From "danse du ventre" to "belly dance"

[Afrit]

I think the first English translation with the Beardsley drawings was 1894. I think the "stomach dance" transation shows that danse du ventre must have been pretty common as a term for the dance in France at the time -- maybe it was due to the 1889 Exposition Universelle where Egyptian and Algerian dancers appeared in numbers in France for the first time and began dancing in other French venues afterwards. I wish I could go to France ...

Yes, but which dance? Algerian Ouled Nail is not raqs sharqi.

 

[shiradotnet]

Yes, but which dance? Algerian Ouled Nail is not raqs sharqi.

Well, this is a key point to understand: Europeans did not have the same sort of trained eye that we do. Nor did they necessarily understand or care that different geographic locations might have different indigenous dances. International travel would have been very difficult in that era, and many people would not have been in a position to afford it. From their perspective, everything was the exotic East, especially among those who didn't travel to more than one of these places and see the differences for themselves.

Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations were for the book form of Oscar Wilde's play "Salome". Obviously, the tale of Salome comes from the Bible, which means that the story took place in Palestine. But that didn't stop the creators of that book from applying a label that probably originally referred to the Ouled Nail to a made-up-by-Wilde "dance of the 7 veils". They just didn't care about factual accuracy.

 

[shiradotnet]

Some random thoughts:


In a 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon, the character portrayed by Minnie Mouse is referred to as a "shimmy dancer".

If I'm not mistaken, in the 1949 movie On the Town, Vera-Ellen's character is referred to as a "cooch" dancer.

The May 1953 issue of FotoRama Magazine had Samia Gamal on the cover, and referred to her as a "Belly Dancer". You can see it at this link: Foto-Rama May 1953 Cover Photo of Samia Gamal - tribe.net

In a 1987 interview with Scoop Magazine, Nadia Gamal said, "Je ne suis pas et ne serais jamais une danseuse de ventre." Translation: I am not, and never will be, a belly dancer." She much preferred the term "Oriental dance."

 

[Kharmine]

Nice stuff, Shira!

Yes, when you think of Europeans seeing Oriental dance for the first time, it must have been quite a novelty. European ladies had the torsos encased in disfiguring -- and immobilizing -- corsets through much of the 19th to early 20th century.

Someday I'll have to post these old postcards I have of the American entertainer Fanny Brice in a belly dancer costume for her first big hit -- performing to Irving Berlin's "Sadie Salome."