Hi,

The best books that I've seen are "A Tribe Like Any Other" and "Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism, and Harem Fantasy". There are other good books, but they have myths and misconceptions in them. Unless you already know what they are, you are likely to pass them off a history, so those two are the only ones I recommend for gathering historical knowledge.

Morocco and Aisha Ali have great folklore videos. Ibrahim Farrah put out a video before his death that is kinda like a documentary. It's really good. I have it, but I can't remember the name of it right now. It's probably no longer available.

Taaj
www.taaj.org

I think Taaj actually meant "A Trade Like Any Other" by Karin Van Nieuwkerk. I agree that the history in it is excellent, though it's full of hard-to-read academic language due to having been a PhD dissertation.

I've heard really good things about a new documentary video titled "The Bellydancers of Cairo". It was produced by Natasha Senkovich, and includes interviews with many of today's legendary dancers. It was shown last fall at a Giza Club meeting in San Francisco, and several people who saw it there have told me it was fabulous. It is being distributed by Bellydance Superstars - you can buy it on Amazon.

Another good book is Looking for Little Egypt, by Donna Carlton. She explores how "belly dancing" took its place in American culture in the 1890's and next couple of decades that followed. Well-written, well-researched.

If you have any interest in Pharaonic dance, the book Ancient Egyptian Dances by Irena Lexova is good. I've heard that other work has built on hers since hers was published in the 1930's, but haven't (yet) seen the more recent work. I'd like to, though. This past summer I stood in the tomb of Mereruke at Saqqara, Egypt and gazed at the drawings of dance on its walls - drawings I had first seen in Lexova's book.

Ahhhh, the $50K question. There's quite a lot out there that simply restates myths and poorly researched material unfortunately. I'm actually working on compiling an annotated bibliography as we speak, which should be done in the next few weeks and will try to remember to post here.... however until then, three more titles jump out: "Colors of Enchantment: Theatre, Dance, Music and the Visual Arts of the Middle East" edited by Sherifa Zuhur, "Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East" edited by Sherifa Zuhur, "Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasty" Edited by Anthony Shay & Barbara Sellers-Young. (Note: I think someone already mentioned this last title but here it is again. Also you'll note that Anthony Shay is also the author of "Choreophobia" mentioned in another post.) Hope this helps. -L

For those who enjoy Mahmoud Reda and the folk troupe movement in Egypt that arose in response to Reda Troupe, an interesting book is Choreographic Politics by Anthony Shay.

Shay's book looks at the worldwide folk troupe movement, including Mexico, Russia, eastern Europe, etc., including Reda Troupe, and talks about the larger picture of which Reda Troupe was a part. (For those who may not be aware, Reda's original folk troupe background came from performing with an Argentinian folk troupe. This gave him the idea to create a troupe of his own based on Egyptian dance.) Shay's book really helps understand the influences that helped shape Reda Troupe, Firqa Kawmiyya, and the others.

One that I haven't seen mentioned here:

"A Documentation of the Ethnic Dance Traditions of the Arab Republic of Egypt" by Magda Ahmed Abdel Ghaffar Saleh
New York University: 1979

It is also a phd dissertation so there is that language issue, but it's got lots of really good information. There is a film that goes with it, but I've never found it. If anyone knows where a copy of the film can be purchased, perhaps it's under a different name, please share!

Halleyah