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hello just joined.
i have always had a general fascination with Egyptian lore, beliefs, gods/goddesses etc...
and now that I am a belly dancer, I am really eager to learn teh different ritualistic dances the egyptians did. I know majority of the dances were associated with something religious, the dancers were very respected, to the point of being engravedon teh tombs of some of the pharaoh's because that pharaoh loved them so much.
im mostly just trying to learn the ritualistic dances of the Egyptian at this point
i have always had a general fascination with Egyptian lore, beliefs, gods/goddesses etc...
and now that I am a belly dancer, I am really eager to learn teh different ritualistic dances the egyptians did. I know majority of the dances were associated with something religious, the dancers were very respected, to the point of being engravedon teh tombs of some of the pharaoh's because that pharaoh loved them so much.
im mostly just trying to learn the ritualistic dances of the Egyptian at this point
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Georgia
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Re: new
Fri, February 27, 2009 - 9:04 AMMonique, you might be able to put your knowledge on Egypt to good use in this tribe:
tribes.tribe.net/barefootisis -
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Re: new
Fri, February 27, 2009 - 7:19 PMHonestly, I don't think modern Egyptian belly dance is similar to the ritual dances of ancient Egypt. Not that I was there, but in the old Egyptian paintings, they don't look to me like they're belly dancing. -
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Re: new
Sat, February 28, 2009 - 11:28 AMI wil second that. Although I have heard also that bellydancing was once used in a religious context, that is far from where it is today. While there are many bellydancers who are also into New Age, Wiccan, or other spirtiual paths who are sort of "re-incorporating" bellydance into their practice they are hardly following an unbroken line; many modern (especially American) bellydancers have taken what they have heard about ritual bellydance and created something new that fits their lifestyle.
What we know today as "bellydance" has really only emerged over the last century. Much of the costuming, music, and even moves have quickly evolved over a short period of time. If you are looking for more information on the history of bellydance, there are plenty of great books out there. (I would caution you to be skeptical about what you read on the internet, unless they have cited their sources.) I would particularly recommend Wendy Bouanaventura's "Serpent of the Nile." -
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Re: new
Sun, March 1, 2009 - 8:57 PM"Serpent of the Nile"? Gotta check that out, thanks. Could you give us some brief description of why this book is better than the other ones you read, please?
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Re: new
Thu, March 5, 2009 - 11:46 AMActually, Serpent on the Nile is not a book that I would recommend to someone who is looking for information on the history of belly dance. Although the book has its merits, it draws heavily upon some sources (such as Curt Sachs) that have more recently been discredited, and it also contains a number of the author's theories that are just that, theories, without making it clear that they're theories. I have found a number of assertions in it that are not footnoted.
The book has merits as an introduction to Orientalist art / paintings - it truly is beautiful to look through. Its chapter on the 19th-century and 20th-century European & American fascination with the Middle East is done rather well, too. But that tells us more about ourselves and our society than it does about the history of this dance form.
For the history of belly dance in Egypt, I feel the best book is A Trade Like Any Other by Karin Van Nieuwkerk. It's admittedly somewhat difficult to read because it was someone's PhD dissertation, but if you can make your way through the academic stuff there's a lot of good information in it. For historical information about dance in ancient Egypt, the book Ancient Egyptian Dance by Irena Lexova provides a good introduction to the topic. It has its limitations as a source, but it lays a good foundation. -
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Re: new
Sat, March 7, 2009 - 6:39 AMYes, the author (Wendy Bouanaventura) does add quite a bit of her own personal opinion - not all of which I completely agree with. But it seemed like it's on topic with what the original poster was after and that's why I made the recommendation; I was just hoping to offer this particular book because she said she was after information on how the modern dance is connected to old religious practices, and this book was the closest I could think of.
But whether it's bellydance or any other topic it's always a good idea to get information from numerous sources!
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Re: new
Fri, March 13, 2009 - 1:49 PMI really don't think Serpent of the Nile shows how modern belly dancing is connected to old religious practices.
Yes, it talks about old religious practices.
Yes, it talks about belly dancing.
But it doesn't provide any kind of evidence showing actual relationship between the two.
The only connection is that both are talked about in the same book.
For example, the book talks about temple priestesses who had sex with the men who came to the temple. And it claims that these women danced. But, it doesn't say which geographic region these temples were based in - were they in Egypt, Lebanon, or Turkey? It doesn't say. If these temples were not in a geographic region that today is closely associated with belly dance, then how can we link them to belly dance?
It contains nothing on the subject of what kind of movement vocabulary they used - was it solo, improvised, torso-oriented dancing? The book doesn't say. If we don't know what kind of movement vocabulary these priestesses allegedly used, how can we link it to belly dancing?
I could go on, but I think the above two examples are sufficient to illustrate my point.
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Re: new
Sat, March 7, 2009 - 6:23 PM
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Re: new
Tue, March 17, 2009 - 7:23 AMI would like to know where she gets her information from, and I am not endorsing what she says as fact. But you might want to check out her theory on the dance.
www.youtube.com/watch
THE ZAR
For centuries women in Africa and the Middle East have used this music to cure pain in times of stress or illness. Followers of the Zar cult believe that sometimes their illnesses are caused by "red spirits" - the Zar - who use human bodies as hosts. These spirits attract attention to themselves by making their hosts sick. Only after acknowledging a spirit's presence and meeting its demands can a woman hope to attain a symbiotic relationship with her possessor --- and she discovers the identity of this intruder through a dance-induced trance. Music from this piece is from Sands of Time: The Zar (www.sandsoftimemusic.com) and the end
www.youtube.com/watch
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Re: new
Sat, March 21, 2009 - 8:53 AMif you are interested in the dance of ancient egyptians i recommend 'ancient egyptian dances' by irena lexova isbn 0-486-40906-6. although orginally penned in 1935 it contains drawings of all the dancers found in the tombs and explains the different types of dances. i guess the info/theories might well be out of date but fascinating all the same :-) as to belly dancing hear hear to shira's- a trade like any other...without doubt the definitve guide to the history of belly dancing.
