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"Isn't That Like Stripping?" - Why They Ask - Page 3

© Shira

In this environment, the Orientalist art movement arose. Soon, writers such as Gustav Flaubert and artists such as Gérome were making trips to the southern and eastern Mediterranean region to study the locals and write about them or paint them. Some Orientalists were sincerely interested in learning about these other cultures, while others looked down their patronizing European noses at them. The diaries of European travelers from that era describe intensely racist views of the locals.

Both occupying colonial armies and Orientalist visitors sought local entertainment while there. They hired local musicians and dancers to perform for them, even though many didn't appreciate what they saw. They were both repelled and fascinated by the hip and abdominal movements that they saw in the local performers.

In letters home and diaries, they wrote about the scandalous behavior that passed as "dancing" in the Middle East and North Africa. This encouraged additional European travelers to visit the area and see for themselves.

In the early 20th century, nightclubs arose in Cairo and Beirut that catered to the Europeans. These featured entertainment consisting of the local music and dance forms. Dancers were often required to sit with the patrons before and after their shows, encouraging the men to buy them drinks. The local populations resented the owners of the clubs and the performers. It was forbidden under Islam for a woman to dance for non-family men, and dancing for foreigners was even more taboo. Locals were offended by the sleazy attitudes of many Europeans who patronized these businesses. In the 1950's, Egypt even passed a law forbidding women to perform floor work in Oriental dance shows.

By the middle of the 20th century, many nightclubs throughout the Middle East and North Africa offered "belly dancing" as entertainment. But instead of being the true Oriental dance that might be done in the homes or at family occasions such as weddings, these performances were specifically tailored to give foreigners what they were willing to pay money to see. The higher-class places did offer excellent music and dancing. But the seamier, cheaper clubs often featured scantily-clad women with minimal dance talent pandering to the tourist demands for exposed flesh.

There are many Americans who saw these less-than-savory representations of the dance form while traveling "over there" as tourists or while stationed there in the military. To these Americans, who went to the cheap, sleazy, sex-oriented shows, that is what "belly dancing" is like. Their minds were tainted by seeing something that did not truly represent what Oriental dance is about. They think they know what "belly dancing" is, even though what they saw was a made-for-tourists act.

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