About Middle Eastern Dance

Middle Eastern Dance is the collective name for the native dances of many countries, from Morocco to Iraq, Egypt to Turkey. Near Eastern Dance refers to the Western group of countries including Egypt and North Africa. Its roots are in family celebrations and community events like weddings, births and religious festivals. People danced in whatever they were wearing at the time. Men and women both danced, albeit separately as Islam spread across the region. Professional dancers were as necessary to these festivities as professional musicians. Being an entertainer was a trade one was born to, just as a family might be full of accountants. Near Eastern dancers were part of the Chicago World Exhibition in 1893, where promoter Sol Bloom is credited with coining the term "bellydance" to scandalize the Victorians. British colonialists who didn't understand the culture and Hollywood producers created the image of the sultry (and scantily clad) dancer centuries later, and that creation spread. Dancers all over the world make choices about incorporating sensual aspects into their dancing, as their cultures, values and venues dictate. As the native cultures are increasingly exposed to Western cultural ideas, their dances are being kept alive by professional dancers both in the East and West who extensively research the historical roots of dance.

Modern Orientale ("Bellydance") incorporates elements of ballroom, ballet, flamenco, modern and jazz dance into the vocabulary of folkloric dance. Dancing in nightclubs became popular in the Middle East and in America in the 1940s. Taking a cue from American movie costumers, dancers adopted sequined and sometimes two-pieced attire. The central core of the dance remains, though, centuries, possibly millenia, later. As the dance grew in popularity, Americans did what we do best - blended elements of global culture to create something new. Tribal bellydance involves group improvisation based on subtle cues and a shared movement vocabulary. The costuming tends to include nature elements and exclude sequins. Fusion bellydance is just that - bellydance fused with a variety of dance and musical elements, from flamenco to industrial rock to comedy. Whatever variety the dance takes on, the basic movements are the same. The bellydance community is a tightly knit one, whether your group calls itself a troupe, a tribe or refuses labeling. The shimmies, steps and hip and shoulder movements are easy to do - just like the hokey pokey (a popular American folk dance)! So follow the links above and put your right hip in...