.

Particularly in Oxyrobix, which has been said to be one of the most beneficiary form of belly dance. Combining selective movements of different genres of dance, to give an all-rounder body workout.

Kylie Minogue swears that her shape, particularly her bum comes

from dancing. Belly dance uses all the muscles in the body in a really enjoyable way.

What is of particular significance is the way all the smaller,

underlying, muscles get used. The problem with conventional

muscle training regimes is that they tend to focus on only the large really obvious muscle groups and there can then be a tendency to develop a "hard" muscular look.

Belly dance tends to use all muscles more evenly, so you can develop a nice overall tone. And unlike ballet, which demands certain physical aesthetics, one can be any age, shape or size to enjoy belly dance. Famous and successful belly dancers are still performing well past their 60s and 70s.

And finally:

A few words on technique:

Most of the movements in belly dancing involve isolating different parts of the body (hips, shoulders, chest, stomach etc.), which appear similar to isolations used in jazz and ballet, but is driven differently. In belly dance, the focus is on the hip and pelvic area.

Yet, contrary to popular believe belly dancing is mainly controlled by legs and knees, especially these wonderful hip movements. Wearing a traditional long skirt and/or harem pants, it remains a mystery to those unaware in the audience, how they do it.

Costumes which show a lot of leg concentrate on isolated hip and upper body movements.

As skilful belly dance requires one to dance on the front part of the foot, experienced teachers will have developed an exercise to prepare students for this, sometimes, difficult part of the dance.

I myself, versed in many styles of dance, teach also Charleston in belly dance class, which is proven to be an excellent calorie burner and a fun way to strengthen those all important parts of feet and legs.

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The dances from the Middle East are a glorious gift to all the world which have thankfully been kept alive, passed from generation to generation like a beloved story and held close to the hearts of women despite adversity. I know that many women feel the belly dance is in truth the birthright of all women who choose to claim it, for it reflects our inner depth, strength and wholeness like nothing else can. While it is important to learn and preserve these various dances it is also valid for us to embrace what we learn on our own and let it live through us as a personal creation. It is after all the nature of art to evolve along with us, and it will in turn reflect our growth in its own way.

As its being discovered in other art forms, dance is a path of self revelation which can benefit many. Let us continue to share it generously in our own special ways for the empowerment and healing of all who seek it.