Jane

What belly dance related books are your favorites? Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?

Pia

Is there any bellydance fiction out there? Belly dance secrets is a good begginers info book

maylynn

I thought Snake Hips was really sweet.

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Mosaic

I enjoyed Snake Hips, I also have Serpent of the Nile ( haven't got around to reading it yet and The secret Language of Belly Dancing by Maria Strova, also waiting to be read. I have one by Keti Sharif, it is OK, fairly basic stuff.

Don't know that there are are actual, novels out, but I could be wrong.
~Mosaic

Caroline_afifi

Wendy Buonaventuras latest book is 'I Put a Spell on You' or 'Something in the Way She Moves' (if you live in the States), is a very nice read.

A Trade Like any Other is very academic and is written like a thesis, but full of great info and perpectives.

Both books are factual.

Kashmir

Mmm - Wendy Buonaventura's books may have bits of factual material in them, unfortunately they are buried amongst lots of fantasy stuff. If you check many of the references in 'Something in the Way She Moves' you'll find them pointing back to her own 'Serpent of the Nile' which has little real research - but lots of nice pictures.

Kashmir

My favourite is van Nieuwkerk's 'Trade Like Any Other'. It is Egyptian specific but very interesting.

I also liked Anthony Shay & Barbara Sellers-Young's 'Belly Dance - Orientalism, Transnationalism & Harem Fantasy'.

Not specifically belly dance but Shay's 'Choreographic Politics' is well worth a read if you have any interest in national folkloric troupes.

taheya

Looking for Little Egypt by Donna Carlton is also a really interesting read about the Ghawazi dancers who were brought over from the middle east in the 1890s for the chicago world expodition.

Caroline_afifi

This book focuses alot on Orientalism which was based on fantasy.
I know Wendy personally and she always states her source.
The wonderful and late Mai Ghoussoub was also the editor at Saqi books and she was rigorous.

Sometimes source has to be questioned too. I used one a few years back by Karen Van Nieuwkerk and was told it was biased and misleading.
What can you say unless you dont quote anyone and do everthing yourself?

Aisha Azar

Dear Jane,
The problem with focusing on just books abut belly dance is that often, the larger context gets lost in the narrowness of the focus, so you see the dance through a keyhole instead of opening up the door and looking at the whole scene. I suggest that along with books on belly dance you also looks for books on the cultures, people, histories, sociologies, religions, architectures and arts, intercultural studies, etc. This way, you can have a fuller idea of what the dance is about. Dance is always very much related to the peoples that develop them and to the places from which they originate and to take them out of context is to do them a huge disfavor. Belly dance books are often just a small part of the equation. One of the better one, though is Von Neiukirk's. It is an academic study that focuses mostly on one group and tries to see the dance through a specific set of eyes. If you keep this in mind while reading it; there is a ton of good info there!
Regards,
A'isha