Origins of Belly Dancing

Video Transcript

"So, where does belly dancing come from? I'm Johanna Krynytzky, here with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio in St. Petersburg, Florida. Now, the origins of belly dance are so old that we really don't know where it comes from. If you ask an Egyptian they will say it comes from Egypt. If you ask a Greek person they'll say it comes from Greece. And the truth is that belly dancing is so old that back when we were tribes wandering in the desert we were belly dancing. Belly dancing is a cultural dance form, so it's a dance of celebration so people were doing it, you know, back as far as when time began. Now, some people say that it comes from belly dancing birth, belly dancing comes from birthing rituals, and even today, in parts of the Middle East when a woman goes into labor her friends will gather around her; women of course, and do undulations to help encourage her labor. And there are several videos out that talk about which parts of belly dance, which moves are good for which stages of labor. So, belly dancing possibly comes from birthing rituals. Belly dancing also possibly comes from temple dances worshiping the goddess, and different goddess figures in ancient religions. Belly dancing also, like I mentioned before, is a dance of celebration, so people would get together, they do some drumming, they do some dancing, and they would be belly dancing. So, that's some of the origins of belly dance. Now, belly dancing expanded to fit different parts, so Greek belly dancing has developed a little differently, versus Moroccan belly dancing or Egyptian belly dance. So it developed differently in different parts of the world, but some things that remain the same are usually a hip wrap, often they'll play the zills, and then having the body isolations, though you'll have different technique in Turkish belly dance versus Egyptian belly dance. So, that's some of the origins of belly dance. You can do a lot more research online, and find a lot more specifics, but ultimately, it's so old that we don't have record of it. I'm Johanna Krynytzky from Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio, telling you a little bit about the origins of belly dance."