But I Thought You Were a Belly Dancer? A Term that Needs Clarification!
Introduction
Whenever one is speaking of dance forms of the Middle East, one inevitably
runs into the term “belly dance”. In the West, this is the most common
name for these dances, even though the “belly” itself doesn’t really play
a dominant part in them. In fact, it remains covered, as does most of the
body, when these dances are presented in their original folkloric form. In
spite of this, the name "belly dance" has stuck. So have the
preconceived notions that many Western people have about it. In this
article, I will share a little of the history of what Egyptian people refer to
as Oriental Dance, or Raks Sharki. However, before this I will address how
the name “belly dance” came to be, and where and how those, “It’s so
naughty!” ideas arose.
Belly Dance
An unfortunate and inaccurate term now used worldwide to name Oriental Dance.
The term is believed to have first came into being at the time of the Chicago
World Fair in 1898. A man named Sol Bloom used it to promote his pavilion
and its North African dancers, including the infamous “Little Egypt”, his
star performer. It is obvious from the printed material Bloom used to
describe the entertainment that he was mainly interested in drawing male viewers
by tempting them with what for that time was sexually provocative language.
In 1898, Westerners felt that naming body parts
below the neck was taboo. Corsets
were the norm, and the female body was covered from head to toe. It certainly wasn’t allowed to move freely, especially not the torso.
When these Victorian attitudes held by Mr. Bloom encountered the
undulations and shimmies of North African dancers, he coined the anatomically
incorrect “belly dance” to describe it.
In fact, this dance is done with the whole body. It requires a high degree of control and isolation of muscles in the
torso, but is not limited to that area at all, and anyone who’s seen a dancer
performing authentic “belly dance” knows this. But, that did not matter to Mr. Bloom, nor to the largely male audiences
who came to watch. It wasn’t long
before this dance was branded as lewd and meant for males to view, and only
“fallen” women to perform.
So let’s go back to the source, and look at how
this dance form is perceived in the countries of the Middle East and North
Africa that it originated in. There,
it is not just performed by women for a male audience. It’s essentially derived from folk dances, and folk dances
are done by folks. Children, men
and women of all ages dance this way. Just
as you would dance the polka, the waltz or the two-step at a wedding here in the
West, at a family gathering in Egypt or Turkey, the dance movements performed by
everyone there would be those that have come from the local folk tradition.
Dancing with your whole body is normal in the Middle East and North
Africa, and everybody does it. Surprise!
It’s true that professional dancers in the
Middle East and North Africa can and do encounter prejudice from members of
their own cultures. There are
conservative elements within Muslim culture that frown upon this type of
creative expression. And yet, if
you go to a wedding, there is music, and everyone is dancing. This is their dance, a very old dance that predates all the present
cultures that still embrace it, however conflicted they are about it, and it
continues to survive despite periods of repression. Why? My guess is that
there’s a very simple answer to its continued existence, even in some very
difficult environments. This dance
is fun – very fun. The music is
incredibly beautiful. It makes
anyone who takes part in it feel good and healthy and joyful. Things like that are pretty hard to stamp out.
So What Do We Call It Now?
Today the term retains negative connotations
brought forward into the present, woven into modern myths about harem girls and
dancing slaves. For this reason,
many who practice and teach this form avoid using the term “belly dance”.
Some believe it is best to use “Oriental Dance” or “Raks Sharki”
in its place. Of course, this
requires some explaining on the part of the presenter, just as I’m doing now.
It’s all part of educating audiences and elevating the status of the
dance by revealing its history. The
West’s take on this dance is that it is a “woman as object for lust” dance
form, barely distinguishable from burlesque entertainment and stripping. Since this is how it was first presented when it was brought to North
America, that’s no surprise. Fortunately, it is possible to get out of this
pigeonhole. We just need to look at
the historical background to find our way forward.
Oriental Dance
Translated from the Arabic “Raks Sharki”
(literally, Dance of the East), this is the “real” name of the dance. Interestingly, this designation has a distinctly North African world
perspective. As far as Egyptian
geography goes, this dance is “from the East”, having been developed
and transmitted by cultures lying east of Egypt and brought to the Nile Valley
through trade, shifting political boundaries and wandering nomadic groups.
One major group that took part in the collecting and transmitting of this
movement vocabulary are the Rom or Gypsy peoples, who originated in northern
India. The Rom people made music
and dance a central part of their culture, and entertained where ever they
roamed, including old Upper Egypt.
The movement vocabulary of Oriental Dance is a
mixture of dance elements from North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and
Northern India refined and blended into a recognizably modern form. In fact, one can think of Oriental Dance as a language whose vocabulary
contains words from many countries, but for which a new grammar and
pronunciation has developed. The
original folk dances exist separately, and are preserved and performed by dance
troupes whose focus is the sharing and maintaining of dances of the common
people. These troupes recognize
that a folk dance has certain essential elements of movement, music, costume and
circumstance/occasion that must be addressed in order for the dance to be
performed correctly.
The most recent factors that have shaped the
development of Oriental Dance include modern staging requirements and changes in
the demands of the audience. As the
dance became established in North America, it was simultaneously enjoying great
popularity in Egypt, where making musical movies featuring dancer/singer/actress
stars created a high standard of quality. Egyptian
choreographers looked to North American movie musicals for inspiration, and to
ballet for movements that took extended the body into space and traveled over
the stage. After over 50 years of
continual refinement and development, Oriental Dance has become a
well-established form that today enjoys popularity worldwide.
As a member of Western culture, I am very
grateful for the opportunity to learn and appreciate the amazing complexity and
beauty that Oriental Dance has to offer. It
is my hope that through continuing to share information with others that I can
help
those interested in what I do to get past the term “belly dance”, and all
that has been associated with it.
