Belly Dance Forums - View Single Post - How relevant is Egypt to Modern Belly Dance

Aisha Azar · 09-19-2006, 02:12 PM

Dear Dipali,
Unfortunately, you are gong to read a lot of things about belly dance that have no basis in reality. However,do not despair! With time and experience, we learn to reason out what has the ring of truth and what is mythology or made up for someone's marketing mix. Learn to watch the dancers from the countries of origin very closely. Look for what it is that makes them have something in common with other dancers from the same country even when their dances might appear to be different. This is one key to learning about the essence of the dance.
Learn to read and weed out what does not seem realistic for people to be able to know. For example, the term "ancient" as applied to belly dance: What are the proofs people offer? How can they determine that what was done 10,000 or even 1,000 years ago was "belly dance"? What are the proofs that the dance is a more modern development? Why might it or might it not have been an "ancient birth" or "ancient fertility" ritual? What qualities do rituals have that one does or does not usually see in an authentic ethnic belly dance performance? These are just a few of the questions about the dance that we all find ourselves asking if we are interested in understanding the dance. And as long as we dance there are opportunities to learn more!!
Best wishes,
A'isha

09-19-2006, 02:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
Aisha Azar V.I.P. Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Pacific Northwest USA Posts: 5,313	Relevance, etc. Dear Dipali, Unfortunately, you are gong to read a lot of things about belly dance that have no basis in reality. However,do not despair! With time and experience, we learn to reason out what has the ring of truth and what is mythology or made up for someone's marketing mix. Learn to watch the dancers from the countries of origin very closely. Look for what it is that makes them have something in common with other dancers from the same country even when their dances might appear to be different. This is one key to learning about the essence of the dance. Learn to read and weed out what does not seem realistic for people to be able to know. For example, the term "ancient" as applied to belly dance: What are the proofs people offer? How can they determine that what was done 10,000 or even 1,000 years ago was "belly dance"? What are the proofs that the dance is a more modern development? Why might it or might it not have been an "ancient birth" or "ancient fertility" ritual? What qualities do rituals have that one does or does not usually see in an authentic ethnic belly dance performance? These are just a few of the questions about the dance that we all find ourselves asking if we are interested in understanding the dance. And as long as we dance there are opportunities to learn more!! Best wishes, A'isha