The Underbelly of Belly Dance

For some reason, I posted the article The Underbelly of Belly Dance (which I have posted in full below this blog entry) in my Articles section at Camera Lucida. Probably, it is because I wrote it before I set up Our Changing Landscape. Also, at the time, I considered belly dance a form of art. And I am have rather ambitiously described Camera Lucida as "a place to explore and shed light on how art, culture and society converge." I took belly dance classes for about two years, several years ago. I had taken ballet and modern dance into my mid-twenties. I started belly dance classes because I wanted to take a form of exercise that was more related to dance, which wouldn't feel like the grueling and boring gym exercises that I was doing at the time to stay in shape. Then, I abruptly quit my belly dance classes. Partly, I was perturbed by the Arabic names that were part of the classes. The harsh guttural sounds were alien, and aggressive. Of course, they disturbed me mainly because of the 9/11 attacks that had become part of our modern imagery and experience. But, as time went on, I began to question the artistic merit of these dances. My article, The Underbelly of Belly Dance, discusses these issues, and concludes that there is less artistic merit to belly dance than its greatest aficionados give it. I will admit, though, Arabic music is mesmerizing and often has lovely melodies. Belly dance seems to be an aggregate of borrowed ideas from other dance disciplines. This seems to be part of the legacy of Arabic (and in particular, Islamic, culture). In Islam's case, I argue here that it has borrowed (and distorted) many Christian themes and stories to build its own particular belief system. I believe that belly dance has done the same with ballet. This is what I argue in The Underbelly of Belly Dance (posted below), as I try to show that its artistic merit is negligible.

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The Underbelly of Belly Dance

(Originally posted at Camera Lucida under Articles)  

There is a curious phenomenon that has been going on in North America and Europe for the past few decades. Thousands of women are ‘shamelessly displaying their femininity’ through a Middle Eastern dance form more dubiously known as belly dance.

The ‘Finding your Femininity through Belly Dance’ hype is actually the last vestiges of the so-called female liberation’s movement. Belly dance is advertised to Western women to release their apparent inhibitions regarding their bodies. The undulations, body waves, hip circles and other abdomen-centric movements appear to glorify the unique feminine body. If you are not embarrassed at moving in these overtly erotic ways ( there is no other word to describe the movements in belly dance but as erotic), then you have come a long way, seems to be the message. 

Many belly dance aficionados have tried to historically disassociate the dance from its erotic nature. An ancient Egyptian woman called the Almeh, who was well versed in poetry, music dance and other intellectual stimuli, is portrayed as having been the sophisticated cultivator of the dance. Yet, this description fits perfectly with the modern Japanese Geisha, who is a sexualized entertainer of men despite her erudition and education. The prestigious Almeh no longer exists in modern Egypt, if she ever really existed before. 

The belly dance craze in North America started gaining momentum in the seventies and has been growing steadily since. Recently, belly dance schools have tapped onto the extraordinary success of the fitness movements. Gyms started giving belly dance classes along side aerobics. Even yoga centers brought in their belly dance teachers. Still, most women attend classes in belly dance schools at many convenient (and sometimes quite inconvenient) locations. Finally, the convergence into popular culture was sealed when overt eroticism became a daily routine on TV and in the movies. Belly dancing became something to do. 

The majority of women say they started belly dancing to make themselves feel better. They’re searching for some kind of uninhibited narcissism – a feel good about their body - while doing all these undulations and shimmies. Their ultimate proclamation is "we don’t need men to make ourselves feel better" slogan that came out of the feminist movement. Yet quite contrary to this much advertised slogan, it is the poor men who become subjugated to the girl-power type of behavior (exhibited by grandmothers and granddaughters alike) and who end up supporting the dancers. 

There is also the unexpected (or probably quite expected) competition. The urge to be a belly dancer can be a cut-throat experience. Gilded in clenched smiles and girlish voices, what everyone really wants is to stand center stage in full sequined costumes. As with every activity which does not quite reach the level of art, the acrobatics and costumes in belly dance act as substitutes for artistic sublimities. Belly dancing styles become a contortionist’s feat of moving as many parts of the stomach muscles as possible. In fact, its initiation into North America was at Chicago's "World's Columbian Exposition" in 1893, which introduced to the American public the 'dancing girls of the Middle East’, whose huge popularity was mainly as a circus act, along with the hoochy koochy label. 

Many North American professional belly dancers guard closely that they hail from the much more artistic and cultivated discipline of ballet. They started dancing very young, as is required of ballet, and were rejected an entrance into this elite art form. Belly dancing offered them a chance to script their own standards, where the rigorous ballet judges cannot criticize them – what do they know about belly dance anyway?

The overriding promise of belly dance is that ‘you will feel better about all the failures that have derailed your life no matter what they are’ is really a message about masks and camouflage. The real issues are not addressed and resolved. What better way to forget the past than to immerse oneself in something so foreign that all those forgone defeats can be forgotten. Ironically, far from giving them the self-worth they crave, it puts them in an ambiguous relationship with the dance. Even in Middle Eastern circles, where belly dancers are hired for weddings and other festivities, it is still a dance that is frowned upon. Dancers are forever trying to find euphemisms for their dance, emphasizing its folk nature, or its erudite beginnings, or as a dance for pregnant women. Unlike ballet, a belly dancer can never proudly and publicly proclaim her profession.

Reference:

Donna Carlton. Looking for Little Egypt. Bloomington, Ind. : IDD Books, 1994.