Locals call it raqs sharqi.
In the West, we call it belly dance.
Most of us have had the pleasure of watching a belly dancer perform, often at Middle Eastern restaurants. We’ve been charmed by her sparkling costumes and mesmerizing movements. Little do we know, we are witnessing one of the oldest forms of dance in human history. In fact, some sources point to the pyramid builders of Ancient Egypt as the first belly dancers.
Because men and women in traditional Islamic societies led largely segregated lives, belly dancing was traditionally performed among female company -- not, contrary to popular belief, for the pleasure of men. These misconceptions arose from the eroticized depictions by Orientalists -- a group of 19th-century European painters and writers particularly intrigued by the mystique of the East -- who presented images of exotic, semi-naked concubines seducing a sultan or group of men through dance.
The American people were first introduced to belly dance at the 1893 Chicago World Fair, which featured an exhibit called “The Streets of Cairo.” The dancers of the Egyptian Theater, specifically, offended the Victorian sensibilities of the time with their rapid hip movements and uncorseted appearance in public. The Fair’s promoter, Sol Bloom, attempted to create a sensation by using the term “belly dance” in his advertising campaign, a move which capitalized on the fact that revealing or referring to any part of human anatomy was considered improper. Consequently, in the decades that followed, belly dance would only be performed at vaudeville, burlesque, and carnival sideshows. Frequently misrepresented by amateur imitators, the dance gained a reputation as a risqué, erotic form of artistic expression, unfit for polite society.
In the early 20th century, Hollywood caught on to the trend and further popularized the dance, often reinforcing false or negative stereotypes about it in the process. Belly dancers in film fit one of three roles: background dancer, a slave to be saved, or a duplicitous woman who used her allure to deceive men. Drawing inspiration from European vaudeville and burlesque outfits, Hollywood designers fashioned a new costume featuring a sparkling, fringed, and beaded bra and belt set. This outfit, the bedleh, was first adopted in Egypt in the 1930s by Lebanese singer, dancer, and actress Badia Masabni, who opened the nightclub Casino Opera in Cairo. Masabni, along with several Western choreographers, broadened the traditional dance vocabulary to include more travel steps as well as arm and chest movements, transforming belly dance into a more expressive, theatrical form of performance art.
The 1930s and 1940s saw the rise of legendary belly dancers such as Samia Gamal, Tahiya Karioka, Hekmet Fahmy, and Naima Akef, products of the Casino Opera club who would go on to gain international recognition. Some of these women used their fame for political purposes; Fahmy, for example, was an Egyptian nationalist who used the contacts she had with several British officers to gather intelligence which she then shared with the Germans, in an effort to undermine British troops.
With the arrival of immigrants from Turkey, Iran, and the Arab states to New York during this time period, the distinct styles of belly dance which had developed throughout the Middle East fused into the Classic Cabaret or American Cabaret form of belly dance. The art continues to evolve to this day, with Egyptian, Turkish, Lebanese, Gypsy, and American Tribal styles also having gained widespread practice.
