Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism, And Harem Fantasy

by Anthony Shay (Editor), Barbara Sellers-Young (Editor)

Rare book

Genres: History, Nonfiction

421 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2005

Reviews

[Green Iona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to get serious about learning about belly dance. I've read a few stories/books about where belly dance came from. They're basically all the same, and written by belly dancers. They smell of pseudo-history. I like this book because its written by scholars-who are not necessarily belly dancers. Its made up of articles about things like orientalism, how belly dance is presented in Egyptian film, how some attach spiritual practices to belly dance, and etc. This book does not reveal to you the origins of the mysterious "danse du ventre", or tell you that belly dance originated from priestesses, dancing on the temple steps. This book did give me a view into the belly dance world in Egypt and the U.S. in recent times, made me think more critically about the way Americans are presenting belly dance, my own romantic notions about it, and what people are saying about its history.

[Meiver · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first serious academic work on Oriental dance, commonly known in the West as "belly dance"

Topics addressed are:

Dance in Iran
Dance and Jurispridence in Islamic Settigs
The folk version of the dance as it exists in the Arab world, versus the performance versions of it that exists in both the Arab world and the West
A chapter dedicated to Arab dances in Russian ballet (like the nutcracker)
A chapter dedicated to veil dance (mostly a Western construction)
A chapter devoted to the history of the Cabaret dance scene in the US (and it's link to Arab, Turk and Greek communities in the coastal states in the US)
A chapter devoted to the birth of Tribal style in the US, it's orientalism, and it's positioning withing the second wave feminist movement in America

The Role of Egyptian film (and Hollywood's influence on Egyptian film) in propagating an aesthetics, specific costuming and styling to the way Oriental dance is practiced today
Chapters dedicated to Tahia Carioca; Male dancers, imperial masculinity, the male gaze..etc etc..


This book refutes a lot of invented stories in poorly researched books that have misinformed dancers for a longtime, about the history, origins and practice of the dance.

In other ways it avoids complex issues like cultural appropriation and authority.

[Lapinova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to give this book 4 stars, but the lack of editing/proofing is too frustrating.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

inconsistent

[Indrany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to take a break, but so far I'm really enjoying the essays in here. My flavor of scholarly.

[Meg Morley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of different academic articles about belly dancing, including several by the editors, Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young.