the History of Belly Dancing
Introduction | Roots & History | The Musical Essence | Today | The Spread
The musical essence of Belly Dancing
Most of the basic steps and techniques used in belly dancing involve circular motions isolated to a certain part of the body. For example, a circular movement "drawn" parallel to the floor by the hips is known as a "hip circle", or by the rib-cage known as a "chest circle". Accents such as "hip lifts" or "drops" are use to draw the eye to hip movement such as "shimmies or hip circles", while shoulder or arm movements are to accent chest or belly undulations. Dancers often dance while balancing various props like baskets, swords or canes(canes in particular for folkloric dances.)as well as using silk or chiffon veils and wings for dramatic dance pieces.
Despite its western name (“belly dancing”), Raqs Sharqi uses movements in every muscle group of the body. It is, fundamentally, a solo improvisational dance with its own unique dance vocabulary that is fluidly integrated with the music’s rhythm.
Raqs Sharqi dancers internalize and express the emotions evoked by the music. Appropriately, the music is integral to the dance. The most admired Raqs Sharqi dancers are those who can best project their emotions through dance, even if their dance is made up of simple movements. The dancer’s goal is to visually communicate to the audience the emotion and rhythm of the music. This is especially apparent during the drum solo portion of a performance.
Many see Raqs Sharqi as a woman's dance, celebrating the sensuality and power of being a mature woman. A common school of thought believes that young dancers have limited life experience to use as a catalyst for dance.[citation needed] Sohair Zaki, Fifi Abdou, Lucy, and Dina are all popular Egyptian dancers above the age of forty.