The Classification and Origin of Belly Dance

The beautiful legend brought by exotic belly dancing reminds you of the veiled Arab girl in the story of Arabian Nights, wearing a dance dress with sequined bells, dancing her neck, fingers, arms, waist and hips with mysterious and brisk Arab music, and her graceful figure attracts people's attention. In fact, belly dancing is also a very healthy, happy and enthusiastic dance. It is sometimes crazy and unrestrained, and sometimes mysterious and charming. In the Middle East, almost all men, women and children will temporarily put aside their troubles when they hear music, naturally twist their waists and hips with the music, and happily integrate into the world of music and dance.

As for the history of belly dance, as early as 3,500 years ago, ancient Egyptian murals were similar to those seen today, but different regions and countries have different legends and stories. The general impression is that belly dancing originated in Egypt. The Greeks believed that belly dancing was closely related to ancient religious ceremonies. In the Arab region, belly dancing is a ritual in which women do not reveal mysterious religions to the public. There is also a legend that belly dance is a kind of self-cultivation dance that integrates body and mind, or a sacred and noble court dance, just like western ballet.

According to a widely circulated legend about belly dance, "belly dance" originated from the worship of the goddess of fertility in ancient Egypt. According to legend, a beautiful young woman came to the temple to pray because she could not have children after marriage. She threw herself in front of her idol, twisting her waist and hips, as if dancing, praying to the god of fertility to fulfill her dream. Her graceful dancing charmed the priests present and immediately reported it to Pharaoh. Later, she regarded her "dance" as a priest dance. This can be found in the murals of ancient Egyptian cultural relics and has been passed down to this day.

Another common legend holds that in order to give birth smoothly, a pregnant expectant mother accepted her sister's advice and learned how to swing the snake's curve and body, with the abdomen as the center, and the whole body swung rapidly and undulated. With the addition of beat music, it seems relaxed and natural, and the delivery is really smooth, so it has become a trend and gradually evolved into an entertainment belly dance.

In a word, the legend and origin of belly dance are always incredible. Obviously, the legendary belly dance is not a perfect artistic performance.

Introduction to the characteristics of major schools:

Modern and ancient Egyptian styles:

1, the modern Egyptian belly dance performance genre is very restrained and elegant. Russian ballet has been greatly influenced since the1920s, and it often includes some ballet movements. Because of the emphasis on muscle control, the range of motion is relatively small. Muscle control is a slow dance with the central trunk as the main axis. "Rarely is the best" is their dance concept, which pays more attention to the expression of emotions. Elegant rhythm, meticulous level movements and elegant little moves are the main features.

2. Modern Egyptian dancers believe in Islam and dress conservatively. In public performances, Egyptian dancers are required by law to cover their stomachs. The dress is beautifully embroidered, decorated with rhinestones, large pieces of embroidery and crystals, lined with tassels. Wear less dancing shoes to perform. Of course, there are also some Egyptian folk dancers wearing more gorgeous costumes, with gorgeous and dazzling costumes. Usually, its clothing is a fitted long-sleeved dress with a belt and an opening on one or both sides of the skirt, which is called Belaidi long skirt. A Turkish robe with unilateral or bilateral openings. Triangular headscarves are also common accessories.

Most Egyptian belly dancers seldom use cymbals in their performances. In typical Egyptian-style dances, floor movements are rarely seen, because the government openly prohibits them, but occasionally there are floor movements, which show the beauty of balance in candlestick dances performed at private parties. Hand tools commonly used in Egyptian style include shepherd's sticks or bamboo baskets, rattan stems, candlestick dances and dances called Melaya. In addition, there are kung fu dances by male dancers, who perform with long sticks that are common in ancient wars.

4. The performances are mainly mixed music, strings, modern drums and dancers' singing. American dancers and some ancient Egyptian dance performances in Morocco tend to be primitive Egyptian dances.

Turkish style:

The Turkish Caballe, which is completely different from the Egyptian style, often performs in the headquarters or restaurants at night, not as reserved as the Egyptian style. "Everything is OK" is more in line with their dance concept. The dance style is extremely dynamic, the action scale is large, and it is gorgeous and unrestrained. Known for its fast and vibrating hip shimmy, jumping and crotch movements are also common.

Turkey belongs to open Europe. Dancers usually wear very little, and their clothes are gorgeous and expensive. Please ask a famous teacher to make it to order. But the boldness, prominence and exposure of clothing are not the requirements of this style, but its characteristics. Dancers are used to performing in shoes.

Turkish folk dances are rich in content, and the performances usually include gypsy skirt dance, wooden spoon dance and ancient Roman tea tray dance (tea trays of different sizes with candles inserted on them). Turkish dancers perform more floor movements than Egyptian dancers.

The music used in Turkish style is also very different from that used by Egyptian dancers. In today's Middle Eastern dance style, Turkish dancers also use Egyptian-style music to perform Egyptian-style dances.

Lebanese style:

Lebanese style is a kind of belly dance school between modern Egyptian style and Turkish style, which is closer to Egyptian style, but with greater movements and more obvious influence from ballet. It has graceful movements, changes or pauses in the front, back, left and right directions, dancing and a little ballet elements.

Dancers often use the stage as a performance venue, and marching movements and dramatic tension are popular performance elements.

Lebanese folk dances include Debke, Khaleegi (Persian Gulf style) and Said dance.

Lebanese dancers use scarves for a long time and are used to wearing dancing shoes. Common handicrafts include cymbals, shepherd sticks, etc., and occasionally sword dances or knife dances appear.

Gypsy style:

Gypsies from India slowly introduced dance to the Middle East and Europe, and even to the United States today. Ghawazhees is a modern phrase, which is the hip-hop dance of ancient Egyptian gypsies.

Persian style:

This is a dance different from most Middle Eastern countries. There is a little abdominal movement and fluctuation. More graceful arm movements and swinging and rotating shoulders.

Persian dances and dancers have diverse styles. Some will play with evil spirits; These are usually religious dances. For example, "spinning Islamic ascetics" take spinning dance as part of their religion or blessing ceremony.

Classical Persian clothing usually includes loose and suitable long skirts and long sleeves, and a long coat is usually worn outside.

European and American belly dance styles:

Most American belly dancers don't stick to any pure dance form, but mix American styles-only the United States first called belly dance. Some dancers like to increase the influence of other dances, such as Latin, jazz, ballet, Spanish flamenco, modern dance and street dance, to create more styles of belly dance. The Latin Queen Shakira is a typical example.

The difference between folk custom and oriental dance;

Folk dance is a mix and match dance style that originated in the United States. There are several different mix and match styles in folk dance. For example, this mixed dance style has recently become more and more popular in Britain and the United States. The mixed dances of folk dancers include Indian dance, flamenco dance, Tunisia dance, Moroccan dance, Turkish dance and Egyptian dance. Whether performing group improvisation or group choreography, folk dancers mainly perform in the form of group dance.

Oriental dance is a dance form specially designed for women to show their beauty. It is mainly composed of Egyptian-style music and is famous for its beautiful performances on the stage.

In addition to the above schools, there are many different styles of belly dancing among the people. For example, Kaliji is a belly dance popular in Persia, the Gulf of Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Dancers wear long skirts with rich colors, gorgeous embroidery patterns and fine workmanship, called thobe nashal, and wear distinctive headdresses. It is mainly based on shoulder movements and hair-throwing dances. In addition, there are American tribal belly dances, Sufi whirl dances, fire worship ceremonies in North Africa and the Middle East, and other dances with special religious purposes, all of which present fascinating customs in the Middle East.

After thousands of years of deduction, belly dance has become a woman's secret weapon. At present, Arabic belly dance is popular not only in the Middle East from Turkey to Egypt, but also in North African countries, Europe, Australia and Asian countries. It often appears in various fitness, entertainment, parties and tourist places. Learning belly dancing has not only become an enduring fashion, but also a good aerobic fitness method. Now this charming Middle Eastern dance has also been brought to Shenzhen by teacher Ina. Although belly dance is a folk dance, more and more people like it, and many people are beginning to aspire to be a belly dance coach.