The origin of Middle Eastern music and sance dates back some six thousand years to Mesopotamia with Egyptians, Phoenicians and Turks claiming it.

The dance was performed for a woman in labor by other women, with the exclusion of males. The dance served as a rhythmic soothing reminder for the woman to use her abdominal muscles to aid the birth process. At one time  it became a pagan temple dance throughout the regions of Turkey, Persia, Syria and Arabia.

The dance gradually became known to Europe as Danse Du Ventre and in 1893 was finally introduced in the New World when Little Egypt performed the abdominal or "Belly Dance" at the Chicago Worlds Fair.

In the United States, in the early part of the 20th century, vaudeville dancers mimicked the movement of the "Belly Dance" and fantasy costumes provided by the Victorian drawings of the Middle Eastern women in the harem, and were termed "Hoochie Coochie" dancer. In the early 1950's with many immigrants coming to the US, many ethnic communities such as, Arabic, Greek, and Lebanese in the major cities had their own nightclubs, and with those came the bellydancers.. The first dancers were Turkish. In the early 1960's and 1970's with the nightclubs flourishing, the club owners were willing to put any pretty girl in a costume and on the stage. In this era there were no "bellydance schools or lessons", the dancers learned by watching other dancers. In many clubs, the dancers had to sit on stage in their street clothes, never mingling with the customers, they sometimes learned to play the doumbek (drum) or tambourine. In the late 70's and early 80's there was an influx of Middle Easter dancers to America from touring folkloric dance troupes. In the last 15-20 years the Arabic and Egyptian dancers have influenced the American Bellydancer.

There are a few, other forms of physical art that so fully compliments a womans body and moods. Despite American cultural bias, there is no ideal age or body type for Bellydance. This is a womans dance; life experience adds depth and soul to ones movement. The only ideal is a strong body that can be cultivated by anyone at any time.

DeAnn of White Rain Recording
Sausan of the Grapeleaf Restaurant
Alyne Hazard of Celebration Productions
Dunia of Scarab Productions
Cassandra of Minneapolis
Jaleh of RaksJaleh