Oriental Belly Dance

This beautiful dance is done with the whole body, not just the 'Belly.' The dance is usually done as a solo dance, with undulating hips and a body that shakes and rolls. Jumping and stamping of the feet can be a part of the dance as well. Many belly dancers can and do use the finger cymbals (not Castanets) while dancing. A good belly dancer can be judged by how well she moves her shoulders, not her pelvis.

The only correct term for real Belly dancing is "Raks Sharki" Egyptian, which means Oriental Dance. Other not so respected dance forms can be connected with the belly dance, such as Burlesque and Striptease. Promoters and dancers used the dance in the movies, and many people have only seen a belly dance there. Real belly dancers do not want the dance to be connected with Strippers and Burlesque, as the dance in reality is a very old, beautiful and respected art form.

Awélim: In Egypt the "dancing women" were called Awélim (wise or learned). These dancing women who danced at a later period, like those of the East, were not looked upon as ideals of virtue. They performed in long, transparent gowns, beating drums or castanets in quick time.

The Egyptian belly dancers were generally hired to perform dances on certain occasions, such as a wedding. They would go through the dance with unveiled face, and the men were sitting down in the court and watching them, while the women enjoyed the performance from the windows of the harem. A more modern Egyptian dance, called the "Bee," is performed by a single dancer, who, in look or action, expresses the pain she feels on being stung.

Almèh: In old India, the "dancing girls" were called Almèh; they were better educated than the other women and formed part of a high society. The entertainment which they gave was well respected. The almèh of the higher class knew all the new songs and dances; they sang the most beautiful hymns honoring heroes, or love. No festival was complete without their attendance; nor was there an entertainment in which the almèh was not the chief excitement. The most distinguished class of the almèh were introduced into the saloons of the great, not alone for their merits as dancers.

The Almèh were favored by the public, and were asked to attend marriages and every kind of entertainment. In some hieroglyphics and paintings, they were depicted waving small branches or beating tambourines while they danced, singing the refrain, "Make a good day, make a good day, Life only lasts for a moment, Make a good day." Which is the same idea as that of the feasters in the Bible, who said, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

There was a lower class who could not claim to be Almèh, whose imitations were very humble and cheap; without the knowledge, the elegance or the grace of the higher order (Almèh) they had no choice but to dance in the public places. These people gave the dance an unmoral view. They were usually of poor training and weak of mind.

Karol Henderson-Harding states: "The spectators pay the belly dancer directly in the form of cash thrown on the floor or placed on the dancer's body. There is no other dance form in which this occurs. In classical Greece, a woman from a poor family went to dance in the marketplace. Spectators threw small gold coins at her, money which she then used as decoration, since she had no where else quite as safe to keep them. Today, dancers still wear costumes decorated with coins. It is still the custom to give a belly dancer money while she dances, and there is no other kind of professional dancer who receives money directly from her audience."

(http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3belly.htm)