Belly dance is an art form developed over many centuries and long distances. Bringing in folk traditions from cultures as diverse as India, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Egypt, and Morocco, it is essentially a gypsy art, taking its soul from the Caravans that traversed the Sahara and the Eurasian continent. Thus, one can travel the Northern coast of Africa and see variations of it, the Eastern Mediterranean countries of Europe and the Middle East’s variations, all the way to Central and South Asia’s varieties of this soulful, engaging art form.

Its development advanced through the efforts and artistry of the Egyptians and Turks, and as such the two main “forms” of the dance are “Turkish”, or “Egyptian”, both with their distinct styles and music. Within those forms exist other forms as well. There is flashy and glamorous cabaret belly dance, geared toward nightclub audiences, and the more earthy folkloric forms like “Saidi” and “Beledi” which are expressions of nomadic and country culture.

At the turn of the 21st century, “the Belly Dance” went to the New World with the Chicago World Fair in 1893. People were enthralled by this sinuous, serpentine, mysterious form and the embryonic Modern Dance movement began to study it closely. Modern Dance pioneers Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller and Ruth St. Denis, among others, borrowed from it and fused it with other emerging non-classical forms. As time went by, others like the famous Jamila Salimpour in the 1960’s began to popularize the dance on the West Coast at venues like the now-legendary Baghdad Café.

When television came to Egypt in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Middle Eastern stars such as Samia Gamal, Taheya Carioca, Nagwa Fouad and Nadia Gamal began to emerge into the spotlight, setting standards, pushing limits, and wowing the public.Sometimes controversial, always breathtaking and inspiring, these artists now represent the classical era of Middle Eastern Belly Dance to which all serious modern performers look when seeking the authentic roots of a booming modern art form.

Today, belly dance is evolving even further, thanks to the growing popularity of World Music. Diverse musical influences and blends have turned out hybrids with Latin flavors, techno, African drum, even operatic voices and orchestras. Dancers have a growing pool of belly dance-inspired music to choose from as musical forms from all over the world fuse and blend, creating new forms and elevating what was once a nomadic art form into a world-recognized expression.