Belly Dancing During Quarantine

[janera2020]

Belly Dancing for me is really helpful for people who are affected by the pandemic because it can help them to feel their body and soul again. Dancing is like singing, writing, drawing, etc., that makes you feel alive. To know more about belly dancing please take time to read an article that I read lately. WHAT IS BELLY DANCING?

 

[Shanazel]

Welcome to the forum, Janera. Would you care to share some of your own dance preferences and experiences? Always happy to get to know new members.

Alas, this article incorporates just about every belly dance history cliché imaginable.

 

[Ariadne]

Want to list them? It could be fun.

 

[Shanazel]

Okay. First line

"We all know about oriental dance that it is the most ancient form of dance. "

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Belly Dancing for me is really helpful for people who are affected by the pandemic because it can help them to feel their body and soul again. Dancing is like singing, writing, drawing, etc., that makes you feel alive. To know more about belly dancing please take time to read an article that I read lately. WHAT IS BELLY DANCING?

Good article for someone brand new to the dance.

 

[Shanazel]

Women as goddesses handing ancient ritual dance down to daughter goddesses to prepare them for childbirth?

 

[Ariadne]

In ancient times, women were considered being goddesses. Because they had the power to give life,...

In Egypt this was actually true.
It however had no connection to this.

...which is why belly dancing was considered a ritual dance.

In fact I have never found evidence of it being a ritual dance outside of having a dancer at your wedding and I don't really think that counts.

And I have heard this...

For oriental women, this dance is not only an excellent pastime but also a preparation for childbirth.

...argued. It seems to be anecdotal only and scant ones at that. The real answer is they just love to dance, and who wouldn't?

The biggest problem with the article is she goes from...

We all know about oriental dance that it is the most ancient form of dance.

to

For hundreds of years, women have expressed their femininity, refinement and mystery with the help of oriental dance.

Ummm....



Which is it?

I'll agree with the second, I believe it came out of the Ottoman Empire personally, but the first?

So by my count that is 3 myths?

 

[Tourbeau]

In Egypt this was actually true.

Ann Macy Roth, for example, disagrees:

https://as.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu-as/faculty/documents/RothFatherEarthMotherSky.pdf

"Some scholars would like to locate women's power in their fertility and ability to generate new life. The analysis presented here, however, suggests that women's association with fertility and creative power may actually limit their autonomy. In ancient Egypt, it will be argued, the power of fertility and creation was identified almost exclusively as a male characteristic...."

It feels intuitively wrong to me that a connection between divinity and reproduction would conclude all fertile women were goddesses in Ancient Egypt, considering the social implications. The pharaonic families sometimes had difficulty producing quality royal offspring due to inbreeding/incest, and they don't seem like the sort who would be very eager to share their divinity with the lower, more successfully reproductive classes. I'm not even sure it was routine to elevate the pharaohs' wives and consorts to goddess status when they did give birth to viable heirs.

 

[Greek Bonfire]

While possible some of this stuff is true, I think a lot of it is romanticized and not based on fact. In most, if not all cultures, ritual dances were used for many of life's events. However, I have known some bellydancers who had a very hard time giving birth.

 

[Ariadne]

It feels intuitively wrong to me that a connection between divinity and reproduction would conclude all fertile women were goddesses in Ancient Egypt, considering the social implications. The pharaonic families sometimes had difficulty producing quality royal offspring due to inbreeding/incest, and they don't seem like the sort who would be very eager to share their divinity with the lower, more successfully reproductive classes. I'm not even sure it was routine to elevate the pharaohs' wives and consorts to goddess status when they did give birth to viable heirs.

You are right, I skimmed over my response and didn't explain my statement. It is not that all women were goddesses but that the expecting woman was considered a reflection of the Goddess and were to be treated with respect. They even had ceremonies where they would place pregnant women on display so they could worship the goddess through her/them. It's a cultural type that Cleopatra taped into during her rule and why she was so revered. As the Pharaoh she wasn't just a refection or temporary avatar but considered the goddess herself made flesh.

It is of course romanticized by people who see the ceremony without understanding of the culture it goes with.

And for a more in depth description I would have to track down some documentaries I saw years ago by a native Egyptologist about Ancient Egyptian culture as well as re-borrow a book from my sister that likewise went into Ancient Egyptian culture that is deeeeep reading. Fascinating but mind boggling deep. I'm not sure I care enough to take the time right now. I'm in the middle of reading about Egyptian Hypocephalus and their use in burial rites; I think if I went back and tried to find the other stuff my brain would break.

 

[Shanazel]

I'm in the middle of reading about Egyptian Hypocephalus and their use in burial rites; I think if I went back and tried to find the other stuff my brain would break.

Mine broke just reading that sentence. Off to find the iodine and a band-aid...