Misconceptions About Belly Dancers

The art of bellydancing is still misunderstood in the Western World. Go to any school, and you’ll see how belly dance is a source of empowerment for women. Women who belly dance report increased self-esteem, better body image and greater confidence. But I have to say, I think some belly dance instructors are going too far in emphasizing that aspect of belly dance above all else.

Talk to many belly dancers today and they’ll tell you belly dancing is a dance style meant to be performed by women, amongst women. Utter nonsense!

There is simply no denying that a good belly dancer is wonderfully sexy. Curvaceous, in a figure-hugging costume, her every move sensual – what man wouldn’t be spellbound? Why shouldn’t a woman be proud of captivating every man in the room?

It’s a sad fact that, in the countries where belly dance originated, the ‘myth’ of bellydance as women of easy virtue is no misconception. In Turkey, you’ll find several clubs where it’s common for patrons to ‘visit’ the dancers after the performance. In Egypt, you’ll hear plenty of stories of belly dancers who are fabulously wealthy in their retirement, thanks to the generous ‘protectors’ they captured in their heyday. These days, Egyptian belly dance has such a bad reputation that it’s rare to find an Egyptian-born professional dancer. Foreign dancers who come to Egypt, innocently hoping to find ‘authenticity’, can get a nasty shock when they find men trying to paw them during their performance or propositioning them after the show.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that Western belly dancers try to distance themselves from the realities of a Middle Eastern bar, by creating myths which raise the Danse Orientale to a higher plane and why not?

Let’s face it, belly dancers wear more than you’d wear on the beach these days.Bellydancing is simply not risque enough to satisfy the sleazy end of the market in today’s society. While some tribal fusion belly dancerscombine belly dancing and burlesque, by far the majority of belly dancers outside the Middle East are respectable cabaret performers or teachers.