It's always entertaining to be watching some Hollywood flick and suddenly see a clip with a "Middle Eastern dance" scene. Last night I discovered another that was new to me: Gina Lollobrigida dancing in the movie Solomon and Sheba. Yul Brynner (back when he still had hair) stars as King Solomon, and Gina Lollobrigida as the Queen of Sheba. Her dance scene appears about an hour 26 minutes into the movie, at a Pagan ritual being held inside the temple of Jehovah. The ritual honors Sheba's goddess of love, so naturally there are lots of couples coupling there in the temple. (Oh, the scandal!) Lollobrigida's costume is quite definitely a belly dance costume, and typical Hayes-code-era Hollywood it features a jewel in her navel.

It's not what I would consider to be one of the better portrayals of "Middle Eastern dance" in a Hollywood movie, but for us dancers it has its role to play as education into where some of the attitudes of the general public have come from. It shows us how Hollywood portrayed dancing as being part of an act so sinful that lightning strikes and destroys Solomon's temple. It helps us see where that silly stereotype of a jewel in the navel came from.

If you want to see extensive lists of movies that contain belly dance scenes, Maria of Boulder Bellygrams and Aziza Said have listings on their web sites. Maria's web site is www.boulderbellygrams.com/in%20...es.htm and Aziza Said's is www.zilltech.com/FAQMovies.html . I've got profiles of some of these movies on my web site at www.shira.net/onscreen.htm