The Belly Dance

Origins & History of Belly Dance

Belly dancing is Believed to Have had a long history in the Middle East, but its origins acerca reliable evidence is scarce, and accounts of its history are Often highly speculative. Several Greek and Roman sources Juvenal and Martial describes Including dancers from Asia Minor and Spain using undulating Movements, playing castanets, and sinking to the floor with 'quivering thighs' That Are Certainly suggestive descriptions of the Movements That we today associate with belly dance.  Later, Particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, European Travellers in the Middle East: such as Edward Lane and Flaubert wrote Extensively of the dancers They saw there, treats including the awalim and Ghawazee of Egypt.