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"Isn't That Like Stripping?" - Why They Ask

© Shira

When you discuss your interest in belly dancing with someone from North America, the conversation often goes something like this:

You: "I'm a belly dancer."

Other Person: "Belly dancing - isn't that something like stripping?"

I think we're all tired of this question, and of the attitudes that go with it. We've been denied opportunities to perform in community festivals, arts events, and other occasions because "respectable" venues don't want "that kind of thing".

Many of us then rush to correct people's misconceptions. We talk about the fact that we provide "wholesome entertainment" that is "suitable for the whole family". To prove our "respectability", we clothe ourselves in so many layers of pantaloons, skirts, body stockings, tunics, vests, Ghawazee jackets, turbans, and veils that it takes an hour just to get dressed! We choose coins and tassels over beads and sequins to distance ourselves from the stripper-esque image. We pontificate to people about the historical birth ritual origins of the dance. We tell people over and over and over again that belly dancing is in no way connected to stripping until we're sick of hearing ourselves say it!

And still we're denied performance opportunities. Still, people ask us that annoying question.

Just where did that linkage to stripping come from? Why do people think they're related? Arm yourself with the facts, so you can discuss this intelligently with both your fellow dancers and The General Public. The better you understand why people think belly dancing is linked to stripping, the better equipped you'll be to address these misconceptions and promote this dance form's acceptance in your own community.

The First Belly Dancing Scandal In North America

It was the 1890's. Respectable women wore corsets and long, flowing skirts that covered their shapely ankles. Queen Victoria reigned in England. Women in the U.S. did not yet have the right to vote. People put lacy covers over their table legs to avoid any hint of indecent behavior by their furniture. The U.S. Civil War had ended only 30 years earlier, and the country had celebrated its centennial only 20 years earlier.

U.S. attitudes toward people in show business were very, very different then, compared with what they are today. It was considered a major scandal if a member of someone's family became "one of those show business people" on the Vaudeville circuit or ran away to join the circus. Entertainers were a social class that "decent, church-going" people felt were beneath them.

Vaudeville was a raucous form of entertainment that "common people" enjoyed, but "decent people" condemned. A typical show consisted of a melodrama, ribald skits, and various song and dance numbers. White people put on black make-up known as "blackface" and did song & dance performances mocking the culture of former slaves. Popular songs were about love and romance.