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"Belly dance"
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Dancing fear & desire : race, sexuality and imperial politics in Middle Eastern dance
Throughout centuries of European colonial domination, the bodies of Middle Eastern dancers, male and female, move sumptuously and seductively across the pages of Western travel journals, evoking desire and derision, admiration and disdain, allure and revulsion. This profound ambivalence forms the axis of an investigation into Middle Eastern dance—an investigation that extends to contemporary belly dance.
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni, through historical investigation, theoretical analysis, and personal reflection, explores how Middle Eastern dance actively engages race, sex, and national identity. Close readings of colonial travel narratives, an examination of Oscar Wilde's Salome, and analyses of treatises about Greek dance, reveal the intricate ways in which this controversial dance has been shaped by Eurocentric models that define and control identity performance.
eBook
Belly dance, pilgrimage and identity
This book examines the globalization of belly dance and the distinct dancing communities that have evolved from it. The history of belly dance has taken place within the global flow of sojourners, immigrants, entrepreneurs, and tourists from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. In some cases, the dance is transferred to new communities within the gender normative structure of its original location in North Africa and the Middle East. Belly dance also has become part of popular culture's Orientalist infused discourse. The consequence of this discourse has been a global revision of the solo dances of North Africa and the Middle East into new genres that are still part of the larger belly dance community but are distinct in form and meaning from the dance as practiced within communities in North Africa and the Middle East.
Book
Can mat Pilates and belly dance be effective in improving body image, self-esteem, and sexual function in patients undergoing hormonal treatment for breast cancer? A randomized clinical trial
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a 16-week exercise intervention (mat Pilates or belly dance) on body image, self-esteem and sexual function in breast cancer survivors receiving hormone therapy. Seventy-four breast cancer survivors were randomly allocated into mat Pilates, belly dance, or control group. The physical activity groups received a 16-week intervention, delivered 3 days a week, and 60 min a session. The control group received three education sessions. Data collection occurred at baseline, post-intervention, 6 and 12 months of follow-up with a questionnaire including body image (Body Image After Breast Cancer Questionnaire), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index) measures. The belly dance group significantly improved body image on limitations scale in the short term and long term, the mat Pilates significantly improved body image on limitations only in the long term, and the control group significantly decreased body image on limitations in the long term. The belly dance group experienced reduced discomfort and pain during sexual relations in the short and long term. All groups showed a significant improvement in self-esteem, but orgasm sub-scale scores declined over time. No adverse events were found for any of the exercise intervention groups. Belly dance seem to be more effective than mat Pilates and control group in improving limitations of body image and sexual discomfort in the short term for breast cancer survivors. ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03194997) - “Pilates and Dance to Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Treatment”
Journal Article
Social Media and the Commodification of Attention/Inattention in the Changing Egyptian Belly Dance Industry
In 2018, Russian belly dancer Gohara catapulted to stardom after being charged with ‘inciting debauchery’ and nearly deported when a video of her Cairo disco performance went viral. Based on participant-observation of the belly dance industry in Egypt, this article employs ethnographic narratives to demonstrate that although attention is commodified across Egyptian belly dance venues, so is inattention and discretion. While foreign dancers like Gohara can often profit from any attention, for Egyptian dancers the social costs of attracting attention frequently make it undesirable, creating opportunities for exploitation and the commodification of inattention and discretion. As such, the growing dominance of the visually based economies of attention on social media is generating new challenges for Egyptian belly dancers trying to compete in a changing market.
Journal Article
Shimmy
Lila has always loved belly dance--the music, the costumes, the choreography. So she is thrilled when she is invited to join a competitive and prestigious studio. But dancing at the new studio isn't quite what she expected. When she realizes that dance isn't as much fun as it used to be, she starts to question whether she has made the right decision.
Book
Middle Eastern Dance and What We Call It
This article traces the historical background of the term ‘belly dance’, the English-language name for a complex of solo, improvised dance styles of Middle Eastern and North African origin whose movements are based on articulations of the torso. The expression danse du ventre – literally, ‘dance of the belly’ – was initially popularised in France as an alternate title for Orientalist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1863 painting of an Egyptian dancer and ultimately became the standard designation for solo, and especially women's, dances from the Middle East and North Africa. The translation ‘belly dance’ was introduced into English in 1889 in international media coverage of the Rue du Caire exhibit at the Parisian Exposition Universelle. A close examination of the historical sources demonstrates that the evolution of this terminology was influenced by contemporary art, commercial considerations, and popular stereotypes about Eastern societies. The paper concludes with an examination of dancers' attitudes to the various English-language names for the dance in the present day.
Journal Article
Orientalism in motion: representations of “belly dance” in paintings and travel literature (19th century)
This article analyses representations of “belly dance” in paintings and travel literature produced by Europeans in the 19th century. Locating this dance in time and space, describing characteristics and subjects that were important for the development of this practice, it analyses its deep relationship with the colonization process in Egypt. We conclude that the dances practiced by men and, above all, by women in the Egyptian territory in the 19th century underwent European filters and interpretations before consolidating in the West as “belly dancing”. This socio-political context left visible marks in the way this body repertoire is performed, represented and reputed today.
Journal Article
Beyond the Belly: An Appraisal of Middle Eastern Dance (aka Belly Dance) as Leisure
Middle Eastern dance (aka belly dance) is an ancient and expressive form of movement, associated with feminine and community-based celebration and ritual. However, it is also thought of as erotic, seductive, and titillating. Despite stereotypes, belly dance appeals to contemporary women as leisure. This paper examines the intrigue with belly dance in the United States, specifically why women practice this dance form and what their involvement suggests about the gendered nature of leisure, and the need thereof, in women's lives. It also considers the possibility that belly dance may be a feminist form of leisure. Based on participant observation, journal narratives provided by dancers, and publically accessible online discussions, findings are examined along four themes: healing, sisterhood, spirituality, and empowerment.
Journal Article