Welcome
to the enigmatic and bewitching word of Belly dance!
Effeminate, catching, vanquishing by soft and fine, sharpened and
accurate movements … The music, moving to tears or the joy with
a drum roll, which can stir up even unfeeling hearts.
Belly dance has bewitched an audiences for centuries and now it is
brought to life again out the frontiers of the Middle East, which
is the cradle of this art.
This dance has a very long history. It is impossible to find out its
really origin. According to various suppositions it had got enlargement
from Pharaons in Egypt…But the most authentic version , close
to the reality, is which consists a supposition , that this dance
had been brought from India, supposedly in X c. by the Romans and
then spread all over the word. The Romany (Ghawasee)
nomadized and absorbed the local customs and styles of dances in Turkey,
North Africa, Persia and so on. By the time they lived in Egypt their
dance had already formed the traditional belly dance.
European had been bewitched by the dances during theirs travels to
Egypt and they had brought this novelty to Europe.
At the beginning of the XIX c. every unusual show had become fashionable,
especially exotic performances. The first eastern dancers appeared
in Paris at the end of XIX c. and several years later in America.
In order to attract more spectators the show organizers used a very
cunning “bait” : the French phrase “Danse du Ventre”
promoted a defective comprehension of the Near East dance’s
sense.
By reason of the long history of this dance it is possible to add
that the modern version resembles a little the performance of that
time. For example, in the classical belly dance swords and snakes
aren’t used.
There are different styles of belly dance at present, and each of
them an art. During the performance such things as a veil, cymbals
( sagat) , a cane ( Assaya), a tambourine and a candle holder (Shamadan)
can be used.
The existent folklore styles are Saidi
(Raks al Assaya), Haligi
(Saudi, Samri), Hagala
(Hagalla), Melaya
Leff (Escandarani), Fellahin (Fellahi), Baladi
(Beledi), Ghawasee
(Gawasee), Nubian,
Dabke
and others.
In many European countries the Middle East dance is called “
belly dance”, but this is wrong. The right term is "Raks
Sharqi", which is translated as “ The East dance”.
In conclusion it is possible to affirm that all nations of the Middle
East have their own music, dance, the styles of dance for each country.
For example, only in Morocco there are more than 200 folklore dances.
