Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:59:40.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Belly Dance: Orientalism—Exoticism—Self-Exoticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Anthony Shay  and
Barbara Sellers-Young
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences. (Said 1978,1)

The past century has witnessed the phenomenon of belly dancing becoming a key icon of the Middle East in the West. This iconic representation often causes outrage, resentment, and even protest among Arabs who resent Westerners (mis)representing them by focusing on cabaret-style belly dance, a low-class and disreputable symbol for many in the Arab world, as a primary media image of the Middle East. Since the 1970s, millions of women and some men in the West have been attracted to belly dancing, investing millions of dollars and enormous time acquiring the basic skill of the dance in order to perform it. This essay will address several issues that are raised by the phenomenon of belly dancing and its transformation, globalization, and acculturation in the West; it is designed to develop a newly emerging area of performance/cultural research, drawing from the fields of dance and transnational studies.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , Summer 2003 , pp. 13 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adra, Najwa. 1998. “Middle East: An Overview.” In International Encyclopedia of Dance, Vol. 4. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
“Afghan Village.” 1972. Film with notes by Louis Dupree. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources.Google Scholar
Ahmed, Leila. 1992. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
al-Farqi, Lois Ibsen. 1987. “Dance as an Expression of Islamic Culture.” Dance Research Journal 10, no. 2 (Winter): 6–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
And, Metin. 1959. “Dances of Anatolian Turkey.” Dance Perspectives 3.Google Scholar
And, Metin. 1976. Pictorial History of Turkish Dancing. Ankara: Dost Yayinlari.Google Scholar
Armbrust, Walter. 1996. Mass Culture and Modernism in Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Armbrust, Walter., ed. 2000. Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azad, Parvaneh. 1995. Personal communication, September 7.Google Scholar
Behdad, Ali. 1994. Belated Travelers: Orientalism in the Age of Colonial Dissolution. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Berger, Morroe. 1966. “Belly Dance.” Horizon 7, no. 2 (Spring): 42–49.Google Scholar
Beza'i, Behzad. 1965. Namayesh dar Iran (Theater in Iran, in Persian). Tehran: Kaivan Press.Google Scholar
Bhabha, Homi K. 1994. Location of Culture. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bridge, Antony. 1993. Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers.Google Scholar
Buonaventura, Wendy. 1990. Serpent of the Nile: Women and Dance in the Arab World. New York: Interlink.Google Scholar
Campbell, Kay Hardy. 2002. “Music in Performance: A Saudi Women's Wedding Party.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 6. Edited by Danielson, Virginia, Marcus, Scott, and Reynolds, Dwight, 691–694. New York: Routeledge.Google Scholar
Daniszewski, John. 2001. “Tummy Trouble in Cairo.” Los Angeles Times, August 2, sec. Ar.Google Scholar
Deaver, Sherri. 1978. “Concealment vs. Display: The Modern Saudi Woman.” Dance Research Journal 10, no. 2 (Winter): 14–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desmond, Jane. 1991. “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis's ‘Radha’ of 1906.” Signs (August): 28–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Warren, Robert and Williams, Peter. 1973. “Discovery in Persia.” Dance and Dancers (January): 28–32.Google Scholar
‘Enjavi-Shirazi, and Abolqasem, Sa'id. 1973. Bazi-ha-ye Namayeshi (Theatrical Games, in Persian). Tehran: Amir Kabir.Google Scholar
Entekhabi-Fard, Camelia. 2001. “Behind the Veil.” Mother Jones (July-August): 68–73; 85.Google Scholar
Fraser, Kathleen. 1993. “Aesthetic Explorations: The Egyptian Oriental Dance Among Egyptian Canadians.” UCLA Journal of Dance Ethnology 17: 58–66.Google Scholar
Grabar, Oleg. 1987. Formation of Islamic Art. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Haeri, Shahla. 1994. Personal communication, November 20.Google Scholar
Hanna, Judith Lynn. 1988. Dance, Sex and Gender. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Hodel-Hoenes, Sigrid. 1991. Life and Death in Ancient Egypt. Translated by Warburton, David. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Holst-Warhaft, Gail. 1998. “Rebetika: The Double-descended Deep Songs of Greece.” In Passion of Music and Dance. Edited by Washabaugh, William, 111–126. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Jankovic, Ljubica S. and Dancia, S. 1939. Narodne Igre (Folk Dances, in Serbian) Beograd, n.p.Google Scholar
Jonas, Gerald. 1992. Dancing: The Pleasure, Power and Art of Movement. New York: Harry N. Abrams.Google Scholar
Kaeppler, Adrienne L. 1972. “Method and Theory in Analyzing Dance Structures with an Analysis of Tongan Dance.” Ethnomusicology 16, no. 2 (May): 173–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khaleqi, Ruhollah. 1974. Sar gozashteh musiqi-ye Iran, Vol. 1. (History of Music of Iran, in Persian). Tehran: Safiali Shah.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, John M. 1995. Orientalism: History, Theory, and the Arts. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Mahalli Dancers of Iran. 1976. Dance Program.Google Scholar
Massey, Reginald and Jamila, . 1989. Dances of India. London: Tricolour Books.Google Scholar
Manniche, Lise. 1991. Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum.Google Scholar
Mernissi, Fatimah. 1975. Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society. NY: John Wiley Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Timothy. 1988. Colonizing Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Monty, Paul Eugene. 1986. “Serena, Ruth St. Denis, and the Evolution of Belly Dance (1876–1976).” Ph.D. dissertation, New York University.Google Scholar
Najafi, Najmeh and Hinkley, Helen. 1953 Persia is My Heart. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Nochlin, Linda. 1983. “Imaginary Orient.” Art in America (May): 131–139.Google Scholar
Ohtani, Kimiko. 1988. “Techniques in Indian Classical Dance.” In JVC Video Anthology of World Dance and Music, Book 4. Edited by Fujii, Tomoaki, 9–13. Tokyo: Victor Company of Japan.Google Scholar
Rezvani, Medjid. 1962. Le Theatre et la Danse en Iran (Theatre and Dance in Iran). Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose.Google Scholar
Sachs, Curt. 1937. World History of Dance. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Safa-Isfahani, Kaveh. 1980. “Iranian Culture: Symbolic Representation of Sexuality in Dramatic Games.” Signs 6, no. 1: 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Salem, Lori Anne. 1995. “The Most Indecent Thing Imaginable: Sexuality, Race and the Image of Arabs in American Entertainment 1850–1999.” Ph.D. dissertation, Temple University.Google Scholar
Savigliano, Marta E. 1995 Tango and the Political Economy of Passion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Schimmel, Annemarie. 1990. “Raks.” Encyclopedia of Islam: 425–426.Google Scholar
Sellers-Young, Barbara. 1992. “Raks El Sharki: Transculturation of a Folk Form.” Journal of Popular Culture 26, no. 2 (Fall): 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shahid, Irfan. 1970. “Pre-Islamic Arabia.” In Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1. Edited by Holt, P.M., Lambton, Ann, and Lewis, Bernard, 3–29. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shalinsky, Audrey. 1995. Personal communication.Google Scholar
Sharlyn, and Afsaneh, Ballet. 1994. Dance Program.Google Scholar
Shay, Anthony. 1995. “Bazi-ha-ye namayeshi: Iranian Women's Theatrical Plays.” Dance Research Journal 27, no. 2 (Fall): 209–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shay, Anthony. 1999. Choreophobia: Solo Improvised Dance in the Iranian World. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers.Google Scholar
Shay, Anthony. 2002. Choreographic Politics: State Folk Dance Ensembles, Representation, and Power. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan Press.Google Scholar
Shiloah, Amnon. 1995. Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study. Detroit: Wayne University Press.Google Scholar
Surieu, Robert. 1967 Sarv-e Naz. Geneva: Nagel.Google Scholar
Washabaugh, William, ed. 1998. Passion of Music and Dance. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Wood, Leona and Shay, Anthony. 1976. “Danse du Ventre: A Fresh Appraisal.” Dance Research Journal 8, no. 2 (Winter): 18–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yati, Chaitanya Nitya. 1979. Love and Devotion. Varkala, India: East-West University of Brahmavidya.Google Scholar
Zuhur, Sherifa. 1998. Introduction. In Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East. Edited by Zuhur, Sherifa, 1–20. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar
“Afghan Village.” 1972. Out take of footage of dance scene provided by Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
“Bahor ensemble in Concert.” 1989. Seattle: Uzbek Dance Society. Uzbek professional dancing.Google Scholar
“Dancing.” 1992. Created and produced by Rhoda Grauer. New York: WNET. Moroccan professional and domestic dancing.Google Scholar
“Dances of Egypt.” 1974, 1977, 1983, 1991. Los Angeles: Araf. Range of domestic and professional dancing.Google Scholar
“Murcheh Dareh.” 1970. Tarzana, CA: Pars. Video #409. Two tapes. Reenactment of women's theatrical games and domestic dance.Google Scholar
“Rang-a-rang.” 1975. Tarzana, CA: Pars. Video #124. The Mahalli Dancers of Iran, contains Haft-Peikar.Google Scholar
“Suhaila Unveiled.” 1996. Berekely: Illusions International, Inc. Western cabaret dancing.Google Scholar