
TURKISH TAFFY BELLY DANCERS
Performance for all special
occasions
Women
have come a long way since the days when veiled, enslaved
harem girls performed the ritualistic writhe and shimmy
of the belly dance.
Referred to as Raks Sharqi, Dance du Ventre or Belly
Dance it has endured since 25,000 B.C. , with the ancient
dances of India, Africa, Polynesia and South East Asia showing
resemblance to belly dance. In the 13th century
A.D., a gypsy-like people called the Ghawazee left their
homeland of India and populated Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon.
On the shores of the Mediterranean they divided, moving
north into Turkey and Greece, and south into Egypt, north
Africa and Spain. With them came the dance.
For western
women, it is the music that draws them to the dance.
The music inspires certain movements: a plaintive
flute solo makes a dancer unwind her veil and twirl
it around herself; an intense drum solo sets her hips shaking;
a rhythmic tapping of the tambourine makes her hips move
sharply up and down.
In our
part of the world, the dance is constantly gaining the acceptance
and respect it deserves. This is being achieved by
the increasing number of dancers who present it as the art
form it is. It is the dance of the earth and
of our sisters. It is an expression of our souls.
Set your mind to
dreaming of far away places and exotic cultures. Earth
Dancing is the perfect vehicle to open a new door on how to
view the female body, what it can express, and the power that
real feminine sensuality holds.