Belly Dancing Cairo, Egypt
Many belly dancers in Cairo. The modern Egyptian belly dance style (and the modern costume) are said to have originated in Cairo's nightclubs. Many of the local dancers went on to appear in Egyptian films and had a great influence on the development of the Egyptian style and became famous, like Samia Gamal and Taheyya Kariokka, both of whom helped attract eyes to the Egyptian style worldwide.
Traditional belly dancer on a Cairo Nile River cruise or a Cairo Night Club
Professional belly dance in Cairo has not been exclusive to native Egyptians, although the country prohibited foreign-born dancers from obtaining licenses for solo work for much of 2004 out of concern that potentially inauthentic performances would dilute its culture. (Other genres of performing arts were not affected.) The ban was lifted in September 2004, but a culture of exclusivity and selectivity remained. The few non-native Egyptians permitted to perform in an authentic way invigorated the dance circuit and helped spread global awareness of the art form. American-born Layla Taj is one example of a non-native Egyptian belly dancer who has performed extensively in Cairo and the Sinai resorts.
Many of the movements characteristic of belly dance can be grouped into the following categories:
Belly Dancer, Cairo - Egypt
Percussive movements: Staccato movements, most commonly of the hips, used to punctuate the music or accent a beat. Typical movements in this group include hip drops, vertical hip rocks, outwards hip hits, hip lifts, and hip twists. Percussive movements using other parts of the body can include lifts or drops of the rib-cage and shoulder accents.
Fluid movements: Flowing, sinuous movements in which the body is in continuous motion, used to interpret melodic lines and lyrical sections in the music, or modulated to express complex instrumental improvisations. These movements require a great deal of abdominal muscle control. Typical movements include horizontal and vertical figures of 8 or infinity loops with the hips, horizontal or tilting hip circles, and undulations of the hips and abdomen. These basic shapes may be varied, combined and embellished to create an infinite variety of complex movements.
Shimmies, shivers, and vibrations: Small, fast, continuous movements of the hips or ribcage, which create an impression of texture and depth of movement. Shimmies are commonly layered over other movements, and are often used to interpret rolls on the tablah or riq or fast strumming of the oud or qanun instrument. There are many types of shimmy, varying in size and method of generation. Some common shimmies include relaxed, up and down hip shimmies, straight-legged knee-driven shimmies, fast, tiny hip vibrations, twisting hip shimmies, bouncing 'earthquake' shimmies, and relaxed shoulder or ribcage shimmies.
Belly Dancer, Egypt Tours and Travel, www.EgyptTours.com
In addition to these torso movements, dancers in many styles will use level changes, traveling steps, turns and spins. The arms are used to frame and accentuate movements of the hips, for dramatic gestures, and to create beautiful lines and shapes with the body, particularly in the more balletic, Westernized styles. Other movements may be used as occasional accents, such as low kicks and arabesques, back-bends, and head tosses.
Some of Egypt Tours and Travel tours do include a Belly Dancing show, with live music, and other floor dancing. If the tour you are interested in purchasing, doesn’t include a Belly Dancing show, either on a Dinner cruise or a night club, please let us know, and we can always add it, during one of your evenings while in Cairo. You might also be interested in Egypt Tours of Chicago's new postings regarding Egypt’s historical Islamic sites.
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