Belly dance – what do we imagine, as soon as we hear these words? Oriental tales, Persian carpets, a magical atmosphere, and … a woman – a beauty, skillfully moving her hips to the beat of the music, with a mysterious look in an indescribably beautiful outfit. Belly dance can’t be confused with any other dance. It has its own history, which has come down to us from the depths of centuries, philosophy and meaning.
The term ‘belly dance’ originated from the Arabic word ‘beledy’, which translates as ‘homeland’, ‘hometown’, is used to refer to the totality of dance, music and a special costume. The homeland of Oriental dances is Tibet, they appeared more than 11 thousand years ago. Initially, such a dance was part of a warlike male dance, later women learned it.
They changed the dance, making it more feminine and mysterious, danced in the harems of the sultans both for the sultan himself and for his female circle. Over time, the Oriental dance appeared in different countries of the world – Japan, China, Turkey. In some areas it becomes ritual, it could only be performed in the evening and only the wife for her husband in honor of the anniversary of the wedding.
With her dance, a woman said that she was as beautiful and desired, despite the passage of time. In the 10th century AD, men became interested in this kind of dance. They did not become dancers but engaged in teaching activities. It was they who brought the elements of the Chinese and Thai pas to the dance. The dancer’s clothes traditionally consisted of a long dress and a kerchief tied around the hips. Such words as ‘belly’ or ‘feminine hips’ were utterly indecent, not to mention the frank demonstration of any parts of the body.
At the end of the 19th century, the belly dance was called the Salome dance. He gained popularity in Europe thanks to Mata Hari, who was openly denuded during the dance, calling herself a master of oriental dance. A great influence on the popularization of the dance was made by Hollywood. For the first time in the movies, women with opened belly appeared.
Thanks to such frank costumes, dancers, who shot in Hollywood films, could better demonstrate the dance. Their example was followed by oriental beauties, lowering the waist down on the hips. For the first time in the dance, attention was paid to choreography and staging until this time it was always from the beginning to the end of improvisation.
Belly dance is a dance of life, associated with a woman’s mother. He is associated with the cult of the Goddess of Fertility. In the representations of the ancients, heaven was associated with a man, and land with a woman, as a result of their merging, all living things appeared. Ritual actions, praising the gods, were often accompanied by dancing to music.
With the development of the Ancient World, the dance was transformed and gradually began to carry one more function – entertaining and became the usual business of everyday life. Look at how this girl performed this dance named Nataly Hay. Her plasticity and grace did not take long. The video with her belly dancing performance scored 40 million views! See for yourself.
