The history and culture of Belly Dance is notoriously mysterious and full of some combination of mysticism and fact. This area is part of an ongoing project to shed some light on both aspects!
Belly Dance is thought to have been introduced in America at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. A dancer named "Little Egypt" performed the dance. The fair also featured dancers from the Middle East and North Africa (Jonas, 1993).
Belly Dance allows for liberation of the confines of social norms, expanding the body's potential and perceiving the body in much kinder ways... Finding proof of what belly dance movements signify is extremely difficult as we have limited documentation and encounter varied cultures as well as a history of dance that is nonlinear (Karayanni, 2009).
Various dance forms began to fuse with belly dance in the 1980's including Caribbean dance, flamenco, and modern dance. There is an informality to belly dance structure that creates an environment of open interpretation, change, exploration and cross-culturalism (Fruhauf, 2009).
References:
Frühauf, T. (2009). Raqs Gothique: Decolonizing Belly Dance. TDR: The Drama Review, 53(3), 117-138.
Jonas, G. (1992). Dancing: The pleasure, power and art of movement. New York, NY: Educational Broadcasting Corporation and Gerald Jonas.
Karayanni, S.S. (2009). Sacred embodiment: Fertility ritual, mother goddess, and cultures of belly dance. Religion and the Arts, 13 (4). 448-463. doi:10.1163/107992609X12524941449921
Belly Dance is thought to have been introduced in America at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. A dancer named "Little Egypt" performed the dance. The fair also featured dancers from the Middle East and North Africa (Jonas, 1993).
Belly Dance allows for liberation of the confines of social norms, expanding the body's potential and perceiving the body in much kinder ways... Finding proof of what belly dance movements signify is extremely difficult as we have limited documentation and encounter varied cultures as well as a history of dance that is nonlinear (Karayanni, 2009).
Various dance forms began to fuse with belly dance in the 1980's including Caribbean dance, flamenco, and modern dance. There is an informality to belly dance structure that creates an environment of open interpretation, change, exploration and cross-culturalism (Fruhauf, 2009).
References:
Frühauf, T. (2009). Raqs Gothique: Decolonizing Belly Dance. TDR: The Drama Review, 53(3), 117-138.
Jonas, G. (1992). Dancing: The pleasure, power and art of movement. New York, NY: Educational Broadcasting Corporation and Gerald Jonas.
Karayanni, S.S. (2009). Sacred embodiment: Fertility ritual, mother goddess, and cultures of belly dance. Religion and the Arts, 13 (4). 448-463. doi:10.1163/107992609X12524941449921