Belly Dance Among The Ouled Nail Tribe

Belly dance has a rich history dating back past the 18th century in the Middle East as an ancient folk dance. From 1800 to 1850, the Romantic era significantly contributed to the popularization and transmission of belly dance due to the portrayal of this dance in art and society. The United States officially adopted belly dance as a part of American culture in the late 19th century to the early 20th century mainly due to the Chicago World Fair and an influx of Arab immigrants. As time has passed, this dance has evolved into new forms that adopted techniques from other dance styles. Belly dancing has been a way to bring the community together throughout time, but has developed into a new social context that encompasses belly dance as a stigmatized

The exotic nature and representation of this tribe was interpreted out of the way in which these women conducted their life. There were few expectations for women to practice dance or prostitution but it was common and used as a way to gain fortune to bring back home in order for them to later seek marriage and settle down into a traditional lifestyle. This sexual freedom of women was a form of liberation and power. Although, this abruptly changed when they Ouled Nail tribe came in contact with western culture as the French began considering these women to be subhuman and “the moralistic tyranny of the social purity era inspired French officials to classify them as prostitutes” (McNeill). Not only did the classification as prostitutes stem from their sexual acts, the movements found in their dance had an extreme influence for their early objectification. Movements of their hips and shimmies of their chest not only implied a desire for sex but it was also interpreted as women objectifying their

Belly dance in the Middle East took place as a defining component of the culture found in the Ottoman Empire and was influenced by dance forms from continents across the globe including North Africa. This connection between the Ottoman Empire and North Africa could have been the possible source of the migration of belly dance that from Algeria. In the Ottoman Empire, both females and males participated and contributed as scholars argues that “these dances have been part of fertility and life-cycle celebrations, funerals, social gatherings, and religious rituals to connect with the divine”(Kraus 3). Belly dancing in the Middle East proceeded to be take place at social events, celebrations, and could be performed by anyone. Even though women and men both took part in the social and traditional aspect of this dance, it became stigmatized to be a professional dancer due to the belief that it was not respectable for female dancers displaying their bodies in