bellydancehistory

What is Belly Dance ?

Many experts say belly dancing is the oldest form of dance, having roots in all ancient cultures from the orient
to India to the mid-East. Probably the greatest misconception about belly dancing is that it is intended to
entertain men.
Throughout history, this ritualized expression has usually been performed for other women, generally during
fertility rites or parties preparing a young woman for marriage. In most cases, the presence of men is not
permitted.
Belly dancing is natural to a woman's bone and muscle structure with movements emanating from the torso
rather than in the legs and feet. The dance often focuses upon isolating different parts of the body, moving
them independently in sensuous patterns, weaving together the entire feminine form. Belly dancing is generally
performed barefoot, thought by many to emphasize the intimate physical connection between the dancer, her
expression, and Mother Earth.
Belly dancing costumes are often colorful, flowing garments, accented with flowing scarves and veils. Finger
cymbals (made of brass and known as zills) are common, dating back to 200 B. C. as well as exotic jewelry,
including intricate belts made of coins that, in earlier days, comprised the family's wealth so that it might be
portable in the event the woman needed to move quickly or flee. Other interesting accessories used during the
dance are swords, snakes, large vessels, and even huge candelabras, complete with flaming candles.
In America, belly dancing enjoyed its first significant renown when the famous dancer Little Egypt performed at
the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Americans found themselves fascinated by the exotic body rhythms and
music, eventually including them in many silent films made just a few years later. Costumes and dancing styles
were given a distinctive Hollywood flare and, in turn influenced dancers in the Middle East, thus evolving the art
form to a new level. For example, belly dancing with flowing veils hadn't been documented before the 1900s but
is now quite popular throughout the world.
Since the turn of the century, belly dancing has grown enormously in popularity across the U. S. and worldwide.
Belly dance festivals, workshops, and seminars take place constantly, attracting large audiences of interested,
involved men and women. Many dancers now study the art form intensively, traveling to the mid-East and
elsewhere to experience it where it originated.
________________________________________

Belly Dance History ~ An American Odessey
A History of Modern US Bellydance (25)
- by Helen Waldie

Early Days, Golden Years

Belly dance has probably been enjoyed in the USA for as long as widespread immigration has existed, indeed
we have documented evidence of public performances since at least the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 as
well as at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 (where, incidentally, no dancer called Little Egypt was recorded as
having performed, 35). However, despite several flurries of interest brought about by the activities of
Orientalists such as Ruth St Dennis and La Meri (1), for most of the first half of the 20th century the dance has
been largely confined to those ethnic groups to which it was indigenous.
Little Egypt
These mostly centered on the large Greek & Turkish groups in most major cities of the USA and naturally their
cafes and clubs featured old-country singing and belly dancing amongst their preferred entertainments. Marliza
Pons, the doyenne of Las Vegas dancers from the mid 60s through to the late 90s, wrote of learning her first
moves as a young girl through the windows of such an establishment in Chicago in 1948 (2).
Whilst some of them would come from the local community, there was also a long tradition of hiring singers and
dancers directly from Turkey. The singers would be the stars and would be the best-paid entertainers. Such
was the pecking order that they would often try to deny being able to dance to avoid the "shame" of being just
a dancer (26).
It is possible that belly dance could have remained confined to such clubs indefinitely, largely unknown outside
of its originating culture. (3). However, fortune changed when the Broadway show "Fanny" opened on
November 4th 1954 (4). It featured the Turkish dancer, Necla Atesh, (other spellings include Nejla Ates or
Najila Attash) who had been hired for the clubs from Turkey sometime between 1948 and 1952, and Egyptian
pop singer Mohammed El Bakkar. The show was an instant smash hit with its oriental music and dancing
causing a sensation. Soon mainstream clubs catering to the smart and fashionable were beginning to feature
this 'new' entertainment (California - 5) (New York - 6).
This fashion began to spread more widely, especially with WWII veterans from the N African campaigns happy
to relive the entertainments of their youth (7). This trend was helped by the occasional appearances at this
time of Samia Gamal in films and in Las Vegas (27) or at Ciro's club in Hollywood (4). Tahia Cariocca also
appeared in a Hollywood film in the late 50's, although she didn't enjoy the experience and returned to Cairo.
Lys and Lyn Gamal, who were identical twins, had been stars in Egyptian film industry and also came over to
the US in the late 50s and immediately began a successful career in the clubs. They are always fondly
remembered, especially for the fact that their parents chaperoned them to every one of their gigs, even after
they married. Dahlena particularly remembers them as having been an influence on her dancing in the early
years.
By the end of the 50s Middle Eastern clubs were opening all over the US. However the demand for dancers
soon exceeded the supply, with many of the new establishments unable to afford to import or hire foreign
dancers. They needed to employ locals to bridge the gap and, although in the 50s there were a few such as
Adrianna Miller & Dahlena working in Boston and Jamila Salimpour and Antoinette Awayshak in LA, even by the
early 60s there weren't anything like enough dancers to meet the soaring demand.
Morocco joked that back then "if Godzilla had a bedlah, she could have gotten a job", willingness rather than
talent being the criterion for acceptance. She herself was a professional flamenco dancer and had never seen
Middle Eastern dancing before she took a job because the pay was better.

Bert Baladine album cover
In fact so desperate were the clubs for belly dancers in those days that Sabah Nissan had been immediately
hired by the Port Said club in NYC the night she turned up to inquire whether they might have an opening. This
was despite having no costume or training and ended up performing in the pink gingham dress she'd arrived
in. She was told by the Turkish lead dancer to "do what I do"; although she conceded that it probably looked a
bit different when she did it (6). Soon after that she moved to the West Coast where she subsequently studied
the art with Bert Balladine (34).
Serena, another successful graduate of those early New York years, maintains that whilst willingness may have
got you through the door, only talent took you to the top. That said, given the circumstances, some truly inept
belly dancers managed regular employment in the more westernized clubs, being known in the trade as
"Wonderful Walkers" (27).
On both the East and West coasts the main sources of dancers were still the Greek and Turkish clubs. These
had become suddenly fashionable with the boho set following the release of the film "Never on a Sunday" in
1960. The film “Zorba the Greek” which followed in ‘64 maintained this popularity. Young students enjoyed
them because they were lively and boisterous and there was a great thrill in spending hours on end belly
dancing around the tables performing dabke and chiftitelli with anyone who happened to be around. From such
unlikely beginnings many illustrious careers were forged.
On both coasts the belly dancers of this time were largely untutored, moves were taken, mixed and matched at
random from the many traditions of the Middle East and further. So a dance style evolved that was a new form
of "Middle Eastern" dance unknown in the Middle East, nowadays we call it "American Cabaret" belly dance, but
at the time it was called Oriental or Nightclub (8). Of course the general public knew it then, as now, as belly
dance.

Mostly Turkish and Lebanese, it could include just about any move that looked vaguely exotic or oriental.
Nobody complained because nobody knew any better. Indeed many dancers of that era stress the level of
ignorance that there was about the dance and its origins. Many that is, except those few who gradually
developed their interest in the dance and who learnt "the real thing from the real people - the aunties,
grannies, older musicians and other (Turkish) dancers" (29). Counted on the fingers of two hands, these
dancers became the leaders of the profession who completely changed our view of the dance over the next 20
years.
Also they were belly dancing in response to performances by musicians from a mix of countries with varying
traditions. The musicians in the ethnic areas would play together 6 - 7 nights a week and so came to knew
each others' music well. Those who were there remain nostalgic for "that all night mix of real Turkish, Greek,
Armenian & Arabic music and folk songs that one could hear in most of the clubs/restaurants on any given
night, where entire families would come in and dance together (28)".
Away from these major areas belly dancers had to cope with largely western musicians whose knowledge of
Middle Eastern music could be very limited indeed. This led to a sound that was a hybrid of Western and
Middle Eastern and became known as "Amerabic". Most dancers now associate the term with Eddie Kochak
who, by producing his own records, made the sounds of that era widely available.
This was truly a golden era of bellydance in the US. Jobs were plentiful, and very well paid with the belly
dancers all in the first flush of excited youth. For example, Aisha Ali speaks of the headline belly dancer in one
particularly prestigious club earning $50 a week for a twice-nightly 10 minute slot (5), although even at the top
clubs in Las Vegas the average was $300 – $350, but if measured against the rental for an NYC apartment of
$45 -80 a month it was still a staggering sum (29). Adam Lahm wrote that in 1960 in NYC the Turkish dancers
could expect $200 a night although others consider this unlikely.
To balance that though the average wage was $30 - $35 a night was common (6), but it's worth remembering
that this would be a steady 6 nights a week, 52 weeks a year income...in cash. And of course, belly dancers
could do several gigs a night at weekends.
However it is worth noting that, according to Dahlena, most belly dancers were registered with the American
Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) (9) and that during the 60's there were just 300 throughout the whole of the
United States; an exotic and rare breed. That said, the dancers in the ethnic clubs didn't have to register at all
and there were probably over 50 employed in 8th Avenue, NYC alone (30). Serena has also indicated that
there were at least 100 - 150 more in regular employment in New York State and its environs, few of which were
AGVA registered. Morocco says that although she is an AGVA member she has never needed it for Oriental
dance.
On the West coast Aziza writes (10) that the Baghdad club, the most prestigious club in San Francisco,
preferred that their belly dancers weren't AGVA registered. Indeed Aisha Ali points out that due to the scarcity
of dancers on the West Coast, AGVA membership wasn't often necessary in California, but adds that it was
essential to gain access to the well-paid work available in Nevada (11). So there may be a certain under-
reporting of the number of dancers working professionally during this decade, but this doesn't really conflict too
strongly with Dahlena's estimate given that New York and San Francisco were exceptions rather than the rule.
Most agree that the number of belly dancers at this time nearer to 500 than 1000.

Reading their rose-tinted reminiscences of this time, particularly on Gilded Serpent "North Beach memoirs" (12)
the attitude seems typified by one of the songs from that period "Those were the days my friend, we thought
they'd never end, we'd sing and dance, forever and a day, we'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never
lose, those were the days, oh yes those were the days".
However, various strands began to come together that brought these halcyon days of well-paid performance
work to a gradual end.
One was that by the mid 60s the better clubs expected their dancers to know what they were doing from day
one, inexperienced dancers were no longer being employed straight off the "street" to sink or swim. So, various
teaching establishments opened to meet the demand. It is probable that they gradually became so successful
that they caused a situation of over-supply.
Bert Balladine and Jamila Salimpour had, like Morocco in NYC, been training dancers informally since the
beginning of the decade. However, Jamila retired from performing in 1965 and began teaching on a full time
basis. Initially her classes were small; Aziza talks of 5 or 6 at a time (10), although by 1968 her classes were
very large indeed.
Meanwhile in New York Serena took over the Joe Williams "Stairway to Stardom" dance studio in 1966 and also
began training dancers in ME styles. Bobby Farrah began teaching Oriental Dance at the International School
of Dance, Carnegie Hall, before moving to other studios to found his own dance school (13). Although all of
these schools were happy to accept students who were merely curious about this dance form, they were
principally aimed at taking experienced professional or near professional quality dancers from other disciplines
and turning them into club performers. Not all would actually make a career of it, but these additions would
have had an accumulative effect given the small number of dancers at the time.

Also, the late 60s was a time of considerable social upheaval in the Western world, particularly in New York and
San Francisco. Things like belly dancing that had seemed racy and exotic at the beginning of the 60s simply
began to appear old-fashioned and tired. Serena talks of the dancing in the early 60s as having been a "hot
fad", a boom that inevitably led to a bust.
This particular trend was exacerbated when the Crystal Palace, a New York "go-go" joint, won a Supreme Court
ruling against the laws governing the showing of bare breasts etc. The subsequent establishment of topless
bars drew a significant audience away from dance clubs towards those venues that more effectively catered for
their needs. However, few dancers lamented the passing of this particular clientele.

Aisha Ali has also suggested the outbreak of the 6-day war in 1967 between Arabs and Israelis as yet another
reason (14). Public sentiment swung to the Israelis, leaving interest in things Arabic to fade away. However
Morocco has dismissed this as having been a factor in the East, where work remained plentiful until the oil
embargo of 73.
So it could have been over-supply of belly dancers, a falling out of fashion amongst the public or various other
reasons, but wages and opportunities gradually began to diminish: The Golden Years were ending.
Developing in a New Era
By the beginning of the 70's, the two influential scenes of New York and San Francisco were beginning to
diverge. Why this happened is open to debate, but it is worth stating that this period coincided with the first
stirrings of feminism and the development of the hippie 'do-your-own-thing' quest for personal growth on the
West Coast. (Dancers from Los Angeles have told me they wish to be specifically exempted from this
generalization).
In San Francisco, Jamila Salimpour had been requested by Carol Le Fleur, who co-coordinated a local
"Renaissance Faire" in Berkeley in Sept '68 (15) to organize her advanced class as a theatrical production on
a proper stage. This was primarily to prevent them making a daylong nuisance of themselves basking at the
event. Nevertheless it enabled Jamila to bring to fruition a set of ideas that she'd previously considered for a
(cancelled) lecture (16) about presenting the many facets of the dance, particularly its originating folkloric
aspects. Thus "Bal Anat" (trans: Dances of the Mother Goddess) was born, billed as presenting "Dances of
many Tribes": This was the very first incarnation of Tribal Dance.
This began a major trend in the Bay area for groups of dancers to work together to create their own new
realizations of ME dance as "Tribal" dancers, with Salimpour remaining at the vanguard of this movement.
Meanwhile in NYC Bobby Farrah founded the "Near East Dance company" with his protégé Phaedra in 1969.
This dance company was intended to present (13) realizations of Arabic, mainly Egyptian, folk and cabaret
styles in a theatrical setting to raise the profile and standing of Middle Eastern dancing with the general public.
He had been inspired to do this after visiting the Lebanon and meeting the Arabic dancer, Nadia Gamal (17).
Given the prevalence of Turkish styles at the time and the corresponding lack of much in-depth experience of
Arabic dances in the USA at this time this was a new and exciting idea.
Except among specialists in Turkish dance, there had been a general trend amongst the better professionals
towards Arabic styles as the general knowledge of the dance had improved. Arabic audiences were more
appreciative of the differentiated forms dancers could demonstrate, preferring them to the "anything goes"
styles common in the 60s. Thus Arabic, being a more schooled discipline was considered to be sophisticated
and dignified whilst the "Nightclub" styles were increasingly considered to be low-class and even brazen. Sadly
this attitude also had a disastrous and undeserved effect on the reputation of the Turkish dance styles on
which they had been based

Indeed Salimpour had coined the name "American Cabaret" around this time as a term of abuse for the style
that had been prevalent in the clubs and to distance her "tribal" styles from this other dance form. However the
term also found ready acceptance amongst those others who were promoting the Arabic styles.
This more sophisticated style arrived just in time. Serena Wilson's dance studio was featured in a major feature
article in Life Magazine in 1971, which is considered to have started the first dance exercise craze. This
sparked the new phenomenon of people coming to learn bellydance for fun and fitness rather than with a view
to performing in the clubs. The era of hobby dancers had begun.
Initially as the boom took off teachers all over the US were isolated from each other and began to disseminate
wild and fanciful ideas about the origins and meanings of the dance, much to the despair of those few who'd
had some understanding of it.
Fortunately since the late 60s Serena had known and worked with Paul Monty, the Vice President of the
Manhattan (18) chapter of the National Association of Dance Affiliate Artists (NADAA). Despite early criticism
from within the Arts Establishment, Monty had quickly been persuaded of the art of the dance and he realized
the extent to which it had been widely undervalued.
To counteract this Monty organized a NADAA seminar on March 5 1972 that featured Serena at the Statler
Hilton hotel in NYC. It was rewarded with over 100 delegates when the normal attendance would have been 30
- 40. This was a sign of considerable hidden interest amongst a previously disdainful Arts community.
This acceptance bestowed credibility upon his project and he founded the International Dance Seminars
company (13) with the intention of organizing lectures and conventions around the country with the premier
teacher/dancers. The first of these was in June 1974 and led to a knowledge revolution through the 70s as
dancers and dance ethnologists were identified and encouraged to share their research with the wider body of
dancers. These initially included the 60's stars such as Dahlena, Serena, Bert Balladine, Morocco & Farrah

The establishment of various magazines around the country that began to bring the communities together
helped this process of increasing the general knowledge of belly dance. These worked in association with Paul
Monty and others by publicizing and making possible national tours by prominent dancers and dance scholars.
Arabesque and Habibi were the first magazines to be national in scope. Farrah had used his own nationwide
lecture tours of 1974/5 to solicit advanced subscriptions to fund his as his yet unpublished magazine. Habibi,
originally the voice of the West Coast founded in Oct 74, had been quietly enlarging its reach so that it too was
quickly established as a national magazine. What marked these magazines apart from the local magazines was
their commissioning of learned articles that stressed not only the history and culture of the dance and the
Middle East but whose principle objective was again to reach out to the wider arts community and encourage
increasing respect for belly dancers and the dance.
By the end of the 70's there were so many students that it was economically feasible to sell out tours by such
genuine Middle Eastern luminaries as Nadia Gamal and Mahmoud Reda. Also tour parties were visiting the
Middle East to train with dancers over there. Morocco led the first, but many others have followed over the
years.
Of course, as well as the true stars a few lesser Middle Eastern teachers came over as well, particularly from
The Lebanon after the outbreak of civil war in 1975 had destroyed the lucrative Arabic tourist trade. They
would promote themselves on the premise that because they were native to the region they had a deeper
understanding of the music and culture. However the quality of these imports was variable, leading Arabesque
to opine at this time that people should be aware that simply being from the Middle East did not a quality
dancer/teacher make. (20)
However as the training of the hobby dancers continued, a number of them began to approach professional
quality and began looking for jobs in the by now restricted number of venues. This was an era where fierce
under-cutting and job poaching took place (33). Finally professional dancers began to join together into
associations that served as both local information swap meets, but also as unions to codify local behaviors.
The first of these was probably WAMEDA who in 1977 were noted by Arabesque to have engaged a lawyer as
part of their negotiations in their fight for fairer pay (21). However, the most influential was MECDA, which
formed in Los Angeles in response to the low wages being offered by restaurants in Hollywood. Boycotts and
strikes were organized; indeed so successful were they that Los Angeles even now supports many more top
quality dancers than the locals deserve (not that I'm jealous or anything). It should be noted though that for
various reasons, with the exceptions of the two afore-mentioned, these attempts at codifying etiquette and
behavior within the communities failed.
Although this period started with the seeming collapse in the popularity of the dance, this setback had been
turned around completely by the end of the decade. By encouraging a quest to understand more about belly
dance in its myriad forms and to put it into the context of its originating cultures and music the place of dance in
American culture had become stronger than ever. The hobby dancer boom had become the platform for the re-
orientation of the profession from being performance-led to being instruction-led.
So successful indeed was this new generation of dancers that Readers Digest suggested in 1977 that there
were 5,000 teachers, full and part time, working in the USA (22). By the early 80's Arabesque would quote the
figure of 2,000 full time professional teacher/dancers (23). With the limited job market in the US, a few were
keen to try their luck on the Middle Eastern and European circuits. A move which led to the cry by Egyptians
that they were being displaced from their jobs by undercutting Americans (23), oh how times change!!
Tribal and Beyond
So while most of the country moved over to Arabic styles during the 70s and 80s, San Franciscan dancers
continued to be inspired by the "tribal" ideas of Bal Anat, which had finally been wound up in 1976. Mixing
authentic dance moves in entirely new contexts, many troupes began to create new and theatrically inspiring
presentations.

One such was Masha Archer, whose committed feminism meant that she was particularly hostile to cabaret and
only considered presenting her work in theatrical arenas. She eventually abandoned dancing completely in the
late 70's, but one of her students, Carolena Nericchio, developed and refined her ideas and wrote them into a
detailed manifesto for a dance form she called American Tribal Style (ATS). She created her own troupe, Fat
Chance Belly Dance, with which to promote her ideas.
This was a radical step. If American Oriental had been a mongrel of styles that came together to create
something with recognizable influences, ATS, like jazz in the field of music, became a uniquely American 'voice'
where the whole was so much more than the sum of its influences. The fact that a written statement drove it
also meant that if you bought into ATS you had to do it that way. The concepts of ATS became a recognizable
and self-perpetuating style irrespective of who performed it.
Another important aspect of ATS was its concentration on woman-power and sisterhood, staying true to its
roots in deep feminist convictions. Prior to this, success in belly dance had meant success in the cabaret form,
where conforming to the young and thin body type mattered as much as ability.
Now a dance developed where only competence mattered; nobody judged a belly dancer on her looks. It also
removed the more glamorous aspects of cabaret dancing by choosing clothing and adornment styles that
deliberately avoided enticing display. The clothing is often many layered and lacking glitter with jewelry being
ethnic rather than sparkly. The dancers evoke a strong and powerful femininity that is far removed from the
allures of cabaret. By concentrating on group work it also prevented a single woman becoming the focus of
attention. Indeed, the dancer's body ceased to be the focus at all, the group dynamic was what captured the
eye.

These were truly revolutionary ideas for a society where women felt judged on their looks, and where the self-
image of mature women was often damaged by a perceived failure to conform to a "norm" of female body
shaping derived from a thinly disguised teenage perfection.

It had the added advantage that, as a "folk-like" art form, it was acceptable at local fairs in a way that cabaret
styles were not and so created performance opportunities where previously they hadn't existed. This appealed
to the many women who wanted to express their art but were unwilling to perform solo cabaret in a club or who
preferred the support available in a group context. Tribal style exploded over the North West, where it is still
strong today, and began to slowly spread East over the next few years.
This was surely the first time a dance form had been created in the modern era for women by women alone.
Indeed so strong were the underlying feminist principles that males were initially specifically excluded from ATS.
Other tribal styles have been less exclusionist, Bal Anat had featured male dancers from 1974, but given the
dominance of ATS in the dissemination of this style, even today the sisterhood emphasis remains a significant
barrier to male involvement.
All styles evolve as other people add their own interpretations and male participation has gradually become
more frequent. Nevertheless, the only women-only ME dance events one sees with any regularity in the USA
are tribal. This is in comparison with the cabaret forms that have openly welcomed men since the 70s.
Otherwise the 1980s were a continuation of the 70s trends; the last of the old nightclubs shut their doors in
1985, bringing that entire era to an end. The most famous club, the Baghdad in San Francisco, which hosted
every famous dancer in the US for over 20 years, is now a Chinese takeaway.
The adoption of the Arabic styles had been more or less completed in the East by the end of the 70's as the
changeover there had been energetically driven by significant and influential teachers using the large number
of dance seminars to propagate the new approach.
However, with the exception of Jamila Salimour, who had been forging her own distinctive path, no such
influential figure existed in the west, nor had there been anything like the same number of teaching seminars
with which to spread the word. Consequently, west of the Mississippi the widespread adoption of Arabic dance
had taken much longer, most areas only beginning to adopt it during the late 80s. Even so, some areas knew
nothing but American Cabaret belly dance until the early 90s.
Over the years ME dance has experienced several periods of where the popularity seems to advance and then
retreat slightly. One such was the late 60s, another happened in the late 70s with the waning of the dancercise
boom. The 80s were no different with Arabesque reporting falling class rolls across the majority of the country
(24) by 1985. As most dancers earned their income from teaching this was problematic, but the time of the full
time professional performer in the US was long gone. Despite the problems, the dance remained popular but
seemed doomed to remain as a niche hobby.

Re-invention, the Second Golden Age

Interest in the dance experienced a new boost with the advent of the video revolution. In the late 80s and
particularly into the 90's more and more dancers were bringing out teaching and performance videos,
increasing the levels of interest generally. Concentrating on teaching through the 80s now paid dividends with
the release of some extremely well thought out educational packages. And it wasn't just that great teachers
were releasing good instructional videos, it was the wide variety of styles that enabled dancers to become
inspired to expand their range. Egyptian, Lebanese, Turkish, Armenian, Rom, Persian, Kurdish, Moroccan and
Algerian dance styles are all pursued in the US and world-class teachers are available for workshops in all of
those forms.
Even so, by the early 90s, the majority of classes across the USA offered a predominantly Egyptian style still
infused with many hangovers from American Cabaret. There was, and still is, a strong emphasis on zills (36)
whilst floor work is a desirable part of performance repertoire (knees permitting). Also the dancing will
commonly display a more energetic air than the more laid back performances found in Egypt.
However although not strictly "Egyptian" as you would see in Cairo, it was nevertheless quite heavily defined to
prevent the encroachment of "American Fantasy" moves. This left the field open for the re-invention of
American Cabaret simply because it allows dancers to combine all of the various styles in their own personal
dance expression. It emerged as a more flamboyant alternative where jazz stylizations and other moves could
be brought in to develop a very high energy performance concept that now shows signs of being the dance
form that will "crossover" into mainstream attention.
Another aspect of the video boom was the creation of IAMED, the International Academy of Middle Eastern
Dance. Their idea was that they should get the very best dancers from the USA and beyond together in a show
to be video-taped to the highest quality which would then be made available to provide a gold-standard of
performance. You can buy their performance or instruction videos absolutely sure in the knowledge that the
performances and the presentation will portray the dance in its best light.
But if video had increased the interest in dance styles, it has been the Internet that has bound the USA
together as a united dance community. The ability to quickly inform other dancers of developments has meant
that year on year those of us on the sidelines can feel their self-confidence building.

Despite its size, the USA nowadays has the feel of a single confident community, united and excited by the
sense of their own continuity and development. The days of being geographically divided into divergent
factions of opposed interests are long gone.
Rather there is a strong sense that the US dance community now celebrates their diversity, rightly viewing it as
strength. Each dancer has the opportunity to learn the key skills of a wide variety of styles if they choose and,
via the Internet, seek out like-minded people from across the world. Their art is not replication it is re-invention.
When the dance was still thriving in its native lands, the fact that there are fabulous dancers in the US might
have only been of academic interest. But all is not well anymore. We're all aware of the spread of
fundamentalist Muslim repression of their own culture, the rejection of foreign dancers, that wealthy Islamic men
are offering bribes to dancers to abandon their calling and take the veil. Add to that the fact that due to the
political situation the tourist trade is dropping catastrophically, with knock-on effects on the opportunities for a
career in dance and it all suggests that the dance is dying on its native soil. If this talibanisation continues soon
all that might be left will be sanitized folk dances for tourists, a pale shadow of past glories.
If this trend continues, America may soon be passed the torch of ensuring that this dance form continues as a
living, breathing art form. This narrative shows that the dance will be in safe hands; as in dervish symbolism,
one palm raised to embrace the hopes and future of the art, one palm down rooted in respect for its roots and
traditions.

In an interview recently the historian Simon Scharma said that "history is not authoritative, it is argument". What
has been so fascinating about the research for this article is that often there is no definitive version of events
or trends. Indeed the USA is so vast that what is true in one place can be patently untrue in the next city, let
alone between the coasts. The task of trying to weave these strands into a single narrative thread has been
"interesting" at times.
Exaggerations, mythologies and fakelore abound and I am indebted to Morocco, Serena, Anaheed, Zahra
Zuhair and Carolynn Ruth amongst others for their patience in trying to ensure that I did not perpetuate certain
of these misdirections. Despite their help, this will remain just "A History.." rather than "The History.." This is my
version and as far as I know it is true, but it will remain forever one new fact away from complete revision. The
Truth remains elusive.

________________________________________

More to come...okay?
I love you guys
Namaste