Middle East Art Fusion

|* dance. art of Belly Dancing.

What image pops up in your head when you hear “Belly dance”? Mystery, exoticism, erotica, seduction… ? Girls dancing in the sparkling light apparels, tempting clinking sounds of coins on their belts and the atmosphere of relaxing and pleasure. That is a true delight to watch a skilled minx hypnotizes you into fairytales of 1001 nights with the dance.

However, neither language in the Middle East uses the name of any part of the body. In Arabic this dance is called "raqs sharqi" and in Turkish - "Oryantal tansi". The translation of both terms is "dance of the East", or "Oriental dance". Calling this form of dancing a "belly dance" might be considered vulgar by many Middle Eastern people.

As the history goes, the origins of the Oriental dance are in North Africa, the Middle East, and as far east as Iran. Some say it might have been used to support childbirth.

In the beginning the Oriental dance was performed primarily in family-oriented events like weddings, circumcisions, bar mitzvahs (don't be surprised, Jewish families did it too!), and other occasions. Outsiders were rarely given any opportunity to witness it.

During the 19th century, Europeans became fascinated with "the Orient" and the word quickly spread that the dancers were one of the must-see attractions. Whether they enjoyed the dancing or despised it, the exotic appeal of something so very different from their own homeland held a sort of fascination for them. Although previously the local women had danced only for family celebrations and community events, they discovered a new market for their talent: foreigners.

The nightlife in clubs for the Oriental dance spread first in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1920's. Soon the same clubs also appreared in Beirut, Lebanon. Tourists wanted to spice up their lives with something exotic and thus musicians and dancers market flourished.

But enough of facts, what do we have today? Sometimes people still wrongfully regard "belly dancing" as similar to stripping, but luckily there are not a lot of those people. We have numerous places to learn the Oriental dance and, in fact, to keep fit doing it.

Have you ever tried belly dancing? If you did, you would probably know that it requires a very good stomack muscles condition. The first time I tried it, I couldn't move my hips, they were not shaking! I felt like Miranda in one of the Sex and the City episodes, when she complained to Carry that she would never be a girly woman, because her hips wouldn't pump. Finally, I had to practise every day for several weeks my stomack press in order to get my belly shaking.

The accident happened with Susan Sarandon while she was practising the erotic dance moves for her new film 'Bernard and Doris'. Apparently she tried too hard and injured her back. That's again indicating that it is not so easy as it seams. Or that if you are 59 years old, it's better not to risk, even if you are a movie star.

P.S. places to learn Oriental dance in Tallinn, Estonia:

• Ehitajate tee 109 a
  tel 56637350, Maria
  on Saturdays at 14.30

• Almer Jansu Tantsustuudio
  right in the center, my favourite

• Dance Act Tantsustuudio

• Idakeskus Sport

posted by Aleksandra Birjukova @ 28.11.05