Originally Posted by Machiavellia

A'isha,
Personally, I feel that, as you said, there are boundaries to what is and is not bellydancing, but that everyone draws their own line in a slightly different place. In my view, that involves imbuing my art with my own cultural and personal experiences. When I started studying, it was Algerian style, but in no way would I call myself an Algerian-style bellydancer anymore, although that is the origin of most of my bellydance vocabulary. I certainly don't call what I do Middle Eastern Dance, but I do call it bellydance, because I do feel that the terms are not synonymous, although they may overlap significantly. In fact, perhaps that's the best way to make that differentiation between traditional and fusion, since strictly speaking the term bellydancing is a Western invention in any case.