'Belly Dance' has its roots in the Middle East, hence it is more correctly called Middle Eastern dance, Arabic dance, or Raqs Sharqi ('dance of the east') and actually has little to do with the belly! Zafirah performs Egyptian style dance, the other main styles are Lebanese and Turkish.

Brief History

The basic movements are the same moves used in the social dancing at weddings, parties and other social occasions of Middle Eastern people and consist of percussive movements of the hips and shoulders contrasted with slower fluid moves of the hips and torso. The dance in this form was done in ordinary clothes, perhaps with a scarf to emphasize the hips.

There have always been performers of music and dance on the fringes of Middle Eastern society. People would often hire a professional dancer to provide atmosphere get the crowd going at weddings. In the last century, particularly in Egypt (the center of the Arabic film industry), the dance evolved into a new, more refined stagecraft. In many movies of the 40s and 50s the dancers in movies, even if just doing a short cameo, were as high profile and crowd pullers as the lead actors! Dancers of this era were Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca and later Naima Akef. Hollywood influence spawned the stereotypical two piece costume of bra top and skirt. Influences from Western dances were integrated, such as a much greater use of space and more balletic posture and arm placement. Hollywood also inspired kitsch group dances and visual spectaculars put on by some of the stars of the 60s and 70s, foremost Nagwa Fouad. By the 80s to visit the night clubs of Cairo to see a famous dancer such as the infamous Fifi Abdou was top of the list for wealthy gulf Arabs and Egyptian people alike. The dance is constantly evolving and new influences and directions are been taken by dancers of Cairo all the time.

Little is really known of the nature of the dance before the advent of moving image technology, although there are many theories out there, varying from reasonable to plain wacky.

Music

Without music, dance is simply moving the body. The music is central to Arabic dance. The role of the dancer is to express the music and make it visible using her body. What makes a great dancer great is not so much technique (although that is important) , but the ability to be one with the music and move the audience - express the emotion and subtle intricacies of the music. This is particularly true of Egyptian style dance - the Egyptian principle is very much 'less is more', small, subtle and refined.

Props and tableaux


Often dancers will put tableaux of stylised folkloric dances in their shows for a bit of variety. The most common of these is Saiidi, a heavy earthy folk style from upper Egypt (the south!!) with its distinctive rhythm and instruments such as the mizmar and rebaba. This is often danced with a stick - the men's combat dance 'tahtib' and the woman's parody of this, Raqs Assaya.
Another is the Melaya Leff. The Melaya Leff was a large bit of fabric worn as a wrap by Egyptian women in the early part of the last century, used to cover up when they went out. Someone, sometime (this is a hotbed of debate) had the idea of doing a parody of the young baladi girl going to the market (or seafront, depends who you believe) and flirting with the boys by wrapping and unwrapping her Melaya to give tatanlising glimpses of her curves. This has developed into a recognisable tableaux of its own, a cheeky lighthearted flirty style. The tasteless dress (often frilly), shoes (cheb chebs) and pom poms (representing flowers) are very much a part! You can see Zafirah dancing Melaya Leff here.
Other tableaux can be Khaleegy (dance of the Gulf region), Debke (dance of the Levant), or dancing with Candelabra balanced on head (a wedding tradition).

Another commonly used prop is the 'veil' a large light piece of fabric (e.g. chiffon) which is manipulated and swirled to make attractive shapes in the air and frame the dancer. This is not native to the middle east, it is one of the influences the western world has had on the dance. It is only in the west (most notably the US) that it has really caught on and developed into highly skilled affair whereas Egyptian dancers do little more than a quick 'swish swish drop' during their entrance. You can see a video of Zafirah doing a veil entrance here. Finger cymbals (Sagat = Arabic, or Zills = Turkish) used to be played and are still very much a part of Turkish style, but have faded in modern Egyptian - the stars prefer to pay a musician to play them!
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