- published: 25 Dec 2013
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Belly dance or bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "West Asian" dance, especially raqs sharqi (Arabic: رقص شرقي).[citation needed], (Turkish: Dansöz) It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West.
The term "belly dance" is a translation of the French "danse du ventre" which was applied to the dance in the Victorian era. It is something of a misnomer as every part of the body is involved in the dance; the most featured body part usually is the hips. Belly dance takes many different forms depending on country and region, both in costume and dance style, and new styles have evolved in the West as its popularity has spread globally. Although contemporary forms of the dance have generally been performed by women, some of the dances, particularly the cane dance, have origins in male forms of performance.
Belly-dance first appearing at the women in positions in Greek tomb paintings (5,000 B.C.) and in ancient Greek sculpture. The Greeks call home- style belly dancing Tsifteteli. Belly dance was popularized in the West during the Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, when Orientalist artists depicted romanticized images of harem life in the Ottoman Empire. Around this time, dancers from Middle Eastern countries began to perform at various World's Fairs, often drawing crowds in numbers that rivaled those for the science and technology exhibits. It was during this period that the term "oriental" or "eastern" dancing is first used. Several dancers, including the French author Colette, engaged in "oriental" dancing, sometimes passing off their own interpretations as authentic.