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.
I have always been drawn to the rhythms of drums and it was
inevitable for me to eventually find myself involved in the world
of Middle Eastern dance. This 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 it 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 most Middle Eastern
cultures and many still are today. 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. Belly dancing is no way linked
historically to stripping.
---------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.
|
|
