Belly Dancing - The Facts
"I came in with no belly dancing experience
at all and have felt increasingly confident each class. Zehara
is a great teacher and makes class fun with lots of laughter.
I hope to take more belly dancing when this is done!"
-Katie, Dorchester, MA
The Facts of Belly Dance
By Zehara Nachash, Instructor and Performer.
Belly Dancing is probably one of the most misunderstood forms
of dance, thanks to the perversion of it in films. Here is a breakdown
of what belly dancing is and what it isn't.
What is Belly Dancing?
While there is no historical evidence of exactly how old the dance
is or where it came from, there is no refuting that belly dancing
is one of the oldest forms of dance. The original name of belly
dance is "Raqs Sharqi" which means "Dance of the
Orient." It gained the term "belly dance" when
it made its way from East to West. In France, the dance got dubbed
"danse du ventre" which literally means "belly
dance" due to the flutter of the dancer's stomach. It is
believed that belly dancing was created to help prepare women
for birth. Since most of the movements originate in the stomach
and hips, belly dance helps prepare the women's body for the birthing
process. During labor, a woman's stomach undulates, much like
the undulation used during belly dance. Belly dancing was also
used a form of ancient Mother Goddess worship.
What Belly Dancing Isn't
Belly dancing was not created to seduce men. Belly dancing was
created by women for women, since most women were kept completely
separated from men during celebrations in many Middle Eastern
cultures. Women created the dance to perform for one another,
not to perform for men. Belly dancing is not stripping. Belly
dancers never removed articles of clothing. When belly dancing
hit respectable America in the 1890's it was a scandal as most
people were used to seeing women dressed modestly and dancing
modestly. Vaudeville performances began adding the "hoochy
koochy" dance to their repertoire which later people associated
with belly dance.
---------Zehara Nachash, Instructor
Our two OUT to Dance studio locations, West Roxbury, MA and
Roslindale, MA, are within twenty minutes of downtown Boston,
Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Brighton, Allston, Brookline,
Newton, Chestnut Hill, Dedham, Norwood, Needham, Westwood, Milton
and Quincy; and within 25 to 35 minutes of Cambridge, Somerville,
Arlington, Wellesley, Natick, Waltham, Braintree, Brockton, Stoughton,
Canton, Foxboro, Weymouth and surrounding towns.
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