Belly dancing is a term used in the West to describe traditional Arab dance. Belly dancing is really an inadequate term, since all parts of the body are used in traditional Arab dance or raqs sharqi, which is the proper terminology for the most popular style in the West. Raqs sharqi actually places more emphasis on the hips rather than belly dancing.
Belly dancing comes in several varieties of style, depending on the region and country of origin. Some styles are totally Western interpretations.
Belly dancing comes in several varieties of style, depending on the region and country of origin. Some styles are totally Western interpretations.
Raqs sharqi, which means Oriental dance in translation, is the type performed in restaurants and clubs in the West. This dance is generally performed by women, although sometimes by men as well. It is an improvisational dance that is most often performed solo.
Raqs baladi, which means dance of country, is the folk style performed at social events by men and women in Middle Eastern countries.
The origins of belly dancing are unknown and often fiercely debated. One theory is that it was developed by women to aid other women in childbirth or to demonstrate childbirth. There is no real evidence of this, however, and while this might explain part of the dance, it certainly would not explain all that is involved.
Raqs baladi, which means dance of country, is the folk style performed at social events by men and women in Middle Eastern countries.
The origins of belly dancing are unknown and often fiercely debated. One theory is that it was developed by women to aid other women in childbirth or to demonstrate childbirth. There is no real evidence of this, however, and while this might explain part of the dance, it certainly would not explain all that is involved.
Another theory explains that the belly dance began in Northern Africa and spread through the Caravans to other Middle Eastern countries. There is also a theory that belly dancing saw its origin in Ancient Babylon. This theory follows that prior to Islam, the women danced and the men played drums at social events. After Islamic times the women were no longer permitted to dance, and the ritual fell to slave girls.
The first recorded encounter with belly dancing was when Napoleon invaded Egypt and his troops came across Gypsy dancers. It gained popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries when, during the Romantic Movement, artists used it to depict romanticized version of harem living in the Ottoman Empire. It was about this time when oriental dancers began performing at exhibits and the World's Fair, causing more of a stir than many of the technical demonstrations.
The first recorded encounter with belly dancing was when Napoleon invaded Egypt and his troops came across Gypsy dancers. It gained popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries when, during the Romantic Movement, artists used it to depict romanticized version of harem living in the Ottoman Empire. It was about this time when oriental dancers began performing at exhibits and the World's Fair, causing more of a stir than many of the technical demonstrations.
Belly dancing really gained national attention at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. It is here that entertainment director Sol Bloom is credited with having concocted the phrase. There is, however, no evidence that he ever used the term and newspapers of the day were using the French terminology, danse de ventre, to describe the Oriental dancing. Nonetheless, the fact that uncorseted women were gyrating their hips at several exhibitions of the World's Fair brought shock to some Victorian sensibilities and set the term belly dancing into the common lexicon.
Such popularity spawned hundreds, if not thousands, of dancers around the country to claim their acts as authentic, when most of them were improvised solos routines. The dancing became so popular that it was the subject of many early films by Thomas Edison. A little later, Hollywood sought to capitalize on the Western intrigue with the orient in films like The Sheik, Cleopatra, and Salome.
Today, belly dancing is a very excepted and appreciated form of entertainment worldwide, although we will never know who is doing the authentic dance and who is not.
