History of Belly Dancing

Series Summary

The art of belly dancing has long played an integral part in the cultures of Egypt, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, just to name a few. Although some speculate that it may have religious origins, very little is known about the early history of this ancient dance style, and its mysterious beginnings are often subject to debate.

Belly dance is improvisational in nature, and the movements are meant to emphasize the roundness of the female form with circular motions isolated in one part of the body. The elaborate costumes also serve to exaggerate the movements of the dancer, sometimes adding percussive accents to the music through the use of coin belts or finger cymbals, also called zils. Additionally the dance can often employ props like swords and veils.

Today belly dancing has become a very popular means of exercise and weight loss due to the fact that it targets every muscle group. Whether you call it belly dancing, oriental dancing, or Middle Eastern dancing, the rolls, pops and shimmies of this ancient art will challenge the body’s strength and flexibility, and provide an intense cardiovascular workout.

Video Transcript

"Hello! Thank you for joining us here at expertvillage.com. My name is Portia and I am a professional belly dancer. I am also the owner of Belly Motions in Middle Eastern Dance Academy in Miami, Florida. You can checkout our web site at www.bellymotions.com. Today, I am going to show you some beginner belly dance movements including posture, warmup and the basics. First let us go ahead and begin with a little bit of history about Middle Eastern Dancing. As you know, we refer it to here in the US as belly dance, but there are many different styles of dancing and from many different countries in the Middle East, there is Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, just to name a few. I specialize in Egyptian style of dance but the movements I am going to show you today will be universal and basic for all styles. It’s important to remember that belly dance is a beautiful dance created for women by women and is often misunderstood and misinterpreted. Today, we are going to breakthrough some of those stereotypes and we are going to teach you how to dance. "