Thread: Bellydance styles

ok so it's possible that this topic could have already been talked about. but i am a very new member. i am just curious of the different styles of bellydance and the differences between them. i love bellydance, can't wait to start the class

Hi, danceluva!

well, to keep things simple, there are two major categories -- Tribal and... for lack of a better name, it's usually called 'Cabaret' but almost no one really likes that name so let's call it 'Orientale' instead. That's what it's usually called in Middle Eastern languages.

Tribal dancers generally wear earthy looking costumes, using materials like coins, shells, yarn, and antique or ethnic looking pieces. There are several styles of Tribal, including ATS (American Tribal Style) in which dancers do group improv rather than choreography, and Tribal Fusion, which is usually performed by a soloist. Tribal style dance was invented in the US in the 60s and is a global fusion art form, drawing from Middle Eastern influences as well as Indian, African, even Native American. At first glance people often think Tribal is more 'authentic' than Oriental because of that earthy quality that fits in more with our stereotypes of Eastern cultures as being somehow more primitive than our own, but really it's a recent American invention.

The Orientale category also has a variety of styles, but they all grow out of forms that are specific to various countries of the Middle East. Costuming tends to be bright and sparkly, lots of sequins, glass or plastic beads, and rhinestones and music tends to be authentically Middle Eastern.

Orientale includes Egyptian style, Turkish style and Lebanese style, as well as a sort of American melting-pot style that blends influences from all of the above (especially Turkish). The American melting-pot style is sometimes called American Cabaret (often abbreviated AmCab, though some dancers really object to that) or sometimes called Vintage Orientale or American Classic style.

As you can see a lot of the names are under debate, and new styles are constantly evolving within those categories. Egyptian style, for instance, has Baladi (an older, folksier style) as well as Raks Sharki (the elegant staged style popular since the early 1920s), Modern Cairo Style, several folk styles (Saiidi, Ghawazee, Hagallah, Nubian..), and a very new style called Shaabi.

Hope that's helpful. There are great articles on sites like Shira.net that go into more detail, but a video is worth 10,000 words. Watching clips on youtube and asking questions is the best way to really understand. It's a lot to absorb and understand, it took me several years to really get it all. As a beginner, just learning to separate tribal from Orientale/Cabaret is the first step.

Don't ever hesitate to ask questions on Bhuz, we depend on new members to keep the discussion going!

Lauren, I really really do want your brain when your finished with it.
excellent post.

Lauren, I'll take a piece of that brain before you give it all to Andrea. Great post!

To add to what Lauren said, most of the styles we call "belly dance" today were morphed from traditional folkloric dances for entertainment on the stage (and by "the stage" we mean any kind of planned performance.) The original folkloric styles that they developed from still exist and many belly dancers perform them in addition. And there are dancers who only perform folkloric styles either as soloists or as part of a folkloric troupe. These styles come from all over Northern Africa, the Mediterranian or Levant, Turkey, the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucuses, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

Sometimes you may see subtle nods and even bits and pieces of the folkloric styles woven into both the tribal and cabaret (or Oriental) styles depending on the music. Oriental composers often weave bits of the folk style music into their compositions.

Middle eastern dance is part of vast and rich cultural tradition that spread over three contintents. There are so many styles and flavors we can learn about and chose from. It is part of what makes it so interesting.

Welcome to Bhuz!

Souzan

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

Lauren, I really really do want your brain when your finished with it.
excellent post.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Lauren, I'll take a piece of that brain before you give it all to Andrea.

HAH! Are you sure? Thursday night I went to perform at a party. Fell down & hurt my foot on the way there because I forgot my front steps were icy. Performed anyway, and my slightly twingy foot was in excruciating pain afterward. Had someone help me to my car in the freezing rain, wearing no stockings and little dance slippers cuz I couldn't get my cute shoes back on. Then discovered that I'd locked my keys in the car and left it running!

So I had to gimp back into the party, one eyelash askew, fake ponytail looking like a wet poodle clipped to the back of my head, and wait for help. There's ever so much more to the story, really.... but suffice it to say, I think the brain is looking like Swiss cheese on the inside these days!!

Nah--sounds like typical absent-minded professor stuff.

Lauren, how is your foot now? I thought I had a stress fracture last week but it was soft tissue injury.

Sounds like my week. On Monday leave work and the van won't start. It sounds like it is out of gas, but it had half a tank when I got to work. Because it won't start I can't see the gas gauge. Husband has the lab and isn't picking up cell phone. So I call AAA. They think its the fuel pump and tow my van to the shop. Husband finally picks up the phone and comes and gets me. The next day I find out that the fuel tank was empty. Someone siphoned my gas!

Then on Wednesday I drove to choir practice in the evening only to find it was cancelled but no one told me. I'm already ticked off since. On the way home, in the middle of nowhere I got a flat tire. Called hubby and his cell phone was off and he wasn't home. Called AAA. They couldn't change the tire because the tool that disconnects the spare for the bottom of the van was missing from my tire tool kit. So they towed me to Sears Auto Center where the tire came from. Sears was getting ready to close and I begged them to stay open long enough to put a new tire on my van since the one that went flat was shredded and relatively new. I figured they owed me one. And they did. I only had to pay the disposal fee for the shredded one.

Then one week before Christmas my dishwasher starts leaking and my brand new washing machine won't go past the was cycle. My sisters are coming next week and I am trying to get the house cleaned up and nothing is going right! Washing machine guy is coming on Christmas Eve. I am waiting for the dishwasher guy to get here. If I don't have a dishwasher when my family is here my sisters will have to take turns washing dishes!

Okay, back to dance mode.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Lauren, how is your foot now? I thought I had a stress fracture last week but it was soft tissue injury.

Sounds like my week. On Monday leave work and the van won't start. It sounds like it is out of gas, but it had half a tank when I got to work. Because it won't start I can't see the gas gauge. Husband has the lab and isn't picking up cell phone. So I call AAA. They think its the fuel pump and tow my van to the shop. Husband finally picks up the phone and comes and gets me. The next day I find out that the fuel tank was empty. Someone siphoned my gas!

Then on Wednesday I drove to choir practice in the evening only to find it was cancelled but no one told me. I'm already ticked off since. On the way home, in the middle of nowhere I got a flat tire. Called hubby and his cell phone was off and he wasn't home. Called AAA. They couldn't change the tire because the tool that disconnects the spare for the bottom of the van was missing from my tire tool kit. So they towed me to Sears Auto Center where the tire came from. Sears was getting ready to close and I begged them to stay open long enough to put a new tire on my van since the one that went flat was shredded and relatively new. I figured they owed me one. And they did. I only had to pay the disposal fee for the shredded one.

Then one week before Christmas my dishwasher starts leaking and my brand new washing machine won't go past the was cycle. My sisters are coming next week and I am trying to get the house cleaned up and nothing is going right! Washing machine guy is coming on Christmas Eve. I am waiting for the dishwasher guy to get here. If I don't have a dishwasher when my family is here my sisters will have to take turns washing dishes!

Okay, back to dance mode.

Eeeek, Souzan, you and Lauren are both due for a change in your luck! Sending you both flowers!

I'm on crutches, doing the Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation routine. I think it's a ligament, hopefully strained not torn, but I'm not sure. My kids are really helping me out, and luckily I have a light class load this week!

Souzan, it does sound like something's wrong with the stars this week or something -- Jupiter's in Uranus again? Hope your run of bad luck is over now!!

Back to bellydance styles. There are great articles on Shira.net, I don't have links handy but maybe someone else does?

wow guys thanks! i always knew bellydance had a rich history! keep comin with facts

Belly Dancing: Dance Styles Used In The U.S.

Lauren I hope you feel better soon!

Here's a question: When I watch Lebanese dancers I can see a difference in style, but how you describe it in comparison to other styles? I have handouts, but I have yet to see any good comparisons to the other styles, such as Egyptian.

Originally Posted by amity

Belly Dancing: Dance Styles Used In The U.S.

Lauren I hope you feel better soon!

Here's a question: When I watch Lebanese dancers I can see a difference in style, but how you describe it in comparison to other styles? I have handouts, but I have yet to see any good comparisons to the other styles, such as Egyptian.

I don't know how to describe it but in my head I think of it as kinda between Egyptian and Turkish.

Lebanese costuming usually means uber high heels, extra chunky beadwork, lotta leg.

Lebanese style dance of today seems to be VERY fast, lots of shimmies, 'butt pops' to the back, lots of EXTREME backbends (head nearly touching those high heels) and spins, veilwork done fast and hard, floorwork, acrobatics, and canework done to Debke music, drum solos are popular. Old-school Lebanese, though, according to Suha Azar of Lebanon, was more like Golden Era Egyptian -- and in fact, influenced Golden Era Egyptian since some of the influential figures from the Casino era were actually Lebanese.

Nadia Gamal might be a good example of more Old School Lebanese? Amani has been one of the best-known current dancers in Lebanon, but her style is completely her own and atypical of the genre. Instead, search youtube for Dina Jamal, Sahara, or Samara.

Maybe Howaida Hachem? I see her name a lot, but I'm not very familiar with her style, does anyone know if she's typical?

Bhuz's Meissoun has a Lebanese-style DVD out, and Aradia also has a video that includes Lebanese style.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Lebanese costuming usually means uber high heels, extra chunky beadwork, lotta leg.

Lol, I was going to write the heel and leg in my original post, but I didn't know if it was just me :)

I consider it in the Egyptian family too, just with sharper accents and movements.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

The Orientale category also has a variety of styles, but they all grow out of forms that are specific to various countries of the Middle East. Costuming tends to be bright and sparkly, lots of sequins, glass or plastic beads, and rhinestones and music tends to be authentically Middle Eastern.

Orientale includes Egyptian style, Turkish style and Lebanese style, as well as a sort of American melting-pot style that blends influences from all of the above (especially Turkish). The American melting-pot style is sometimes called American Cabaret (often abbreviated AmCab, though some dancers really object to that) or sometimes called Vintage Orientale or American Classic style.

As you can see a lot of the names are under debate, and new styles are constantly evolving within those categories. Egyptian style, for instance, has Baladi (an older, folksier style) as well as Raks Sharki (the elegant staged style popular since the early 1920s), Modern Cairo Style, several folk styles (Saiidi, Ghawazee, Hagallah, Nubian..), and a very new style called Shaabi.

Actually "Orientale" is short for Danse Orientale - and is a description specifically of raqs sharqi styles - that is (urban) beledi and other folk styles are excluded from the term. (This is how the term is used by professional dancers in Egypt and I think it is useful)

If you are to include Tribal as belly dance then the split (oldest first) would be Beledi, Orientale, Tribal.

Kashmir, I agree with you, but here in the US we also use the term 'Orientale' or 'Oriental' to distinguish the sparkly dancers from the tribal ones.

I think it's useful in that way, because in addition to 'Danse Orientale' in Egypt, the Turkish also use 'Oryental' so it seems to be a multi-national blanket term for what we call 'bellydance' as well as a specific term for Egyptian Sharki.

It's fair to say a lot of people round here also use "oriental" as a shorthand for "sparkly" that isn't the pejorative "cabaret". A lot of them assume folkloric is similarly "oriental" - and to be fair, I've heard North American teachers use "oriental" as a sort of catchall for ME/NA dance that isn't "belly". So it is tricky.

I have to say that on a personal level, the fact that the first thing referred to in a description of BD to someone is "tribal" makes me quite sad.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I have to say that on a personal level, the fact that the first thing referred to in a description of BD to someone is "tribal" makes me quite sad.

I'm sorry. ,f:: But when I was a beginner, it was the first, biggest, clearest distinction to be made -- tribal vs. whatever-we're-calling-it. All the other distinctions came later and seemed like minor variations on a theme compared to that one big one.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Lebanese costuming usually means uber high heels, extra chunky beadwork, lotta leg.

Lebanese style dance of today seems to be VERY fast, lots of shimmies, 'butt pops' to the back, lots of EXTREME backbends (head nearly touching those high heels) and spins, veilwork done fast and hard, floorwork, acrobatics, and canework done to Debke music, drum solos are popular. Old-school Lebanese, though, according to Suha Azar of Lebanon, was more like Golden Era Egyptian -- and in fact, influenced Golden Era Egyptian since some of the influential figures from the Casino era were actually Lebanese.

Nadia Gamal might be a good example of more Old School Lebanese? Amani has been one of the best-known current dancers in Lebanon, but her style is completely her own and atypical of the genre. Instead, search youtube for Dina Jamal, Sahara, or Samara.

Maybe Howaida Hachem? I see her name a lot, but I'm not very familiar with her style, does anyone know if she's typical?

Bhuz's Meissoun has a Lebanese-style DVD out, and Aradia also has a video that includes Lebanese style.

I understand that Lotus Niraja is also a proponent of Lebanese style.

Originally Posted by Azhia

I understand that Lotus Niraja is also a proponent of Lebanese style.

Yes, she's a sweetie. I have her research and that is the ONLY research on Lebanese dance. Sad!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Kashmir, I agree with you, but here in the US we also use the term 'Orientale' or 'Oriental' to distinguish the sparkly dancers from the tribal ones.

I think it's useful in that way, because in addition to 'Danse Orientale' in Egypt, the Turkish also use 'Oryental' so it seems to be a multi-national blanket term for what we call 'bellydance' as well as a specific term for Egyptian Sharki.

Totally agree that Orientale is a useful term for sparkly belly dancers - but beledi and folkloric often are not "sparkly" - and there is a big difference - in costume, movement vocabulary and social acceptance within the Middle East between raqs sharqi and raqs beledi. Thus, the third grouping.

Originally Posted by amity

Lol, I was going to write the heel and leg in my original post, but I didn't know if it was just me :)

I consider it in the Egyptian family too, just with sharper accents and movements.

Less "balletic" as well.

I was SO bummed that Amani couldn't make it here; they had grounded the airport in Beirut...

Originally Posted by zumarrad

It's fair to say a lot of people round here also use "oriental" as a shorthand for "sparkly" that isn't the pejorative "cabaret". A lot of them assume folkloric is similarly "oriental" - and to be fair, I've heard North American teachers use "oriental" as a sort of catchall for ME/NA dance that isn't "belly". So it is tricky.

I have to say that on a personal level, the fact that the first thing referred to in a description of BD to someone is "tribal" makes me quite sad.

Usually when I hear folks in the U.S. utilize the term "Oriental", they intend it to mean raqs sharqi, and they are intending it to be a shorthand way of saying "Oriental dance" which is the translation for raqs sharqi, or "dance of the East". Since the term raqs sharqi comes from Egypt and specifically from the Badia Masabni era, the use of the term "Oriental dance" is typically intended to be that of calling the dance what the Egyptians call it, but in our own language.

The same is true of the Turkish people referring to the term "Oryantale" - to them, they're referring to belly dance and not to a line dance when they use the term.

Originally Posted by amity

Belly Dancing: Dance Styles Used In The U.S.

Hi Amity! Thanks for posting the link!

An FYI to everybody... I originally wrote this article back in 1997, when my web site was brand-new. I did some work on updating it in about 2004-2005, but only got the first two pages (out of 3 pages) fully updated. So, aside from the fact that there's almost nothing about tribal fusion (which I need to go back and add), I consider parts 1 and 2 to be reasonably current/accurate, but part 3 still needs work.

Hmmm, maybe I should try to update part 3 over the coming week. Must think about it...

To me, the folkloric styles aren't styles of 'belly dance.' They are 'source dances' or geographically related forms that bellydancers draw from and benefit from learning, but the typical person, Western or Middle Eastern, wouldn't consider Zar, Khaleegy, Debke, etc. bellydance.

Out of curiosity, can people weigh in for me here? What words do you use if you want to distinguish Tribal styles from Sharki/Oryental/Lebanese/American Cabaret?

To me, those are the kingdoms, like 'Animal' and 'Plant' in Biology and everything gets broken down into species from there.

Do others not make that same initial distinction? If you do, what words do you use?

Are you asking how we would describe the differences between tribal and Oriental/cabaret? I definitely start off with that. I feel like tribal (I'm thinking ATS and its subcategories) and cabaret are the definite divide. Perhaps this was how it was always presented to me, though. I'm going to try to do this without the costume descriptions, which is what I feel like is mostly pointed out.

When I do tribal, I feel like it's much more rigid and lifted. My teacher is adamant about keeping the elbows high, for instance. The rigidity is simply I don't feel like there's this soft, gooeyness in tribal the way that there is sometimes in Oriental. I'm not saying that Oriental allows for sloppiness, but I feel like I don't have to keep a Flamenco arm posture, for instance.

Thinking about this, I feel like tribal has much more definition than Oriental. There's a definite fierceness or pride in their dance and posture that is always there. Oriental, to me, at least has more room to be different. I feel like an Oriental dancer can pull from more moods than a tribal dancer.

Thanks, Indigo, that's helpful.

But what I'm really asking about is what words people use. Tribal vs. ___________??

because so many people object to 'cabaret' now and it seems people want to argue about Oriental, too, so I'm wondering what language everyone uses when comparing the two.

That's even harder! It's quite odd that we're still stuck a really fundamental point: what to call what we do?

I often use cabaret and occasionally raqs sharqi but have recently switched over to Oriental. I'm not sure about using Oriental; right now, I'm just trying it out. For me, though, it feels odd to call what I do "Oriental dance" because everyone assumes I'm talking about something East Asian. From where I hail, Oriental was associated with East Asian-ness; I've had people call me or stuff about me (like my hair) Oriental. I kind of despised it, because I felt like it was antiquated and that people had these images of the submissive Asian, bowing and serving tea to her husband.

I think that may be my own issue, though. I personally don't have the negative associations with the word "cabaret", since I thought it might be some kind of variety show; I saw a kids' show where they held a cabaret, which was looked like a talent show.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

To me, the folkloric styles aren't styles of 'belly dance.' They are 'source dances' or geographically related forms that bellydancers draw from and benefit from learning, but the typical person, Western or Middle Eastern, wouldn't consider Zar, Khaleegy, Debke, etc. bellydance.

If you define "belly dance" as "raqs sharqi" then I agree - these are not belly dance - but neither is Tribal.

In a broad definition I would include the solo improvised folk styles such as (urban) beledi, awalim, ghawazee, sa`iidi etc as belly dance. What they have in common is an approach to the music. I would not include rituals - such as zar or guedra, nor group dances such as debke or ahouache as belly dance.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

But what I'm really asking about is what words people use. Tribal vs. ___________??

Tribal vs belly dance