Kharmine

I finally found my copy of "The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented past Won't Give Women a Future" (pub. 2000, Boston Press) by Cynthia Eller, associate professor of Women and Religion at Montclair State University in New Jersey. (Her web site is: Cynthia Eller)

This is a very impressive book to me because although it's very academic and well-researched, it's written really well, much better than most "scholarly" works. I recommend it.

Eller goes into how the myth of an ancient, widespread, goddess-centered matriarchy developed in the West. It came out of radical feminism in the late 1970s, mostly in the U.S., England and Germany, as a reaction to "patriarchal" religion. She talks about the politics, the pioneers, the books, the revived interested in pagan religions, and other stuff that contributed to modern "goddess spirituality."

I've also got a 1978 copy of a feminist magazine called "Heresies" with an article by Daniela Gioseffi called "Birth Dance or Belly Dance." I'm not sure how influential she was in starting the goddess/belly dance myth, but she's got to be one of the earliest feminists to make that argument that I can find.

Gioseffi refers to the "present-day phenomenon of the cafe belly dancer" as a "blatant sex object, the burlesque stripper of our Western culture as she accepts the dollar bills thrust into her beaded bra and dance belt by the male members of her audience."

She insists that the dance evolved from ancient fertility/birthing exercises that became part of religious ritual and dance, etc. She says "the first deity" was "The Great Mother," so you get a pretty good idea of where her beliefs lie. She's all for women getting into the dance as liberating and empowering and all that.

Gioseffi also wrote a novel published in 1977 called "the Great American Belly Dance" about a divorced woman who becomes a belly dancer, is revolted by her teacher's nightclub performance (that bill-stuffing thang) and decides to tour the States educating folks about "fertility dance" as opposed to "belly dance." (I'd tell you how that came out, but it's one of the few books I didn't feel like finishing.)

What can I say? It was the '70s. I well remember how I was urged by some of my "sisters" in college to become a lesbian because that was supposed to be more politically committed to "the cause" of equality!

Gioseffi is a "serious" poet and writer today and doesn't say anything about "fertility dancing" on her web site: Gioseffi.com: Daniela Gioseffi

Even Starhawk, a well-known pagan writer who has probably done more than anyone to popularize modern goddess religion, has done a back-take on all her prehistory talk. Now that it's been proved there's no evidence for it, she says, Well, facts don't matter. It's still useful and good.

Well, I'm sorry, but as I told my college "sisters" -- "Hey! Not even to resist the patriarchy!" I'm a feminist, but I just won't put up with people trying to rewrite history. Folks like that just makes my butt wanna pucker.

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What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?

Tarik Sultan

Here are a few examples I could find that shows the similarities of various movements with Egyptian dance movements. I found that movements like shimmies and twists seem to be very widely distributed across the continent.

: Somalia

: South africa

In Central Africa, pelvic circles are wide spread. I found this interesting because in the Baladi areas, people do the exact same movement, although they usually do it in one direction as versus the reverse to both sides, but the same muscle groups seem to be used.

: Congo

This was the closest example I could find from Egypt. What I saw was actually closer to the Congolese move, but Notice the similarity of the pelvic rotations.

: Egypt

Finally the Ethiopians dance shows very intricate shoulder shimmies and chest isolations that can be seen all across North Africa.



I think this shows a realtionship, with other African dances in a broader context. However, whether it always existed in the Nile Valley, or came in with migration, I have no idea, nor do I think its possible to ever say with any certainty.

Rick Fink

Cathy,

Me real caveman! Go back to cave now. Talk later.

http://www.zhelene.com/RicksBio.html

Shanazel

You are not, perchance, Ricky Fink, aka "Rat Fink" who lived in Kingsville in 1962 and made my life miserable in the second grade by liking Loralva Rodriguez better than me at Flato Elementary School?

Tarik, I particularly liked the Ethiopian piece: nice cheery song, lots of smiles, plenty of guns, and a lovely blood red waterfall in the background. Any idea what the fellow is singing about?

Rick Fink

Dear Shanazel,

Not me! I was in love with a pretty blond in my class who could run as fast as the boys!

Take care, Rick

Shanazel

Well, I was a blond, and my daddy thought I was pretty, but I couldn't outrun a somnalent snapping turtle on my fastest day.

Rick Fink

Dear Shanazel,

Now I never actually talked to her. I just talked about her for a year. She sat right in front of me and I just stared at her beautiful golden hair!

Rick

Reen.Blom

Thank you dear for contributing so much to the TOPIC of this thread!!!

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Tarik Sultan

Not a clue about the lyrics. But what fascinated me was the isolations and control of the upper torso. I've seen similar movements in Egyptian dance, but much simpler. However in many noth African dances, the movements are identical, especially when they isolate one shoulder.

It really does make one wonder as to how these movements spread over such a vast area. Was it due to migration, or was the entire area part of a much larger culture in the remote past? Or could it be that they all originated in the same region and then these aspects were carried far a field as people migrated out of that area to settle other areas of Africa?

Aisha Azar

Dear Group,
As far as the movements in any of these dances go, it does not mean that they have anything whatsoever to do with the origins of belly dance. The human body has a finite number of ways in which it can move. I can no longer remember the number, but I once did a class paper on it and the universality of certain kinds of movement meaning certain things. The point is that we will find the same movements being done the world over, not just in North Africa.
Movement is ubiquitous. However, in each culture these movements when in the context of dance, they take on their own specific meanings for the people within the cultural, as well as universally. Belly dance is not just movements. It is all other elements combined with movement that make the dance. As an example from another dance genre, we see the tap movements of Savion Glover and the tap movements of Michael Flatley. They both utilize many of the same movements. BUT everything else about what they are doing is different; different posture, different stuff with the arms, different feeling in the flow of energy, different meaning, different culture, different music, etc. Are they both doing the same dance just because they have some movements in common? Absolutely not. Belly dance is very traceable to a distinct time and there is a LOT of recent historical evidence to show the dance as very new, very little over 100 years old. Yes, it has a few movements in common with many dances throughout the world, but it is its own dance, defined by very clear cultural elements.
Regards,
A'isha