A Brief History of Belly Dancing

The World’s Oldest Known Dance Form Is Still Performed Today

Apr 21, 2008

As an art form belly dancing honours the goddess within all of us and celebrates the female body of all shapes and sizes.

Belly dancing was first performed by women for women only. Its origins date as far back as 6,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia. Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Turks each claim the dance as their own. The belly dance was performed to celebrate fertility, birthing and possibly temple and other celebratory occasions as part of the goddess worship rituals of these ancient peoples.

Over time the dance spread from Mesopotamia to North Africa and then on to Rome, Spain and India. Though traditionally the dance was strictly performed only for other women during family and social gatherings, learning these dances was part of every young girl’s cultural upbringing. A girl’s first performance for other women was considered her rite of passage to womanhood.

Belly Dance Costume

Each tribe would adapt the dances to their own cultural and religious customs. In North Africa tribal women would dance in the marketplace earning coins for their dowries. The coins would later be sewn onto the dancers’ costumes for safe-keeping and added musical accompaniment. Today’s belly dance costumes still have coins attached to them.

Practical Side

Along with celebrating fertility and goddess worship, the belly dance has a practical side as well. Girls were taught the dance at an early age in order to prepare them for childbirth. The dance’s intricate movements of pelvic rocking and torso rolling strengthen the abdominal muscles aiding a woman during pregnancy, child birth and post-partum recovery.

Classical Eastern Dance

It is believed the classical eastern dance emerged as an art form during the Ottoman Empire. Dancing was an integral part of Ottoman culture. Female belly dancers or Çengi danced in the Ottoman courts. Soon the Çengi dancers became popular throughout the empire. Dancing was also a popular past time for women and children in the Topkapi Palace Harem. The dances performed by the Çengi and in the Harems evolved into refined movements of classical belly dance characterised by soft, flowing actions of the arms. This form of dance still popular in modern day Istanbul.

The Many Names of the Danse du Ventre

In the nineteenth century, travellers from France were very impressed with the torso movements of the baladi dancers of rural Egypt. The travellers were so impressed that they erroneously called it the danse du ventre or what we know today as Belly Dancing.

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The copyright of the article A Brief History of Belly Dancing in World Dance is owned by Laurie Hodges Humble. Permission to republish A Brief History of Belly Dancing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.