Belly Dancing Jewellery

Belly dancing jewellery can make a belly dancing outfit complete. When you see a dancer on stage she represents grace, elegance and beauty. There are many different styles and types of jewellery that belly dancers wear. Necklaces, anklets, headbands, earrings and bracelets can all be pieced together to make a belly dancer look elegant and beautiful. In this article, we will explore the different types of jewellery that belly dancers wear.

The three main colours of jewellery are gold, silver and bronze, gold and silver being the most popular options. Jewellery should be picked out to match the belly dancers coins on the hip scarf and belly dancing top.

Necklaces: Belly dancing necklaces are mainly big, bold, chunky and sparkly. Some necklaces are strictly made out of coins to match perfectly with a hip scarf. A lot of necklaces are silver or gold with a little colour to them. Sometimes gems and stones are added to the necklace for colour. Turquoise is a popular colour and stone used. Some necklaces can be a foot long and others like chokers fit right around the entire neck. Often times, many necklaces will be worn; one red and two silver to give a chunkier and fuller look.

Anklets: Anklets add a nice touch to a belly dancing outfit. Anklets are like bracelets for ankles. Many belly dancers will wear a sting of coins around their ankles for the extra sound the coins make. If your feet are showing, an anklet is a great accessory.

Headpieces are like the necklaces but they are made to fit on the head, almost like a flat tiara. There are headpieces that have coins dangling over the forehead and some simpler styles with thin medallions and silver chains.

Earrings: Belly dancing earrings can also be made up of silver or gold coins. Many earrings are long and heavy. The longer earrings are called chandelier earrings. Tribal style belly dancers wear feathered earrings or Goth styled earrings. When the earrings match the necklace it really draws attention to the face of the dancer.

Bracelets: Many belly dancing bracelets attach to a ring and cover the whole hand and wrist. Sometimes these are referred to as slave chain rings. Sometimes Bengals are worn. Bengals are a series of smaller thin bracelets and a dancer will wear about 10-20 of them on their wrist. Wide silver or gold bracelets and cuffs are also worn.

Armbands: Armbands are worn above the elbow and upper arm. Sometimes they will match the costume perfectly with the colour of material and the coins. Other styles of armbands are silver cobras or simple medallions. Armbands are also called armlets.

Belly dancing jewellery comes in all forms and covers the head to toe of the dancer. Wearing necklaces, anklets, headpieces, earrings, bracelets and armbands can really make an outfit shine and look fancy and rich. The goal of a belly dancer is to keep everyone's eye on her while she's dancing. With lavish jewellery, it's much easier to achieve that goal.

Lark Begin

Original article

A History of Belly Dance

The dancing we have come to know as 'belly dancing' arises from the French 'danse du ventre' meaning "dance of the stomach". This term was applied in the Victorian era but is somewhat inaccurate seeing as the dance incorporates every part of the body. Other terms include, raks sharqi which is Arabic for "dance of the east" and "oriental" or "eastern" dance.

Culturally, belly dancing has its origins in early Arab tribal religious cultures that existed around 6000 years ago. The dance was performed as an offering to the goddess of fertility. Pagan peoples of the day worshipped female gods and greatly honoured the divine feminine and the capacity of females to bring forth life. Today in the Middle East, various movements from belly dance are used to assist labour. The deliberate motions of muscle contractions and spasms are very similar to the body's natural movements during childbirth.

Geographically, it has its origins in Mesopotamia. It is thought that gypsies spread the dance through their travels to North Africa.The dance then moved east to India and west to Italy and Spain. Different cultural influences can be clearly seen in belly dance movements along with differing costume styles.

In the West, the Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries popularised belly dancing. They came from the Middle East to perform at World's Fairs or Expos held in various countries thus spreading this form of dance. The terms "oriental" or "eastern" dance were first coined at this time.

Egyptian dancers were influenced by various outside cultural influences such as ballet troops from Russia and European colonials who brought marching bands.

Gypsies travelling from India would perform in the streets and theatres to support themselves. From India they moved to Afghanistan and Persia moving on to Turkey and then to Europe. Some when south to Egypt and North Africa.

This art form is now practised in many countries worldwide including American, Canada, UK and Ireland, Australia and Asia as well as the obvious Egypt and Turkey and surrounding regions. Westerners often consider Egypt to be the seat of belly dancing but contrary to popular belief, belly dancers in Egypt are not well regarded and it is not seen as a respectable profession. Dancers are restricted to certain acceptable movements, there is no floor work and it is not allowed on television. Most belly dancers in Egypt are foreigners who dance for tourists.

Historically in Egypt however, gypsy dancers known as the ghawanzee danced for the public with music and swords, candles, veils and sticks. Dancers where frowned upon by the authorities but tolerated as they taxed the dancers profits. However, public belly dancing was finally banned in Cairo in 1834 due to religious based complaints. The ban was lifted but the dance was only allowed in theatres and thus the Egyptian cabaret-style was born.

However, it has become so popular in the West that you will find classes in almost every town and city, from Birmingham, UK to Birmingham, Alabama, USA, as well as the Middle East.

Debbie Williams invites you to try a on-line belly dance class for free!! http://www.birminghambellydance.co.uk/drum_solo_number_2.htm

Original article

The Origins and the History of Belly Dance

Belly Dance is a Western term for a type of dance that originated in North Africa and the Middle East, involving the forceful and sustained movement of the hips and other parts of the body. It might also be referred to as Middle Eastern or Arabic dance, or by the Greco-Turkish name ciftetelli.

Interestingly, the belly doesn't actually play a major part in the performance of the dance. It is the movement of the hips, the lower waist and the upper body that compels the belly to thrust violently, but the shape and size of the dancer's belly is generally not important.

Belly dance is most typically performed by a lone female as a form of entertainment in restaurants and at specific functions such as weddings and parties. Sometimes though it is performed as a group, and in some instances by men.

The dance has its origins in ancient Arab tribal cultures and made its way across Western Europe during the Romantic period of the 18th and 19th centuries. Its essentially spontaneous nature has led it to be hailed as a possible forerunner of modern dancing.

It was not however universally welcomed in Europe or in the USA, where it was viewed in some quarters as immodest and provocative. This was particularly so in the repressive environment of Victorian England. And yet in spite of this Middle Eastern and North African dancers entertained at all the major World Trade Fairs during this period, fully dressed but still displaying the movements that remained so frowned upon in sections of society at that time.

Nevertheless the essence of the Trade Fairs was for the Great Powers to parade the allure and exotica of their respective empires, and there was nothing which more epitomised the spirit and "feel" of North Africa and of the Arab world than the belly dancer.

In today's more relaxed environment the art of belly dancing is popular everywhere around the world. The style of dance is not identical from one place to the next and different variants have emerged. Today one might find a Russian belly dancer performing a local routine, or somebody else performing conspicuously Arabic dance movements.

What unites them all is the wonderful exotic costumes that they invariably wear, and which brighten up any function at which they are in evidence.

Belly dancers are much in demand at weddings, corporate events, celebrations and parties and are usually regarded as a safe form of family-friendly entertainment. Westerners are themselves able to learn belly dancing at classes that operate from school halls and local community centres.

Mark Richards is a professional writer working for The Middle Man, a business promotion service using its experience and expert knowledge of marketing strategy to generate important new business for its clients at a surprisingly low cost.

Original article

Learn Belly Dance Moves The Right Way

If you want to get a trim figure and enjoy yourself at the same time you can learn belly dance movements which will give you a low impact workout and develop a skill at the same time.

Learning how to dance the Egyptian way is not all that hard but some proper instruction will help you progress faster and this in turn will keep you going.

Belly dancing is a great workout device and will enhance your suppleness and flexibility as well as increasing your stamina.

The dance of the belly will also tone all parts of your body whilst retaining your womanly curves. Belly dancing is all about femininity and seduction and so it will make you curvaceous and sexy!

I would suggest that learning how to dance belly style is ideally done under the watchful eye of a professional dancing instructor at a formal class but this may not be convenient for every body for one reason or another.

The next level down is to invest in an online belly dancing course which you can follow at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home.

A good dancing instruction course will give you all the techniques required and a full explanation of what you should be doing ad how you should be doing it.

Most online course are delivered as a series of emails with videos attached. These type of courses allow you to work through each stage before going on to the next one so you learn to dance methodically and sensibly.

If an online course doesn't appeal to you then you could purchase one of the many 'Learn Belly Dance' DVDs that are available.

This is how I started out, practising on my own until I felt comfortable enough to go to an actual class. I must say, I need not have worried because the class I attended was fun and friendly and we were all novices together.

Another free way to learn dance movements is to head over to YouTube.com. There are thousands of belly videos on the site and it's all free.

The drawback with this method is that it is unstructured and could end up confusing you or even causing you injury.

I will finish this article with only one piece of advice to any budding belly dancers and that is to go for it. Belly dancing is fun, sexy and a fabulous way to attain a great figure.

Try a belly dancing DVD You can also find some fun and sexy belly dancer costumes to give your performance that extra sparkle!

Original article