A Brief History of Oriental Dans in the U. S

The beautiful, skillful dance better known as bellydance is growing in popularity thanks to such tours as the Belly Dance Superstars shows and the prolific making of performance and instructional DVDs. Sometimes it is called Middle Eastern dance, which is more accurate, but not quite. It is performed indigenously all over the Orient, not just in the Middle East. Therefore, its proper nomenclature is Oriental Dans. In Arabic, it is called Raqs Sharqi.

Oriental Dans is as old as mankind it seems. The Biblical story of Salome and the beheading of John the Baptist illustrates this, especially since the dance is treated in stories such as these as a long established custom. The history of the dance is murky and mostly subject to conjecture and speculation as a result. It is believed that it originated in India.

It is believed that Oriental Dans was first brought to the attention of the larger American population at the Chicago World Fair in 1893 where those who attended were fascinated (and scandalized) by a dancer called Little Egypt, although no such dancer was ever officially recorded as having performed at the event. This began a fascination in the popular culture at the time of "the exotic Orient".

More than likely, the dance existed in America as long as the ethnic groups from which it originated also existed in the country. Although some were local, there was a long tradition of hiring dancers from countries such as Turkey to work in local cafes and clubs that served these ethnic groups where the dance would have been the prefered entertainment. This is because in some of its mother countries dancers had come to be viewed as "women of shame". Thus, their counterparts in America tried to pass off as singers and often denied knowing the dance and some did not learn it at all. Unfortunately, this view persists in some countries today where popular opinions are sometimes more extreme and conservative.