Thread: 19th century belly dance clips

Unfortunately, many are silent. I have to say, some if it looks quite vulgar.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOAYNqRjIY]YouTube - Belly Dance-Ella Lola-1898 Turkish Song-1900[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko1FsDGO_G8&feature=related]YouTube - Old Belly Dance[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5GZYYMTsM&NR=1]YouTube - Ella Lola - 1898[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwNTQv7MIA&feature=related]YouTube - Princess Ali - 1895[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUktaHZWiI&NR=1]YouTube - Little Egypt[/ame]


And early 20th
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwVU8mPrYg&feature=related]YouTube - Princess Rajah Dance [1904][/ame]

Thanks for posting these - they are amazing. I don't really find any of them vulgar though - except maybe for the chair-in-the-teeth trick. Contemporary rap videos, now that's what I call vulgar, with all of those butt cheeks bouncing at the camera! But I'm just an old hippie -

Thank you for sharing!! Even my husband enjoyed watching these clips!

Unfortunately, many are silent

That's because they didn't work out a really foolproof way to add sound to moving images till around 1927.

Originally Posted by ShoshannaQ

Thanks for posting these - they are amazing. I don't really find any of them vulgar though - except maybe for the chair-in-the-teeth trick. Contemporary rap videos, now that's what I call vulgar, with all of those butt cheeks bouncing at the camera! But I'm just an old hippie -

..l;,

Oh, I had these in my "favourite" Youtube list! Let me see if I have anything else...

Curious to know if any are dancers from the Middle East or Americans interpretting what they thought exotic dancers should look like. Some of teh footwork certainly doesn't look as if it was Middle Eastern.

Originally Posted by Afrit09

Curious to know if any are dancers from the Middle East or Americans interpretting what they thought exotic dancers should look like. Some of teh footwork certainly doesn't look as if it was Middle Eastern.

Ella Lola was an American burlesque dancer.

Wild Realm Reviews: Some Kinetoscope Dance Films

Silent Era : People : Actresses : Ella Lola

[ame=http://revver.com/video/396893/vintage-burlesque-girls-ella-lola/]Vintage burlesque girls: Ella Lola by undream -- Revver Online Video Sharing Network[/ame]

Looks like Princess Rajah was probably American as well.

The Virtual Dime Museum: Princess Rajah's Mutoscope Dance

Here's some info on Little Egypt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(dancer)

Anyone know where the original sources are for these clips? I would love to do some archive digging and see what else can be turned up.

Check for footage from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. They imported native people from places like Morocco and created villages for the exhibition. Anything from the fair is likely to be native dancers instead Americans.

Originally Posted by najla86

Anyone know where the original sources are for these clips? I would love to do some archive digging and see what else can be turned up.

These were Edison's soft porn movies ..g.: Bobby had the one of Fatima (labelled as "Little Egypt" above) fixed to remove the stripes which obscured the uncorsetted torso! There is a hint of this with the men putting a penny in the slot.

Incidentally, if you are interested in the truth about Little Egypt Donna Calton's book "Looking for Little Egypt" is great. Basically, there is no record of any such dancer at the World Fair.

Originally Posted by roguepen

Check for footage from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. They imported native people from places like Morocco and created villages for the exhibition. Anything from the fair is likely to be native dancers instead Americans.

There was an Egyptian street and an Ouled Nail village with native dancers. But there was one (the Moorish Palace?) that used dance hall girls from Paris.

Originally Posted by najla86

Anyone know where the original sources are for these clips? I would love to do some archive digging and see what else can be turned up.

These clips are available through the US Library of Congress website as well. I downloaded them all from there last year sometime.

thanks for sharing! The chair in the teeth trick is over the top.

for the most part they don't seem vulgar, but that one labeled little Egypt is a bit..... well i think her breats have popped out from under her vest by the end of it and it was looped to emphasize pretty wide legged omis and pelvic thrusts.
i saw someone quote Jim Boz about those wide-legged pelvic circles "this is done by a different type of dancer, and they get paid more than we do" (not sure if he'd apply it to this, but i would ^_~)

the bits of a woman with big shoulder ruffles and finger cymbals in the same clip were a stark contrast.

Originally Posted by raqFariha

for the most part they don't seem vulgar, but that one labeled little Egypt is a bit..... well i think her breats have popped out from under her vest by the end of it and it was looped to emphasize pretty wide legged omis and pelvic thrusts.
i saw someone quote Jim Boz about those wide-legged pelvic circles "this is done by a different type of dancer, and they get paid more than we do" (not sure if he'd apply it to this, but i would ^_~)

the bits of a woman with big shoulder ruffles and finger cymbals in the same clip were a stark contrast.

It was the popped out breasts and wide legged omis and pelvic thrusts that I was referring to.

Originally Posted by kashmir

These were Edison's soft porn movies ..g.:

Lol!



On the Edison film website it mentions 2 dancers he filmed (don't think they are the ones in the above clipss tho)

the first clip...she spins on her heel, sufi style.

i saw someone quote Jim Boz about those wide-legged pelvic circles "this is done by a different type of dancer, and they get paid more than we do" (not sure if he'd apply it to this, but i would ^_~)

You can never generalise about these things - go check out Zizi Mustafa and her wide-legged omis. Awesome dancer. Very definitely a belly dancer.

Re: "Looking for Little Egypt"
Mahin has a review of the book on her blog today. I'm putting it on my list to read:
http://mahinbellydance.wordpress.com...they-told-you/

Originally Posted by zamora

the first clip...she spins on her heel, sufi style.

Originally Posted by OrganicArmor

Re: "Looking for Little Egypt"
Mahin has a review of the book on her blog today. I'm putting it on my list to read

There's a review of it on my web site too: http://www.shira.net/books/breviews/...ittleegypt.htm

All of my book reviews are listed at http://www.shira.net/books/sitemapb.htm

Okay, were those Isis wings in that second clip? Or am I just being gullible (again)?