There is much evidence to support belly dance as a childbirth preparation exercise as well. Remember that this originated centuries before there was such a thing as Lamaze or an epidural. Many of the undulating movements of belly dance are similar to the ones taught in childbirth preparation classes today, but a woman who has been trained since she could walk by her mother, aunts, and female relatives in belly dance would have an abdominal and pelvic control and strength that most women today lack. Childbirth is a natural part of the cycle of life, but it can on occasion prove dangerous – particularly to the woman with little or no abdominal strength or control to facilitate the natural birth process. In this lies the potential for prolonged labor, which can lead to fetal distress - increasing the need for cesareans, episiotomies, and other medical interventions. It is often speculated, and supported by research, that natural birth, home birth, and less invasive procedures lead to a healthier, more satisfactory delivery and subsequently a healthier mother and child.

 

Morocco, a leading performer, instructor, and dance researcher, has done many studies into the origins and cultural background of belly dance. She says that into even more recent times there were (or are) Middle Eastern tribes who still practiced “belly dance” in the birthing tent. Women of the tribe gathered with the laboring woman to perform the dance during her labor. The intent was to distract the woman and encourage her to imitate the moves with her own body, which she does. In her article, Roots, Morocco illustrates an experience that she had attending a Berber Muslim Birth Ceremony in which the women “danced the baby [twins] into the world.”

 

In its modern implementation, belly dance has untold benefits for the women who experience it that range from spiritual to physical benefits. Belly dance helps women achieve comfort in their own bodies because it is truly a dance that embraces women of ALL body types while promoting a healthy body image. It encourages women to redefine femininity from the unrealistic, emaciated image that pop culture projects to one that accepts the whole woman. Women learn to be comfortable moving their bodies in a way that is sensual, but is not intended to be interpreted as sexual. They learn how to project their strength and grace as a part of their femininity through the dance.

 

As a moving meditation, it helps to work through and release stress and inner conflict as well as to find an outlet for creative and spiritual expression. This leads to higher self esteem and frequently an evolution of how women perceive their self, their self-worth, and how they present themselves to others.

 

Belly dance is a healthy, low-impact, weight-bearing form of exercise. It makes an excellent pre and post-natal exercise, helps prevent osteoporosis, improves posture, and can burn up to 300 to 400 calories per hour. This is an exercise that is designed for the femal body and muscular structure and as such is something that most women should be able to undertake – never the less, it is always advisable that you check with your doctor before beginning any sort of dance or exercise routine. If you have had any spinal or neck injuries, please take extra precaution. Some movements may not be recommended for you. If something hurts, stop doing it. You may be doing a move incorrectly, which could result in injury.

 

As a beginning student, make sure that you find a teacher who is supportive, patient, and attentive. Even if you prefer the solitude and anonymity of video lessons, taking a class with an experienced teacher is  always a good idea to be sure that you are performing moves correctly both for aesthetic value and to prevent injury. Don’t get discouraged if you seem to be having trouble learning a move or two or five while someone else in the class is flying ahead of you. Everyone learns this dance at her own pace. I have had students that learned a move in a moment and those who have learned it in a month. I am proud of them all. One of the greatest joys of belly dance is that it is YOUR dance. It is what you make it. Use you imagination, let go, and have fun!

 

Welcome to belly dance. You’ll never be the same again.

 

Magdalene

*My Six-Year Old Daughter, Cai Performing in April 2007

If I could tell you what I mean I wouldn’t have to dance.’ Isadora Duncan

 

Welcome to belly dance!

 

Most people have at least HEARD of belly dance, but few people know what it actully IS, thanks to Hollywood misrepresentation. Belly dance is rapidly gaining popularity in the United States as people come to realize the tremendous physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits that it has to offer.

 

About Belly Dance

 

The actual name for this dance style is “Middle Eastern Dance,” “Oriental Dance,” or “Raks Sharki” – “The Dance of the East” in Arabic. “Belly dance” is a term that often carries with it negative connotations to the uninformed public and is often seen among professionals as a vulgar term for this enchanting, complex art. When it is used among professionals to advertise classes, performances, workshops, or (as in the case of Tribal Moves Belly Dance) the troop name it is usually out of marketing preference and sympathy to the general public. “Belly dance” is a term that most of the general public would recognize over the term “Middle Eastern Dance” or “Raks Sharki.” Even if someone had negative associations with the term, she would at least probably be somewhat familiar with the movement concepts involved and likely would imagine something like what we refer to as “American Cabaret Style.”

 

For the remainder of this page we will refer to the general style of dance as “belly dance” or “Middle Eastern Dance.” Tribal Moves Belly Dance practices a substyle of bellydance that is referred to as “Tribal Fusion.” We will discuss more on the substyles in another chapter.

 

Overall, Belly Dance is a generic term for a type of dance using a distinguishable movement vocabulary. This movement vocabulary is comprised of muscle isolations such as hip drops, lifts, and circles, isolated chest and arm movements, and earthy percussionary movements.

 

While it has its origins in folkloric dances of the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Northern Africa, the dance is a fusion of movements from this area with movements overlapping to varying degrees from the Orient, Polynesia, Persia, and other areas of Europe and Africa.

 

The existing primary dance form is estimated to be at least 5000 years old, but because of the general evolutionary nature of dance and the type of movements that comprise what we call “belly dance,” at least some form of the dance and movements are probably even older then that.

 

Belly dance is often misunderstood by the general public to be a dance of sexual enticement. In actuality, this is a dance of community and celebration that was simply the style of dance in the regions of its origin..

 

So, why is there so often an exotic striping- type association in the public’s view of belly dance? When a dancer called Little Egypt and her fully dressed Moroccan dancers brought belly dance to the mass American public at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, the dance was shocking to our culture. In an era when American women wore layers and yards of clothing, their exotic dress (though they were covered head-to-toe) and the ease with which they sensually moved their torsos and abdomens the was seen to many as something pushing the envelope and perhaps a bit naughty. Hollywood was enchanted and ran with the idea. Soon, movies of the day included scantily clad “harem girls” dancing seductively for their sultan, pharaoh, love interest, etc.

 

If we all recall that terrific classic “The Ten Commandments” (Which I must add is a personal favorite and a marvelous example of films of its generation), we might remember the scene in which the daughters of Reuel, all except Zipporah, perform a dance before their father, Moses, and some male guests . The objective here is to have Moses pick the dancer he is most pleased by to marry. Moses turns them all down and marries Zipporah. This is a prime example of the idea, which originated in these romantic vintage Hollywood movies, that women danced before their master or suitor vying to be “picked” for the evening or for marriage. This is inaccurate on many levels.

 

First, it would be HIGHLY improper for a woman of those times, and often even in modern times in many Middle Eastern and Islamic societies, for women to dance in front of men, ESPECIALLY a man who was not a direct blood relative. Second, marriages were arranged diplomatically and politically through the father or guardian of the girl with rules, etiquette, and procedure governing the terms of marriage and even how long an engagement lasted. When it came to sultans and the like who did have many concubines, the concubines rarely saw the sultan. The way to the sultan was most certainly not dancing for his pleasure- it was through his mother or his First Wife, who acted as the overseer of the women’s household. Dance simply was not used as an instrument of titillation or of securing male attention.

  

Moreover, women and men lived segregated lives where interaction was somewhat limited by social taboo. Women lived in a separate area of the household from the men; in some cultures women even dined separately. When it was time for festivity, women celebrated in their section of the household while men had their own separate party in their own section. During the merriment, women danced with and for other women, just as we today may dance at “hen parties.” In an occasion such as a bridal shower, women performed their dance for the bride and men had their own version of the dance that they performed together. There is a tradition in Egypt that calls for a dancer to lead the wedding party balancing a candelabra. This was customarily a female dancer, but because of modern restrictions and threats to some wedding parties by more conservative factions, today it is more often that a family desiring a Raks Shamadan (candelabra dance) will call upon a male dancer.