Can the Western World preserve an Eastern Dance?
Unfortunately many of the Western ideas about bellydance rubbed off on the countries of origin. What was once a respectable profession became tarnished. In the West it has never been more popular. For many dancers it becomes a bit of an obsession. We begin searching for the truth in the ‘fake lore’, looking for documentation, searching for facts that we can reconcile to our preconceived ideas. It’s hard to reject the Hollywood images and look for the truth. Ethnographers of Dance began studying Raqs Sharqui from a historical view, interviewing, filming and documenting the stories of dancers in Northern Africa, the Mediterranean and elsewhere. There are a several books on the subject now and many online resources for those seeking a history of bellydance. The many history obsessed dancers are doing everything possible to discover the origins of bellydance. It doesn’t matter what you want to believe – you can find someone to agree with you or dispute your theories. I’ve glossed over many
