Kharmine
New member
I decided to start a new thread on this for the interest of those of us who wonder about the term "belly dance" and when it came into general usage.
After going waaaaay back into as many books, newspaper and magazine articles, academic papers, essays, online archives, personal interviews etc, as I could find in the English language, I decided to share what I've found thus far. Mind you, I've looked for as much information as I can, pro and con, and this is all I can find, after checking, double-checking and getting as much verification as possible:
By the time of the Paris International Exposition of 1889, the term "danse du ventre" was in common usage in Europe, at least, and getting widespread attention because of the dancers from the French colonies and elsewhere who performed in the so-called "Algerian Village" (although they weren't all Algerian, some were definitely Ouled Nail, perhaps some were Egyptian ghawazee, others were described as Tunisian, Syrian, etc.)
There were many foreign visitors to this event, including U.S. citizens. The young entertainment manager Sol Bloom was so fascinated by the "Algerian Village" that he contracted to bring the troupe to the U.S. He used the term "danse du ventre" when he brought the group to the 1893 World's Fair and Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the newspapers quickly picked it up.
(In his 1948 memoirs, Bloom took no credit for how "danse du ventre" came to be translated into English as "belly dance;" he just says that when that happened the public immediately assumed it was something risque and he had a gold mine. He himself continued to call it "danse du ventre.")
The New York Times, one of the biggest-circulation U.S. newspapers ever, finally put a lot of its oldest editions online. Using the term "danse du ventre" and looking in the years 1851-1980 one can find a number of articles about dancers from the "Algerian Village" performing the "danse du ventre" in New York City as a sort of mini-recreation of the most popular acts of the Chicago fair. This was to be such a special event that President Cleveland was supposed to attend, if he could.
Three of the "Egyptian" (sometimes they're reported as Algerian or Syrian, too) dancers were actually arrested and fined for indecency at one point. They appear to have been the real dancers from the fair; they had the same names and their manager was also the manager of the "Street in Cairo" at the fair, a Mr. Delacroix.
There is no mention of "belly dancing" although some headlines refer to "the Midway dance." (The Midway Plaisance at the fair was the venue where the foreign dancing took place.) Very importantly, I found a short, disapproving NY Times editorial which I think exemplifies the most widespread period attitude toward at least some of the dancing.
You can find the whole piece online in the archives, but I will quote what I think is really significant here:
...We are aware also of the peculiar arguments used by some professed students of anthropology to explain their interest in this particular dance. They say it is a fairly accurate rendering of a ceremonial dance common among tribes of low development as apart of a rather vague and confused worship of the principle of fertility. The literal translation of the title of the dance partly explains this view of the subject..."
The dance was officially (as in all the advertising) billed at the event as "Danse Du Ventre." If any publication in the U.S. of that time could have gotten away with using the literal English translation of "danse du ventre" it would have been the very powerful New York Times.
But it couldn't even bring itself to say "dance of the stomach" -- which is why I doubt "belly dance" would have been in print intended for the general public for one New York minute.
There's no getting around it -- "danse du ventre" was the usual term used for some time in the U.S. It literally translates from the French as "dance of the stomach," and it's no mystery to see how someone of that period might give it an even then-racier twist as "belly dance." But if "belly dance" was used first used then (and there's no evidence that Sol Bloom lied or was mistaken in his memoirs), we'll have to assume that it would have been strictly as an "underground" use.
There is all kinds of precedent for an underground slang term that wouldn't be used openly, in general society. Generally, it's of a sexual nature -- for instance, f***k is an even older slang word that Americans used covertly since colonial times.
In all my research, the first time I find "belly dance" used in print it's in 1942. Time Magazine also has many of its oldest articles in online archives. There is a story called "While Cairo Fiddled" about what it was like in that city during WWII. It refers to a "famed and sexy belly-dancer" (note the hyphen) called Hekmet Fahmy. In 1947, there is a story about an American woman tried for murder in Havana who performs as a belly dancer (no hyphen) with the stage name "Satira." By the 1950s, when Samia Gamal visits the States, one sees more references to "belly dancer" and "belly dancing."
But right up until the 1970s, the most popular term used in the United States that took over from "danse du ventre" that I've found is "cooch dancing." Sometimes when referring to the raunchier burlesque and carnival cavorting it's called "the hootchie cootchie" (various spelling).
And I think I know about the moment that term became popular. In 1897, one of the many women who billed herself as "Little Egypt" after the Chicago fair, Ashea Wabe, came to perform in New York City. She is described in Donna Carlton's "Looking for Little Egypt," and she probably was one of the original Algerian dancers who first performed at the Paris Exposition. She was contracted to perform both in costume and without (as in the "altogether") for a gent named Seely who was hosting a fairly posh stag dinner. A disgruntled competitor blew the whistle, and the event was raided by the cops.
The subsequent indecency trial was a big media sensation. "Little Egypt" appeared with an interpreter but had enough French and English to testify without a lot of help. I have an original old copy of the New York World paper that reported the trial, and she is asked what sort of performance she did. She calls it " a leetle Oriental dance, monsieur, nothing much. A leetle pose like the Egyptian slave girl, you know?" and "the couchee couchee."
Well -- the "couchee couchee" (which may be from the French "hochequeue" meaning "to shake tail") took off like a surprised bunny. Pretty soon, the term is being used everywhere from early burlesque to carnival raunch dancers tight up to the 1970s when Time Magazine refers to the popularity of belly dancers in New York City as "the cooch terpers."
By about 1973, as more women take it up, it starts using "belly dancer."
So -- anyway, that's the timeline from "danse du ventre" to "belly dance" in the U.S. as near as I can establish. The archives are available to anyone who wants to look these references up. I know they're limited sources, but the best I could come up with, so far. Someday, I'll try to scan the New York World article (it's big and fragile). And if anyone wants more of my references, I'll be happy to oblige, although I think I've mentioned them elsewhere.
After going waaaaay back into as many books, newspaper and magazine articles, academic papers, essays, online archives, personal interviews etc, as I could find in the English language, I decided to share what I've found thus far. Mind you, I've looked for as much information as I can, pro and con, and this is all I can find, after checking, double-checking and getting as much verification as possible:
By the time of the Paris International Exposition of 1889, the term "danse du ventre" was in common usage in Europe, at least, and getting widespread attention because of the dancers from the French colonies and elsewhere who performed in the so-called "Algerian Village" (although they weren't all Algerian, some were definitely Ouled Nail, perhaps some were Egyptian ghawazee, others were described as Tunisian, Syrian, etc.)
There were many foreign visitors to this event, including U.S. citizens. The young entertainment manager Sol Bloom was so fascinated by the "Algerian Village" that he contracted to bring the troupe to the U.S. He used the term "danse du ventre" when he brought the group to the 1893 World's Fair and Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the newspapers quickly picked it up.
(In his 1948 memoirs, Bloom took no credit for how "danse du ventre" came to be translated into English as "belly dance;" he just says that when that happened the public immediately assumed it was something risque and he had a gold mine. He himself continued to call it "danse du ventre.")
The New York Times, one of the biggest-circulation U.S. newspapers ever, finally put a lot of its oldest editions online. Using the term "danse du ventre" and looking in the years 1851-1980 one can find a number of articles about dancers from the "Algerian Village" performing the "danse du ventre" in New York City as a sort of mini-recreation of the most popular acts of the Chicago fair. This was to be such a special event that President Cleveland was supposed to attend, if he could.
Three of the "Egyptian" (sometimes they're reported as Algerian or Syrian, too) dancers were actually arrested and fined for indecency at one point. They appear to have been the real dancers from the fair; they had the same names and their manager was also the manager of the "Street in Cairo" at the fair, a Mr. Delacroix.
There is no mention of "belly dancing" although some headlines refer to "the Midway dance." (The Midway Plaisance at the fair was the venue where the foreign dancing took place.) Very importantly, I found a short, disapproving NY Times editorial which I think exemplifies the most widespread period attitude toward at least some of the dancing.
You can find the whole piece online in the archives, but I will quote what I think is really significant here:
...We are aware also of the peculiar arguments used by some professed students of anthropology to explain their interest in this particular dance. They say it is a fairly accurate rendering of a ceremonial dance common among tribes of low development as apart of a rather vague and confused worship of the principle of fertility. The literal translation of the title of the dance partly explains this view of the subject..."
The dance was officially (as in all the advertising) billed at the event as "Danse Du Ventre." If any publication in the U.S. of that time could have gotten away with using the literal English translation of "danse du ventre" it would have been the very powerful New York Times.
But it couldn't even bring itself to say "dance of the stomach" -- which is why I doubt "belly dance" would have been in print intended for the general public for one New York minute.
There's no getting around it -- "danse du ventre" was the usual term used for some time in the U.S. It literally translates from the French as "dance of the stomach," and it's no mystery to see how someone of that period might give it an even then-racier twist as "belly dance." But if "belly dance" was used first used then (and there's no evidence that Sol Bloom lied or was mistaken in his memoirs), we'll have to assume that it would have been strictly as an "underground" use.
There is all kinds of precedent for an underground slang term that wouldn't be used openly, in general society. Generally, it's of a sexual nature -- for instance, f***k is an even older slang word that Americans used covertly since colonial times.
In all my research, the first time I find "belly dance" used in print it's in 1942. Time Magazine also has many of its oldest articles in online archives. There is a story called "While Cairo Fiddled" about what it was like in that city during WWII. It refers to a "famed and sexy belly-dancer" (note the hyphen) called Hekmet Fahmy. In 1947, there is a story about an American woman tried for murder in Havana who performs as a belly dancer (no hyphen) with the stage name "Satira." By the 1950s, when Samia Gamal visits the States, one sees more references to "belly dancer" and "belly dancing."
But right up until the 1970s, the most popular term used in the United States that took over from "danse du ventre" that I've found is "cooch dancing." Sometimes when referring to the raunchier burlesque and carnival cavorting it's called "the hootchie cootchie" (various spelling).
And I think I know about the moment that term became popular. In 1897, one of the many women who billed herself as "Little Egypt" after the Chicago fair, Ashea Wabe, came to perform in New York City. She is described in Donna Carlton's "Looking for Little Egypt," and she probably was one of the original Algerian dancers who first performed at the Paris Exposition. She was contracted to perform both in costume and without (as in the "altogether") for a gent named Seely who was hosting a fairly posh stag dinner. A disgruntled competitor blew the whistle, and the event was raided by the cops.
The subsequent indecency trial was a big media sensation. "Little Egypt" appeared with an interpreter but had enough French and English to testify without a lot of help. I have an original old copy of the New York World paper that reported the trial, and she is asked what sort of performance she did. She calls it " a leetle Oriental dance, monsieur, nothing much. A leetle pose like the Egyptian slave girl, you know?" and "the couchee couchee."
Well -- the "couchee couchee" (which may be from the French "hochequeue" meaning "to shake tail") took off like a surprised bunny. Pretty soon, the term is being used everywhere from early burlesque to carnival raunch dancers tight up to the 1970s when Time Magazine refers to the popularity of belly dancers in New York City as "the cooch terpers."
By about 1973, as more women take it up, it starts using "belly dancer."
So -- anyway, that's the timeline from "danse du ventre" to "belly dance" in the U.S. as near as I can establish. The archives are available to anyone who wants to look these references up. I know they're limited sources, but the best I could come up with, so far. Someday, I'll try to scan the New York World article (it's big and fragile). And if anyone wants more of my references, I'll be happy to oblige, although I think I've mentioned them elsewhere.
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