What Is Belly

Dance?

THE PYRAMID DANCE CO. INC. was originally founded in

Memphis 1987. With over 30 years Experience in Middle
Eastern Dance, we are known for producing professional
Dancers and Instructors in belly dancing! The companys
purpose is to teach, promote, study, and perform belly
dance.

Phone: 901.628.1788
E-mail: [email protected]

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What is the belly dance?

The dance form we call "belly dancing" is derived from
traditional women's dances of the Middle East and
North Africa. Women have always belly danced, at
parties, at family gatherings, and during rites of passage. A woman's social dancing eventually evolved
into belly dancing as entertainment ("Dans Oryantal " in
Turkish and "Raqs Sharqi" in Arabic). Although the history of belly dancing is clouded prior to the late 1800s,
many experts believe its roots go back to the temple
rites of India. Probably the greatest misconception
about belly dance is that it is intended to entertain men.
Because segregation of the sexes was common in the
part of the world that produced belly dancing, men often were not allowed to be present.
That belly dance developed from social dancing helps
explain its long lasting popularity. Belly dancing offers
women a community of friends that share and celebrate joy in music, and creates self-confidence through
artistic self-expression, in an art form that embraces all
body types.
Belly dance is natural to a woman's bone and muscle
structure. The movements center on the torso rather
than the legs and feet. The belly dancer isolates parts
of her body, to move each independently in a completely feminine interpretation of the music. The music
seems to emanate from her body, as sometimes she
emphasizes the rhythm, sometimes the melody of the
song. Belly dance is often performed barefoot, now
thought by many to signify the intimate and ancient

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Sadiia is committed to furthering belly dance in its various

forms (folk, modern, fusion ,
interpretive) by increasing public awareness, appreciation
and education through performances, classes and literature, and by continuing to
study all aspects of belly
dance and producing meaningful work. She offers her students a fun, positive and nurturing atmosphere to explore
movement and the proper
techniques of belly dance, giving them a strong foundation to
grow and evolve from. She has created a diverse and
comprehensive teaching format that stems from the influence of the many teachers of dance and music she
has studied with from all over the world. Whether you
are interested in workshops, group or private classes,
Sadiia's knowledge of movement and belly dance along
with her eagerness to share her information will create
an unparalleled environment of encouragement and
learning in the art form.
The Pyramid Dancers are
known for their entertaining portrayals of authentic
dances from all over the
world and are sought after
by the Middle Eastern
communities for authentic
representation of their
homeland dances & music.

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Health & Belly Dancing

Dancing is a good cardio-vascular work out and helps
increase flexibility. It is suitable for all ages and body
types and can be as physical as the dancer chooses to
make it. Combined with a healthy diet that involves
sensible eating, raks sharki can without a doubt be part
of a sound weight loss program.
Mental health benefits, for many belly dancers, include
an improved sense of wellbeing, elevated body image
and self-esteem as well as a generally positive outlook
that comes with regular enjoyable exercise. In this day
and age of almost continuous stress, the subtle
rhythms of raks sharki and the traditional movements
are calming. The repetitive movements of the dance
and the concentration needed to do them can help a
mind filled with daily stress to "let go" for a while and
relax. One effect of stress is that our bodies tense up,
causing contractions or spasms in muscle groups, such
as those in the neck, shoulders, or back. When a muscle is contracted, lactic acid builds up causing the
"soreness" or pain that occurs. Blood flow to the affected muscles decreases as well.
Today belly dance is enjoyed worldwide and is taught
in almost every country. While a small percentage of
enthusiasts use belly dance as an income supplement,
the majority of enthusiasts pursue it for mere enjoyment as exercise, recreation and socialization. Many
perform regularly as amateurs or professionals.

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physical connection between the dancer, the music,

and Mother Earth, although historically, most dancers
were barefoot because they could not afford shoes.
Belly dance was introduced to America when a dancer
known as Little Egypt performed at the Chicago World's
Fair in 1893. Americans were
fascinated, and scandalized,
by the freedom and rhythms
of the dance and the music,
and thus began a fascination
with the "exotic Orient." Early
Hollywood fell in love with the
dancing girls and created
glamorous flowing costumes
based as much on Leon
Bakst's fantasies as on garments of the Middle East.
Dancers in the Middle East,
who were developing belly
dance in its native lands,
adopted these colorful interpretations.
Veils are a popular part of the
belly dance performance, as
are finger cymbals - known as
"zills" in Turkish and "sagat"
in Arabic. Many belly dancers
are also skilled at belly dancing while balancing swords,
brass trays, or even with flaming candles.

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Belly dancing continues to grow in popularity. Belly

dance concerts, festivals, and workshops are now held
throughout the world, attracting large audiences of
women and men alike. Many belly dancers now travel
to the Middle East and North Africa to study the art
form where it originated.

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Belly dance in the u.s.a.

A few of the contemporary outstanding dancers are:
Suhaila Salimpour, Ansuya, Alexandra King, Delilah,
Cassandra, Dalia Carella, Suzanna Del Vecchio, Morocco, Aisha Ali, Rachel Brice, Latifa and Helena Vlahos.
Tribal belly dance is a recent movement in the
U.S.A. A modern fusion of ancient dance techniques
from North India, the Middle East and Africa, tribal is
characterized largely by improvisational group choreography and a building of rhythm. Dancers often use finger cymbals, in solo within the group, call-and-answer
performance with another dancer, or as a whole group.
Costuming for tribal derives from many "authentic"
sources and is often composed of large tiered skirts or
10 meter/yard skirts, a short choli often with a plunging
neckline, a visible bra decorated with ancient Middle
Eastern coins and textiles, turbaned head, hip scarf
with yarn tassles or fringe, and a heavy layering of oxidized silver jewelry.

Pyramid Dance Company does and will continue to

seek out and encourage new generations of belly dancers to continue to study and perform this wonderful ancient tradition.

The jewelry commonly originates from Central Asia,

from any number of nomadic tribes or empires (e.g. Kuchi, Turkoman, Rajasthan) and is often large and set
with semi-precious stones or, when mass-produced,
with glass. Dancers frequently "tattoo" their faces with
henna or kajal. Make-up is usually eye focused with
heavy kajal.

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great grandmothers of some of today's most accomplished performers.

The term "belly dancing" is generally credited to Sol
Bloom, entertainment director of the 1893 World's Fair,
the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was
here in the Egyptian Theater, where the USA first got a
look at raks dancers, when Bloom presented "The Algerian dancers of Morocco". The dancer who stole the
show, and who continued to popularize this form of
dancing was "Fatima", also known as Little Egypt. Her
real name was Farida Mazar Spyropoulos. The dance
performed by Little Egypt had also been called
"Hootchy-Kootchy" or "Hoochee-Coochee", or the
shimmy and shake, the origin of the name is unknown,
and "danse du ventre", which is French for "belly
dance". Today the word "hootchy-kootchy" means simply an erotic suggestive dance.
Belly dance today still retains much
of the Hollywood stigma and many
dancers and instructors are working
hard to overcome this image.
Considering belly dance started out
as a dance by women for women, as teaching aid to
learn about bodies and prepare for child birth, the images of women dancing for a sultan are undeserved.
While Raqs Sharqi is still popular in the west, dancers
here have also embraced other forms such as tribal or
tribal fusion which borrows from gypsy and Spanish traditions as well as Egyptian and Indian styles.

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Belly Dancing Defined

Belly dance is a Western name coined for a style of
dance developed in the Middle East and other Arabicinfluenced areas. In Arabic language it is known as
Raqs Shaqi or in Turkish as Oryantal dans, translated
as "Dance of the East". For Europeans, this translation
sounded perfectly fit, hence it was also known as
"Oriental dance", "Exotic oriental dance", "Oriental belly
dance" and the likes. The term "Raqs Sharqi" is
claimed to be originated in Egypt. The name suggested an exotic dance originated elsewhere - and so a
higher status than the local dance.
It is thought that the dance has been known through
the oral tradition in Egypt since the pre-Islamic times.
There have been many theories about the origin of
belly dancing, but most evidence links it to the Middle
East and Africa. Some say it was originated by the
Phoenicians; others claim that it was introduced into
Egypt by the Ottoman Turks. Egyptian tomb paintings
dating from as far back as the fourteenth century BC
depict partially clad dancers whose callisthenic positions appear to be very similar to those used in belly
dancing.
Modern feminist revisionists like to say it became famous in Ottoman times when the dance was a frequent
pastime for the women of the harem for each other. In
fact both men and women danced - but in separate
spaces. A "good" woman would not be seen dancing
by any but her husband. This extended to separating
the male musicians from female dancers.

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Raks sharki

Non-Egyptian forms

Raqs Shaqi is performed by women - and men - usually solo, for entertainment of spectators in public or
private settings. Despite its alias, "belly dance", Raqs
Shaqi dancing involves motion of the whole body, from
head to feet. Basically, it is an improvisational dance
(although based on a certain vocabulary), rhythmic and
fluid at the same time.

The most important non-Egyptian forms of belly dance

are the Lebanese belly dance and the Turkish belly
dance. Some mistakenly believe that this is known as
Chifteteli due to the fact that this style of music has
been incorporated into oriental dancing by Greeks and
gypsies, illustrated by the fact that the Greek belly
dance is called Tsifteteli. However, ciftetelli is a form of
upbeat folk music and makes up the lively part of the
dance. iftetelli is actually a form of folk wedding music.

The dance has a strong focus on an internalization and

reflection of the music and the emotion therein. The
music is as important as a vocabulary of movements
from which to draw, and therefore the most revered of
dancers will generally be those who are either the most
charismatic or the most emotionally projective (even if
their movement vocabulary is limited). The dancer becomes the vehicle of communication to make sound
and emotion visible to her audience.
Many see it as a woman's dance, celebrating sensuality and power of being a woman. Sohair Zaki, Fifi Abdou, Lucy, Dina, who are all popular dancers in Egypt,
are above the age of 40. Many feel that you have limited life experiences to use as a catalyst for dance until
you reach "a certain age".
In Egypt, three different forms of the dance: Baladi,
Sha'abi, and Sharqi are known.

Turkish belly dance is closer to its Gypsy heritage than

its Egyptian and Lebanese sisters. Because modern
Turkey does not have the same restrictions on dancers
as Egypt, Turkish dancers are often more outwardly
expressive than their Egyptian sisters. Turkish dance
also remains closer to its gypsy roots as many professional dancers and musicians in Turkey continue to be
of gypsy heritage. Turkish dancers are known for their
energetic and athletic style, and particularly their adept
use of finger cymbals, also known as zils. Connoisseurs of Turkish dance often say that a dancer who
can't play zils is not an accomplished dancer. Another
distinguishing element of the Turkish style is the use of
the Karsilama rhythm in a 9/8 time signature, counted
as 12-34-56-789.
When immigrants from Turkey, Armenia, and the Arab
states began to immigrate to New York in the 1930s
and 1940s, dancers started to perform a unique mixture of these cultures in the nightclubs and restaurants.
Often called "Classic Cabaret" or "American Cabaret"
belly dance, these dancers are the grandmothers and