Belly Dance Stories
History and Origin of Belly Dance
Where did belly dance come from? The origin of the word ‘belly dance’ comes from the French Danse du ventre, which can be translated into “dance of the stomach”. Sol Bloom is said to have been the first one to use the English term belly dance, for the dancers of the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893. Belly dance is also often referred to as “oriental dance” and also sometimes raks sharqi. This is Arabic for “Dance of the east”. The term Dance "du ventre", from which belly dance originates. To be politically correct Belly Dance is a less used word and Oriental...