When I turned 17, I wanted just one thing for my birthday: belly-dancing classes. The dance's beauty, grace and creative costumes, along with its strong connection to Arabic music, made it a natural ...

As belly dancing gains popularity internationally, young Egyptian performers are working to restore its reputation at home, pushing back against decades of stigma to reclaim the dance as part of their ...

Hundreds of women of all nationalities sway their hips and twirl in time to the beat of a drum in a hotel ballroom by the pyramids in Cairo. Belly dancing is said to have been practised in Egypt since ...

CAIRO — Sequins sparkled and beads jangled in a Cairo ballroom as students at a belly dance workshop imitated the teacher’s undulations. “Step, twist, sit, shimmy, up!” came the commands, and their ...

Giselle Rodríguez is the author of "Danza Oriental en Egipto", a Spanish-language book that traces the origins of oriental dance all the way back to the Pharaonic Egypt until today.

Imagine that you are sitting by the side of the Nile River. Passionate music arises and you see a mysteriouss woman draped in veils, a low-waisted gauze skirt and shiny gold beads baring her midriff.

Traditional belly dancing arose in Egypt in the early 20th century with the rise of evening cabarets and has been declining a century later owing to the lack of suitable public venues It is a late ...

It is 1:30 in the morning at the packed Al Rashid nightclub, and the scene is “Arabian Nights” crossed with Studio 54. A private nurse wearing an Islamic veil attends to a heavy-set Saudi man in robe ...

As belly dancing gains popularity internationally, young Egyptian performers are working to restore its reputation at home, pushing back against decades of stigma to reclaim the dance as part of their ...

Traditional belly dancing arose in Egypt in the early 20th century with the rise of evening cabarets and has been declining a century later owing to the lack of suitable public venues It is a late ...

Belly dancing in Egypt faces stigma despite growing global popularity and heritage value Safy Akef, linked to a dance legend, has never performed on stage in Egypt due to lack of respect Choreographer ...