Enduring allure of Egyptian belly dance
Hundreds of women of all nationalities sway their hips and twirl in time to the beat of a drum in a hotel ballroom by the pyramids in Cairo.
Belly dancing is said to have been practised in Egypt since Pharaonic times and now it has caught on around the globe.
It is well-established in Europe and the US and has recently spread to Asia. This year dozens of dancers travelled from China for the Ahlan Wa Sahlan belly dancing festival.
“Because this is the land of dance, women have to come!” declares Raqia Hassan, the festival organiser.
“When she comes she can meet famous dancers and musicians. She can see the pyramids. Anyone who comes to Egypt one time, she cannot stop coming back.”
Safa Bakr’s shop attracts women from all over the world
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Raqia, who has taught many belly dancing celebrities, leads her large class through the basic moves of the dance putting together a routine.
“It’s fun and you can do this at any age,” says Ewa Horsfield from London. “You can express your own personality. It’s an individual dance. You just listen and respond to the music.”
Many speak of the fitness benefits of belly dancing.
“In China all ladies like for their health,” says Angel from Shanghai.
“This kind of dance began here. Here teachers [are] very, very good so all Chinese ladies want to come.”
Contradictions
Belly dancing is big business in Egypt thanks to the global market.
Designer, Safaa Yasser Bakr, runs a belly dancing costume shop in the historic Khan el-Khalili bazaar.
She helps a Brazilian woman try on a sky-blue sequinned bra and a matching skirt with a split up one side.
“In one show big stars change costume many times,” she tells her. “You need maybe five different pieces.”
Nowadays Safaa sells most of her alluring outfits to foreigners.
Safa sells her wares in Khan el-Khalili – Cairo’s Islamic heart
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“I see people coming from France, Italy, United States, Argentina, Spain, Japan,” she says.
But in Egypt at large, many experts fear the dance is losing its appeal.
Society has become more religious and conservative over the past generation and belly dancing is not considered a respectable profession.
“I don’t like belly dancing. I don’t like to see a woman half-naked dancing and moving her body like that,” says one man on the street in central Cairo.
“It has a kind of sexual movement. That’s why I don’t like to watch it,” adds his friend.
An older passer-by remembers the famous dancers of the 1960s with affection but says he would not let his wife or daughters dance in public today.
“I liked the old belly dancer because you could not see a lot of her body,” he remarks. “They were very respectable – not like the new ones now.”
Enduring art
Dance historian, Mo Geddawi, accepts belly dancing is facing a challenging time in Egypt but says this must be seen in perspective.
“Forget about different governments and religion,” he says. “When Christianity and then Islam came the dance was taboo, but people continued to dance.”
“Sometimes in public it is less but the dance never died.”
For now though international devotees help to ensure the dance goes on.
Diana Esposito from New York came to Cairo on a scholarship to study the social and economic reasons for its decline but has become an accomplished belly dancer herself.
“The first time I saw it I thought the movements were so sensual,” she says. “I decided to try something new and it became an addiction.”
“I don’t see the dance being done properly anywhere else in the world. That’s why everyone flocks here – this is the capital of belly dance.”
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