About Belly Dance

Belly dancers really are taking the UK by storm at the moment! From the increasing numbers of Lebanese or Turkish restaurants featuring dancers, to the growing numbers of classes on offer all over the country, to the phenomenon known as the Belly Dance Superstars, it’s clear that this beautiful, sensuous, and demanding form of dance is increasingly popular, with both audiences and participants.

Belly dance, (also widely known as oriental dance, or middle eastern dance), is a very broad and somewhat misleading term, which does not fully convey the richness and variety of the dance styles covered by the term.

Legend has it that belly dance originated in the Middle East centuries ago, as a means for women to initiate younger female members of the community into the mysteries of womanhood, and to prepare them for adulthood, marriage and childbearing. As such, it can be thought of as a form of “female bonding” – with dances (and stories and traditions told through the medium of dance) performed by women specifically for other women. It was “discovered” in the West around the 1920s, and began to be known as “danse du ventre” or belly dance.

Since its origins all those centuries ago, belly dance has developed in many different directions throughout the region. Turkish belly dance is very different to Lebanese belly dance; Egyptian dance is quite distinct to Persian Dance; North African a world apart from Arabic. Just as the culture, traditions and the music of the different countries of the Middle East vary hugely, so do the forms of dance performed in those countries.

To add further variety, there are regional traditions and variations within individual countries. Different dances have originated within specific communities, for specific occasions, such as wedding parties, or to depict the traditions and history of the community. There are different styles of dance, from the courtly, classical Raqs Sharqi, to the more folky styles of Baladi or Saidi, for example.

Belly dance continues to evolve in this and the last century, often borrowing elements from other forms of dance. The so-called Golden Age of dance in Cairo in the 1940s and 1950s introduced many moves from other dance forms, including 1930s Hollywood movies, jazz dance and African.

In the last few decades, belly dance has been exported to other countries, with the result that still more styles of the dance are emerging, such as American Cabaret and American Tribal. The use of props in belly dance is expanding, so that the belly dancer of today can choose from a range of traditional props, such as zills (or sagat), sword, stick, or shamadan, and mix and match with a range of Western inventions, such as veil, double veil and Isis wings. A belly dance show in this country may now showcase traditional styles such as baladi, taqsim, and drum solos, and intersperse them with more Western developments, such as floorwork and veilwork.