Belly Dancing

4 Pages 1055 Words

Belly Dancing

There have been many theories about the origin of belly dancing. Belly dancing comes from the Arab term Bella D which means native dance and native rhythm. Belly dancing is traced way back to 3500 BC from the Ferro’s. Nevertheless, belly dancing can also be found in Northern Africa, Greece, Egypt, Allegros, Morocco, Northern Turkey, Northern India and the Mediterranean. Belly dancing is also a form of communication that tells a women’s point of view and expresses emotions. The first time this type of dancing was brought into the U.S. was in 1893 at Chicago’s world fair. Then in the early 1900’s little Egypt made belly dancing popular and extended all the way to Broadway and Hollywood.
There are three major types of belly dancing that is practiced and performed in the United States. One of them being American Nightclub, two-American Tribal, and three-Modern Egyptian Nightclub. More so, Oriental Dance has influenced the evolution of Modern Dance in the hands of leaders Ruth St. Denis and Isadora Duncan. The Orientalists were Europeans who visited the Middle East during the 1800’s. After their visits to Europe they returned to their homelands that intrigued them either to write or create paintings. In most cases, people used their great artistic license in their works to titillate their countrymen back home with stories about exotic, sexy, barely-clothed women. Sometimes without even seeing these belly dancers, people would use their imagination and create these fabulous paintings of an image they created on their own. However, others were just admirable of their culture and painted from their inner most spiritual feelings.
There isn’t just one specific type of belly dancing that is performed around the world. There are many different types of belly dancing. Such dances include Floor work, Gypsy, Flamenco and Middle Eastern Dance, Hagallah, Snake, Trance and Veil are just some of the more familiar and tradi...