The Captivating History of Moroccan Belly Dance

Nov 10, 2025 0

Belly dance, also known as Oriental dance or Raqs Sharqi, is considered one of the oldest dance forms on Earth. Its origins are shrouded in mystery, but over the last few decades, archaeological, societal, and cultural discoveries have provided dance historians with more information resources concerning the dance’s origins than ever before.

This article explores the grand tour of the theaters, tents, and temples of belly dance history, while also delving into its evolution and cultural significance. From its ancient roots to modern interpretations, we uncover the captivating story of belly dance.

A belly dancer performing. Source: Wikipedia

Where Did Belly Dancing Come From?

Currently, there are two "historical" schools of thought about where the dance may have originated.

The first proposes that the dance may have started in religious dance rituals and practices of primitive cultures in the Middle East or as far east as modern-day India, particularly Goddess worship.
The second school of thought suggests that belly dance could have acted as birth preparation and birthing aid practice. It is said, the other women of the household would demonstrate to the pregnant woman how to move her stomach to relieve labor pain and hasten the arrival of her baby.

Many say this practice may be the origin of common belly dance abdominal movements, such as the undulation and tummy flutter. This birthing ritual is still practiced in many parts of Northern Africa and the Middle East today.

Picture the drawings of women on temple walls carrying frame drums and string instruments, and others walking, possibly dancing. And scenes from the modern era film Latcho Drom with performers traveling with their wagons through the desert to a full moon ceremony where they will perform. Now let’s move into the 14th to 20th century into the Ottoman Empire where belly dance was done in harems and on holidays in North Africa, in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Persia, Andalucía. Imagine seated musicians and colorfully and modestly clothed dancers entertaining festival crowds.

There are many reasons for dancing, of course, one for healing. In the 1900s, we have records of Zar Trance Dancing used for healing, and it still is today. Now think about the 1800s traditional Raqs Baladi these diverse rural folk dances done throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. These were celebratory dances done in social situations. And last, there’s dance for money and or fame. So you’ve got the 1800s Ghawazee in Egypt and the Turkish Roma who are born dancers and who have been paid as dancers throughout history.

These social dances from all over that area continue Dabke, Greek Tsifteteli, Khaleeji dance, etcetera.

In the 1920s at Raqs Sharqi, grown in Egyptian nightclubs, and it took folk dance to the stage. Imagine the birth of the two-piece belly dance costume just starting to be covered in glass beads and sequins. Folk dance hips fused with Russian ballet legs and Asian arms and hands and occasional South American rhythms. There were hours spent relaxing and smoking nightclubs sometimes referred to as casinos, and an amazing band coaxing a dancer onto the stage. This dream evolved as it was captured on film decades later up to the 1940s and 1960s into the golden era of Egyptian film. When soon to be movie stars went to Egypt to find their fame.

In the 1960s, tourism was growing in Turkey, and there was a lack of religious restrictions, unlike other countries over in the Middle East. So the belly dance industry in Turkey grew from tourism and the lack of religious restrictions, and a lot of these dancers were Rom, Roma, gypsy, if you will.

Celebrate 1970s Strictly Belly Dance records by Eddie the Sheik, admire the moves of Egyptian belly dance star Mona Said, and take a peek into stigma and the gritty lives of many belly dancers in Cairo now.

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Myths about Belly Dance

There are also many myths about belly dance based on inaccurate Western views of the Middle East and its cultures. Many of these myths stem from the Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries when Europeans and other Westerners began to travel to the Near East and North Africa.

One common myth originating from Orientalism proposes that women in harems would vie for the affection of the Sultan by dancing for him or that harem women would lie around all day half-naked dreaming up ways to please their man while hand-feeding him grapes. For centuries, the harem (root word means “forbidden”) was simply the section of the home where all the women (and usually children) of the household reside and do their normal daily activities.

Another myth claims that belly dance is for women only or that men should not or do not belly dance, but in the Middle East, belly dance is a basic part of their dance movement vocabulary and is a part of everyday life for everyone: women, men, and children.

Do note, however, that belly dance performance is considered a woman’s performance art in the Middle East. Men are less encouraged, to choose belly dance as an occupation, though it’s acceptable to dance in certain celebratory situations.

Belly Dance Comes to America

It is believed the first major appearance of belly dance in America happened at the World’s Columbian Exposition aka the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The fair featured a re-creation of an Egyptian market aptly named “Streets of Cairo” where vendors sold Egyptian goods, and dance and music groups from countries like Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Tunisian, Algeria, Turkey, among others, shared their cultural tradition on the stages along the “midway”. An entertainment promoter for the Exposition named Sol Bloom quickly took advantage of the controversy surrounding the foreign dancers and began billing the dance as the “hootchee-kootchee” dance in order to get more customers.

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Sol Bloom is also said to have coined the term “belly dance,” which is a translation of the French term “Danse du ventre” or dance of the stomach, said to have been first used by French invaders to Egypt in the late 18th century.

With some of the Middle Eastern dancers touring with Barnum and Bailey’s Circus and Thomas Edison featuring dancers in his new moving pictures, it did not take long for America to catch on with this dancing craze. Europe had already been introduced to belly dance at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889 spurring Oscar Wilde’s controversial play “Salome”, which opened in Paris in 1896.

Egyptian Golden Era of Belly Dance. Back in Egypt, a Lebanese-born entertainer named Badia Masabni began opening entertainment clubs in Cairo, Egypt circa 1926. Badia’s “sala(s)” featured a variety of acts like singing, music, comedy, and eventually dancing, and were suspected to be the first venues to feature fully orchestrated Arabic music. In the 1920s, Egypt began producing its own films and typically featured actresses that pulled double duty as dancers. By the 1940s and 1950s, many dancers who began dancing in Badia’s clubs were now cinema stars with dance empires of their own. Dancers like Samia Gamal, Tahiya Carioca, Naima Akef, and Hagar Hamdy still epitomize belly dance today.

The Egyptian Taheya Karioka is regarded by many as the best belly dancer of all time. She enchanted the Nazis, Allies, and Arabs during and after World War II. Samia Gamal was considered the Middle East’s greatest dancer in the 1950s and 60s. She was also an actress. Many Egyptian films from the 1940s and 50s often had a belly dancer at the center of their story. In the 1990s, Fifi Abdou, Dina and Lucy were considered the crème de la crème of belly dancers.

During the 1960s-1980s, we saw more wonderful dancers from Egyptian cinema crossing over into television. One such notable was actress, singer, dancer Fifi Abdo, who is considered by many to be the ideal Baladi Egyptian dancer. Nagwa Fouad, Mona El Said, Soheir Zaki, Nadia Gamal, and many others also became huge stars.

Since the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Greek and Middle Eastern immigrants have made America their new home. Those communities often had restaurants and nightclubs featuring belly dancing. Early on, dancers from Middle Eastern countries like Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt would be the likely performers, but non-Middle Eastern dancers began showing interest and soon learned the moves just by watching the native dancers or via very informal apprenticeships.

Different Styles of Belly Dance

Turkish vs. Imagine you’re in Turkey. Picture dancers almost aggressively dancing to songs in 9/8 rhythms with a V cut into the middle of their fringe laden dance belt, big hair, headbands, legs exposed. An article titled What Makes Turkish Belly Dance Different From Egyptian on bellydance.eu.net clarified it a bit for me by stating that “while Egyptian style dancers are taking audiences on an emotional journey, Turkish dancers strive to blow their audiences away with fast and furious spins and shimmies, sharp isolations, and evocative floor work.” Some Turkish Rom dancers chose this as well, and others stuck with a more conservative layered costumes and Rom specific movements including soft punches and other gestures often layered on top of pelvic tucks.

Also starting the 1960s with Egypt’s Reda Troupe focused on folkloric and modern dance elements in films and in shows delivering very theatrical performances. And this troupe was seen by many as both innovative and respectful of Egyptian folkloric traditions. The Reda Troupe continued into the 1980s. You can still see reunion videos now. They’re fabulous. The very famous Egyptian dancer, Dina had been in the Reda Troupe. Her 1980s costumes often involved a lot of cleavage.

In the 1980s, Carolena Nericcio created ATS, American Tribal Style. ATS costumes are easy to spot because they involve wearing cholis, a short sleeve or long sleeve, half shirt, if you will, that ends under the bust line under a dance bra. So cholis under a dance bra, and there are clusters of big flowers in the dancers hair, and their hair is pinned up instead of down and loose, most of the time. And they often were very full-tiered skirts that are like 25 yards. They’re huge. And then out of that movement came Jill Parker’s Tribal Fusion. The style created by Jill Parker is more focused on sensuality and no longer cued group improv.

Now let’s talk a little bit about American Cabaret five-part routines. This was again from the 1960s to the 1980s where there were 15 to 45 minute sets for dancing, not a five minute set or a five minute piece that you perform now when you’re dancing and a lot of these places.

Today, belly dance takes many forms from the more traditional, yet contemporary Egyptian and Turkish styles to newer offshoots like American Tribal. There are also numerous fusion styles that blend classic dance forms like ballet, across the dance spectrum to fantasy styles that meld theatrical themes with belly dance. It has also become a popular way to get and stay fit.

Along with the rise in fusion styles, the global knowledge boom has made it possible for dancers to be more informed and educated about belly dance and the many related traditional and folkloric dance forms more than ever before.

Here's a table summarizing the different styles of belly dance mentioned:

Style	Description	Key Features
Egyptian Style	Focuses on emotional journey	Taking audiences on an emotional journey.
Turkish Style	Strives to blow audiences away	Fast and furious spins and shimmies, sharp isolations, and evocative floor work.
American Tribal Style (ATS)	Created by Carolena Nericcio	Cholis under a dance bra, clusters of big flowers in the dancers hair, and very full-tiered skirts.
Tribal Fusion	Created by Jill Parker	More focused on sensuality and no longer cued group improv.
American Cabaret	1960s-1980s routines	15 to 45 minute sets for dancing.

Belly Dance Today

Belly Dance has seen another revival in recent years due to popular belly dance exercise instructional videos by dancers like Veena and Neena and from hip-shaking pop stars like Shakira and Beyonce.

Right now, there is a crisis in American belly dancing; in fact, there are several. Highest on the list is the question of cultural appropriation and whether Americans-particularly white Americans-should perform this Middle Eastern dance form.

There have been other kinds of controversies beyond cultural appropriation. In the fall of 2019, a Russian dancer posted a video of herself on Instagram with dark coloring on her face, and a comment saying she had always wanted to be a Black woman.

In June 2021, they organized another community event to air some of the issues that had arisen over the past year and to find ways to move forward. Some have assumed that there is a connection between this “call to action” and the so-called blacklists.

But throughout its almost 150-year history in America, belly dance had gone through multiple scandals and controversies. Dancers have always questioned who should be dancing and how they should do it. The seeds of these current controversies were planted long ago.