See also Educational page for a list of other interesting topics.

About Bellydance

A bit of background on this world-wide phenomenon.

Cairo - Mother of Dance

Transformations in Egyptian bellydance from the traditional to contemporary form, cultural forces that influenced these changes.

2001 2nd International Bellydance Conference Report

Report by Venus on this exciting and event that took place in California.

Raks Sharki

A brief history of the contemporary style of dance known as raks sharqi.

The Bellydance Routine

Understanding the complexity and variation of the modern raks sharqi routine.

The Golden Age of Egyptian Dance

1920s Egypt saw a transformation in the dance from traditional beledi to modern raks sharqi.

Folkloric & Fusion Dance Styles

A summary of regional styles including;

• KarsilamaDahiyaGhawazeeZarTunisianKhaleegyBandariRaks Assaya
• Fusion

Fatima's Coochee-Coochee Dance

A Film by Thomas Edison (1896)

A Brief History

Although its origins are disputed, belly dance is generally considered to be an ancient dance, having evolved from various dance traditions throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

The Golden Era of the art form was set in Egypt in the mid-twentieth century. Today it is practiced in earnest by thousands of enthusiasts all over Europe and North America.

The Arabic terms for the dance are actually raks sharki, the contemporary stage art, and its country cousin, baladi.

Raks sharki translates as "dance of the East" or "oriental dance" and baladi, meaning "country", refers to a rhythm, style of dance and costume all relating to the Egyptian folk tradition.

Nineteenth century French travelers, witnessing the unfamiliar torso movements of baladi, dubbed it "danse du ventre" or dance of the belly.

This is a misnomer as in fact the whole body is used—head, shoulders, arms, chest—with a particular emphasis on movements of the pelvis and hips rather than actual belly isolations.

Previous to the early 1900s, the Egyptian baladi was performed mostly outdoors at festivals or in private homes and coffee houses as well as being an indispensable feature at weddings.

The movements were focused mostly in the hips and shoulders and the dance was improvisational and performed in a small space.

The typical costume was a floor length dress and hip scarf and often a head scarf. The dancer was accompanied on traditional instruments including an assortment of drums, tambourines, wind and stringed instruments.

In 1926, Lebanese actress/dancer Badia Masabny opened a nightclub in Cairo modeled after European cabarets. Casino Badia featured a varied program of Eastern and Western entertainment—comedians, singers, musicians and dancers—appealing to both Middle Eastern and European audiences.

Ghawazee. 1848
Prisse d'Avennes
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Venus

Yet despite all the glamour and sophistication of contemporary oriental dance, the rhythms and body isolations of a typical raks sharki routine still hearken back to an ancient folk tradition.

Many of the dancers who started out at Casino Badia went on to appear in film musicals and some, like Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal, became huge stars in their own right. For the first time, a profession which had always been regarded in a dubious moral light under Islamic tradition, achieved celebrity status and prestige.

Venus

Raks sharqi is a stage art, distinct from the many folk styles of Arabic dance in which it has its roots. In it’s best form, this dance is performed with a live orchestra comprised of a variety of instruments: percussion section (a variety of drums, tambourines, etc.) violin, electric organ, accordian, kanoun (lap harp), oud (lute), flute, nay (wooden flute), rebab (stringed instrument played with a bow), and even electric guitars.A typical raks sharqi routine consists of a series of shorter sections of music, varying in rhythm and melody, but forming a cohesive whole, and conforming to an established structure.This structure can vary somewhat from routine to routine, but is fairly consistent in the use of specific rhythms for different parts of the dance and in the types of transitions between them.Here is how a typical oriental routine might be put together:The dancer enters to the 2/4 rhythm, malfouf, sweeping through the space with her veil held aloft, presenting herself and greeting the audience. She may just be walking or doing step - together - step - change.If the music is more complicated, she may choreograph some veil movements, turns, and accents. The malfouf section often ends in a spin out of which the dancer settles into some serious hip dropping as the music changes abruptly to the upbeat maksoum rhythm.Now the dancer begins to show off her hip work, alternating stationary movements with lively travelling steps.The mood of the music may change abruptly as the maksoum tune ends and a single instrument begins a plaintive solo, or taqsim. Now the dancer swithches to slow, snaky movements, alternating them with small shimmies and freezes.This is the bewitching and sensuous part of the routine, full of curves, shivers and undulations.The next section, the taqsim-beledi, develops out of the taqsim, gradually building dynamic tension through the call-and-answer pattern of taqsim solo instrument and percussion section.The dancer reflects the musical punctuations through accented body isolations. Gradually the musical accents develop into the powerful and sultry beledi rhythm, which in turn becomes the bouncy 2/4 rhythm, fellahy.Beledi and fellahy may alternate back and forth to end finally with the fellahy which segues into the drum solo.For many people, the drum solo is the most exciting part of the routine. The dancer pulls out all the stops and really starts to sweat as she shows off her powerful shimmies and accented isolations.Last comes the finale, an up-tempo reprise of the opening theme to which the dancer says farewell to the audience and ends with a flourish.This is a fairly simplified example of the routine and many variations are possible. The opening rhythm may actually be the 8-count masmoudi or the beledi; a malfouf entrance might be followed immediately by a taqsim; the Turkish chiftitelli rhythm may be substituted for the taqsim.A single song may be made up of several different rhythms, switching from one to the other and back again. A long routine will often have several taqsim - beledi - fellahy sections interspersed amongst the faster tunes before it gets to the final taqsim-beledi with a drum solo. Sometimes there isn't even a drum solo.

Whatever the pattern, the many changes in rhythm, melody, tempo and instrument offer plenty of material for the dancer to show off her expertise and interpretation of this complex and multi-faceted dance form.

Dumbek

Kanoun

Oud

Rebab

By Venus

Amidst a post-WW1 night club boom, Egypt becomes the entertainment capital of the Arab world.

Western modes of behavior and fashion trickle into the East. It is the time of Hollywood's greatest influence on film world-wide, and its effects reach Arab movie industry and Oriental dance.

The stage is set for a major transformation in the "dance of the East" and Egypt witnesses the emergence of the first Belly Dance Superstars.

The new cabaret style began to emerge in the early '20s when nightclubs first appeared in Beirut, Algiers and Cairo to cater to a growing Western audience. These tended to be sleazy dives until Syrian-born actress and dancer, Badia Masabni opened her club, the Casino Opera.

In adapting Eastern traditional entertainment to this new style of venue, Masabni was instrumental in stimulating a transformation of the traditional baladi dance into a sophisticated stage art.

Shows at the Casino Opera featured a varied program of entertainment strongly influenced by Western tastes and styles. They were characterized by many modern innovations in traditional Arab performance. In contrast to the usual solo or duet, Masabni trained a troupe of dancers with herself in the lead.

She expanded the vocabulary of baladi, introducing upper torso movements and flowing, serpentine arms (traditionally the arms were just held). Having previously performed on the spot, dancers now began to explore the use of space and choreography.

Masabni also introduced the use and manipulation of veils, which, until then had not been a part of baladi but an invention of Western "Oriental" dancers at the turn of the century. The costume was revised as well, from the traditional full baladi dress to something largely inspired by Hollywood: the bra and belt, bare midriff, and gauzy split skirt.

Masabni's influence continued on through two of her protégés, Samia Gamal and Tahia Carioca, who became the most celebrated dancers of the era. Their influence on Arab dance was heightened by their appearance in many films.

The Time: 1926

The Place: The Casino Opera, Cairo

The Scene: The Dawning of . . . THE GOLDEN AGE OF
EGYPTIAN DANCE

Samya Gamal ca. 1930

Samia Gamal was the first Oriental dancer to wear high heels instead of bare feet or slippers, claiming that she didn't want people to think she couldn't afford shoes.

This change gave a different emphasis to the earthy dance form, raising the centre of gravity. Such changes in the use of weight also showed in new steps like the balletic piqué posé and "waltz-like pirouetting"(Wendy Buonaventura). In Wendy Buonaventura's book, Serpent of the Nile (Interlink Books, 1998, New York), she describes the dance of this time: "Extracts from old Egyptian feature films show us what baladi looked like at this moment of transition, when it was beginning to lose its traditional form. "In those days, cabaret dancing, performed by its most respected exponents, was known as raks al-hawanem ("dance of the ladies"). The nuances of this style can best be seen in old clips of Tahia Carioca, who mingles reserve, decorum and an extraordinary sweetness of expression with a rather mysterious smile. It is a subtly sensuous style, while still retaining its earthiness and the heaviness of traditional baladi." p 151. Samya Gamal, by contrast had a style heavily influenced by her ballet background, a wider expressive use of arms and lighter, more glamorous and interpretive feel. Another famous dancer of the time was Naima Akef, was able to blend the best of new and old styles. You can see these legendary dancers and many others, including the young Nagwa Fouad and Sohair Zaki in Hossam Ramzy's video series, Stars of Egypt™, which is made up of bellydance clips from all the old Egyptian movies. Many numbers are reminiscent of the old Fred and Ginger musicals with grand stage sets but here the glamorous bellydancer takes centre stage with the male lead singing to her as she dances around him. Other clips show the folky heritage of raks sharqi with elaborate sets and ensemble pieces.

Still more use elaborate props and fantasy scenarios that the Western bellydancer thought she should never attempt out of respect for authenticity! All-in-all the series is a great education in the history of Oriental dance and the heights of glamour, artistry and stagecraft that it can aspire to.

The Ghawazee are a family of dancers with their own distinct style of dancing passed on from mother to daughter. It is believed they were originally a tribe called the Nawara that came to Egypt possibly from Persia.

The men of the family play music and the women’s performances at festivals, weddings and private parties support the family. The movement vocabulary is more limited and repetitive than a raks sharqi routine but the dancers are able to continue their mesmerizing shimmies and zill playing for hours.

Chawazee, Cario
David Roberts, 1842 Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Trance dancing is a healing tradition found in many areas of the Middle East. The zar is usually held at a private home, muscians are hired and an entrance fee is charged.

The mostly female participants will partake by clapping and zaghareeting until they hear a particular rhythm that calls them and then dance in repetitive movements such as head tossing to induce trance and thus dispel unharmonius energies.

The workshop will cover traditional zar movements as well as a choreography stylized for performance.

This is a very vigorous dance done almost entirely on demi pointe and using horizontal hip twists almost nonstop.

The traditional costume is descended from the Roman toga and are held together with fibulas (the original safety pin?). Experts in this style dance with a water jug balanced on their heads.

This dance utilizes an oversized overdress as both costume and prop. The dress is held up in front like an apron and made to billow as the pelvis undulates gently to a R-L-R, L-R-L stepping pattern.

The dance also features lots of spins, chest drops and tossing of unbound hair from side-to-side. The huge sleeves are at times held up like a hood to frame head slides or used coquettishly like a veil.

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