Belly Dance and Fertility
It is a dance based on fertility, birth and goddess rituals.
Celebratory dance that is a joyful dance, done in all happy occasions.
The term belly dance as it commonly involves the use of the body as an instrument to describe the music in a visual way.
This is a dance that is beneficial for all women , no matter your age or body type.
Among the benefits of belly dance are:
- improved posture
- increased endurance
- tones arms and legs
- defines torso
- improves body image and self confidence
- improves balance
- improves coordination
- increased respiratory capacity
- sense of well being and inner peace
What is Belly Dance?
Belly Dance Movements
Belly Dancing Costumes
(Article Courtesy of: www.lear-to-belly-dance.com)
Belly Dance – Egyptian Cabaret Style
Egyptian law poses many restrictions on belly dancers dancers’ movements and costuming, which prevents dancers from performing floor work and certain pelvic movements. Egyptians must by law wear stomach covers, so many followers of the style do that also.
(Article Courtesy of: www.atlantabellydance.com)
Belly Dance during and after Pregnancy
In this page I will highlight the connections between belly dance and pregnancy, while reporting what some experts believe to be the benefits of belly dance for pregnant women. However, before doing any activities or physical exercises whilst pregnant, always seek your doctor’s or midwife’s advice.
Belly dance, or forms of dance that employed the same movements as modern belly dance, existed as a dances of fertility since the dawn of human civilisation. Experts consider hip rolls and circles to be good for strengthening the pelvic and abdominal muscles, which are involved in childbirth, while relaxing them at the same time.
Hip circles are not only used in Middle Eastern dance, but also in Hawaiian, Maori and other indigenous forms of dance. All these forms of dance, which use circular hip movements, have been linked to child birth rituals.
Benefits of bellydance during pregnancy
Some doctors encourage the practice of belly dance during pregnancy, which they think provides the following benefits:
- Strengthening pelvic and deep abdominal muscles and all those muscles specifically used for giving birth, thus facilitating the process of delivering and of recovery
- Relaxing the body
- Improving self esteem
- Promote good posture
- Help maintain general fitness
- Help maintain a god sense of balance
- Relieve back ache
- Promote socialisation, if performed in classes
Most suitable belly dance movements during pregnancy
According to experts, the most suitable belly dance movements to be used by pregnant women are slow, undulating and rolling motions, such as hip circles and figures of eight. Sharp movements are not suitable and, similarly, many people think that shimmies should not be performed by pregnant women, especially if they are not used to exercising.
Many movements in modern prenatal exercise classes are very similar to belly dance movements, such as the ‘camel’ or the ‘belly flutter’. Some midwives believe that these last two movements, in particular, are useful to encourage optimal foetal position and during labour.
The process of muscles isolation, which is so important in belly dance, is also considered to be very helpful during child birth. According to experts, if a woman is capable of contracting some parts of her body, while at the same time relaxing all the other muscles, she will be able to feel more relaxed overall, while focusing only on the muscles involved in delivering the baby.
However, belly dancing in pregnancy is not only about strong pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. Some experts believe that some belly dance movements are good to relieve various symptoms. For example, they believe that belly rolls can help ease constipation; while heart shimmies can alleviate heartburn.
Belly dance rituals during childbirth in Northern Africa
The American belly dancer Morocco, in 1967, witnessed a child birth ritual in a Berber Tribe (probably nowadays these child birth rituals are less common). Morocco reports that the women gathered in a tent and danced around the mother to be, performing ‘camels’ and ‘belly flutters’.
The mother to be seemed relaxed and, while delivering her babies she was moving her body in a similar way to how the other women did. When Morocco asked if she did it on purpose or spontaneously, one of the women replied that it was natural and the only way in which she could have moved.
Precautions with belly dancing during pregnancy
and general guidelines issue by expert
- Always seek your doctor’s advice before starting any exercise programme
- Avoid back bends
- Keep a natural pelvic tilt (that is, keep your bottom tucked under)
- Be aware of the softening of ligaments in your body, therefore avoid jumps, hip twists and sharp movements
- Listen to your body and avoid movements that cause pain or discomfort
- Stop exercising altogether if you feel unwell or experience bleeding, dizziness and/or pain
- Do not overheat and avoid exercising on hot days
Belly Dance – Khaleeji Style
Khaleeji dance (with Khaleeji meaning ‘of the Gulf’) is a ‘belly dance’ style typical of the Arabic peninsula and the Persian gulf including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Kuwait and parts of Iraq. Even if I referred to Khaliji dance above as a belly dance style, this type of dance is completely different from the type of dance most commonly referred to as belly dance, which is Egyptian, Lebanese and Turkish style. An authority on this Middle Eastern dance style isKay Hardy Campbell, a Boston based writer, dancer and musician, specialised in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia.
Khaleeji Belly dancer’s costume
Dancers of Khaleeji wear a characteristic piece of clothing, called thobe nashal (a sort of long, very full and wide caftan, often richly embroidered). The thobe nashal is usually in a brilliant colour and the dancer does not wear a hip scarf or belt. Because of its shape and its ample sleeves, the thobe nashal is also used as a prop by the dancer, who holds the dress up in front of her like an apron and makes it billow whilst her pelvis undulates gently to R-L-R, L-R-L stepping patterns. Also, the wide sleeves of the thobe nashal can be held up to frame head slides or used as a veil.
Khaleeji Belly dance’s movements
Khaliji style Arabic dance involves a lot of focus on footwork, spins and a lot of movement in the torso and upper body. Also, while performing Belly Dance Khaleeji Style, dancers toss their long unbound hair from one shoulder to the other.
Belly Dancing Khaleeji music and rythms
Khaleeji rhythm is different from the classical Middle Eastern rhythms and it is characterised by heavy rolling beats. One of the most common khaleegy rhythm, also called Saudi rhythm, is a syncopated medium speed 4/4 rhythm with heavy accents (dums) on beats 1, “2.5″, 4, with the “.5″ being the rest between the major beats in the measure.
The instruments most commonly used for Khaleeji style music are frame drums such as tars and bendirs, while the ud is used as the primary instrument.
A CD called Khaliji (by RT Productions) has been released by Naser Musa and Souhail Kaspar, two musicians specialised in Arabic music.
(Article & Image Courtesy of: www.worldbellydance.com)
Gypsy Style
In addition to the various styles of Arabic dance or Middle Eastern dance (or what by many is called belly dance), there are also fusions of bellydance with different dance forms. One of these is the fusion of belly dance with flamenco, also called Zambra Mora or Danza Mora
Zambra Mora is a form of flamenco music with Middle Eastern melodies and rhythm, which is sung or played on guitar. Master guitarist Sabicas (1912-1990) is the one who gave its name to this form of flamenco music (from ancient Moors celebration) and made it popular and developed it.
The fusion of belly dance and flamenco that we know today is called Zambra Mora, after the flamenco music developed by Sabicas. Zambra Mora has the same proud posture of flamenco, floreos (isolated wrists rotations), heavy travel steps and some characteristic turns. From Arabic dance, Zambra Mora borrows undulations, shimmies and hip and chest circles.
The costume used for Zambra Mora includes an ample skirt with frills around the edges, which can be manipulated as a cape; a blouse tied under the bust baring the midriff and a hip scarf with or without coins. Also, the dancer can play zills (Buy Finger Cimbals) whilst performing Zambra Mora.
A bellydancer who has developed this style is Amaya, who has created 2 DVDs, called Gypsy Fire, with part one containing a documentary on this art form and part two containing dance technique and routines.
Turkish style belly dance
Turkish style belly dance, also called Rakass, is quite different from other belly dance styles and it is closer to its Romany (Gypsy) heritage than Egyptian and Lebanese styles. Overall, Rakass is a very dynamic, energetic and even athletic cabaret style.
Turkish belly dance movements
Turkish belly dancing is flamboyant and dynamic. Its movements are higher, faster and lighter than other styles, such as Egyptian baladi, for example, as the ‘tak’ in Turkish rhythm is more frequent than in Egyptian rhythms. Hence, the predominant hip movement is the hip lift, rather then the hip drop. Also, in Turkish belly dance, movements are large and leaps and floorwork are common.
Two famous Turkish style belly dance moves are the Turkish backbend and Turkish drop.
Turkish style belly dance costumes
Turkish style costumes are some of the most revealing of the cabaret style. The belt is often worn high up on the waist, with split skirts which expose the entire leg. Turkish belly dancers often wear high heel shoes, in order to emphasise their movements.
Turkish style belly dance music and rhythms
The rhythms of Turkish belly dance music can be fast and repetitive. Some of the most used rhythms in Turkish belly dance include chiftetelli and the karsilama (also known as kashlimar).
Turkish instrumentation also varies from that of Egyptian music. The bouzouki is played instead of the oud; more wind instruments are used, such as the clarinet, and the Turkish drum (equivalent of the tabla) is called dumbek.
(Article Courtesy of: www.worldbellydance.com)
American Tribal belly dance
Tribal style belly dance is a completely new style, invented in the West coast of the USA in the 1970s.
As opposed to raks sharki, where dancers often perform solo, American Tribal Style is performed by groups of dancers who improvise their dance and perform mainly in theatres or during festivals.
Usually one of the dancers leads the improvisation and gives signals and cues to the other dancers, to indicate which movement she is going to perform next. Thus, the dance looks seamless and fluid without interruptions. A tribal performance can also include pieces where the focus is on one or two dancers performing a duet or a solo, while the others provide background. American tribal belly dancers perform with or without props, such as finger cimbals (Buy zills or cimbals) or swords.
Origins of American Tribal belly dance
The precursor of tribal style belly dance is Jamila Salimpour, a California based dancer. Jamila, in the 60s, decided to incorporate different styles of dance into her own style, drawing from various Northern African and Middle Eastern countries. Jamia Salimpour incorporated in particular folkloric and ethnographic elements into the dance and the costumes and she founded a troupe, called Bal Anat.
Following Jamila’s example, other dancers mixed various folkloric elements together, to create a new and unique style. One of the oldest and most famous American tribal groups is Fat Chance Bellydance, founded by Carolena Nericcio. During the last two decades, American Tribal style has become popular all over the world and it is featured in the repertoire of many dancing groups, including the ‘Belly dance Superstars’. Two famous tribal dancers who perform with the Bellydance Superstars are Sharon Kihara and Rachel Brice.
Belly Dance Tribal costumes
The Costumes that tribal dancers wear are also a fusion of various traditions, deriving from many folkloric sources, such as tribes from Central Asia and Northern Africa. American tribal belly dancers usually wear gypsy style long layered skirts (Buy Tribal Skirts), a short choli, a bra decorated with coins (Buy Tribal Bras), hip scarves with fringes (Buy Hip Scarves), heavy silver jewelry (Buy Tribal Jewelry) and turbans (Buy Head Piece). Tribal dancers also often paint their faces with khol or kajal and sometimes tattoo (Buy Heena Tatoo) their bodies.
Tribal belly dance music
American tribal belly dancers dance to a great variety of music, both traditional and pop, from various countries including India, Egypt, Northern African and Middle Eastern countries. Western contemporary electronic music, hip hop and rock are also used.
(Article Courtesy of: www.worldbellydance.com)
