Middle Eastern dance
Encyclopedia
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
throughout North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Southwest Asia
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
(Greater Persia), sometimes also to the inclusion of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
(Greater India
Greater India
Greater India is a term that refers to the historical spread of the culture of India beyond the Indian subcontinent...
).
"Belly dance
Belly dance
Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...
" is a western term properly applied to raqs sharqi
Raqs sharqi
Raqs sharqi is the classical Egyptian style of belly dance that developed during the first half of the 20th century.Based on the traditional ghawazi and other folk styles and formed by western influences such as marching bands, the Russian ballet, Latin dance, etc., this hybrid style was...
, which is the Arabic for "oriental dance", but strictly a style developed in the interbellum period
Kingdom of Egypt
The Kingdom of Egypt was the first modern Egyptian state, lasting from 1922 to 1953. The Kingdom was created in 1922 when the British government unilaterally ended its protectorate over Egypt, in place since 1914. Sultan Fuad I became the first king of the new state...
for professional performance in cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
s and the early Egyptian film industry on the basis of traditional Egyptian dance
Beledi
Baladi is a rhythmic style common in Middle Eastern music, and the associated traditional dance raqs baladi.This is the most common rhythm among music used for oriental dancing, including Arabic pop and...
, by Samia Gamal
Samia Gamal
Samia Gamal was an Egyptian belly dancer and film actress.Born in the small Egyptian town of Wana in 1924, Samia's family moved just months later to Cairo and settled near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. It was many years later that Samia Gamal met Badia Masabni, the founder of modern Oriental dance....
, Tahiya Karioka
Tahiya Karioka
Tahiya Karioka also Tahiya Mohamed , was an Egyptian belly dancer and film actress. Born in the Egyptian town of Ismaileya in 1920 to Mohamed Kareem, Tahiya was discouraged from performing as a dancer by her family...
, Naima Akef
Naima Akef
Naima Akef was a famous Egyptian belly dancer during the Egyptian cinema's golden age and starred in many films of the time. Naima Akef was born in Tanta on the Nile Delta. Her parents were acrobats in the Akef Circus , which was one of the best known circuses at the time...
and others..
- Raqs sharqiRaqs sharqiRaqs sharqi is the classical Egyptian style of belly dance that developed during the first half of the 20th century.Based on the traditional ghawazi and other folk styles and formed by western influences such as marching bands, the Russian ballet, Latin dance, etc., this hybrid style was...
is the style more familiar to Westerners, performed in restaurants and cabarets around the world. It is more commonly performed by female dancers but is also sometimes danced by men. It is a soloSolo (dance)A solo dance is danced by an individual dancing alone, as opposed to couples dancing together but independently of others dancing at the same time, if any, and as opposed to groups of people dancing simultaneously in a coordinated manner. Solo dancers are usually the best dancers in a group or...
improvisational dance, although students often perform choreographed dances in a group. - Raqs baladi, ' onMouseout='HidePop("95581")' href="/topics/Folk">folkFolkThe English word Folk is derived from a Germanic noun, *fulka meaning "people" or "army"...
" dance) is the folkloric style, danced socially by men and women of all ages in some Middle Eastern countries, usually at festive occasions such as weddings. - Ghawazi, traditional performative dance of the Egyptian Dom peopleDom peopleThe Dom of the Middle East are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India.- Culture :...
- Çiftetelli, Turkish folk dance found in the core territories of the former Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
- Persian dancePersian dancePersian dance refers to the type of dancing from Iran. Persian dance is very sensual, circular and slow which makes it a dance that is unique to Iran amongst all other Middle Eastern dance forms....
- Traditional dance of Central AsiaCentral AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
See also
- Belly danceBelly danceBelly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...
- Sword danceSword danceSword dances are recorded from throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock battle sword dances from Greece, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, England, Scotland and Japan...
- Yalli