"Belly dance" is a translation of the French term danse du ventre, which was coined in 1864 as a snide nickname for the Orientalist painting The Dance of the Almeh by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Movements found in belly dance
Many of the movements characteristic of belly dance can be grouped into the following categories
Percussive movements: Staccato movements, most commonly of the hips, used to punctuate the music or accent a beat. Typical movements in this group include hip drops, vertical hip rocks, outwards hip hits, hip lifts and hip twists. Percussive movements using other parts of the body can include lifts or drops of the ribcage and shoulder accents.
Fluid movements: Flowing, sinuous movements in which the body is in continuous motion, used to interpret melodic lines and lyrical sections in the music, or modulated to express complex instrumental improvisations.
Movements found in belly dance
Many of the movements characteristic of belly dance can be grouped into the following categories
Percussive movements: Staccato movements, most commonly of the hips, used to punctuate the music or accent a beat. Typical movements in this group include hip drops, vertical hip rocks, outwards hip hits, hip lifts and hip twists. Percussive movements using other parts of the body can include lifts or drops of the ribcage and shoulder accents.
Fluid movements: Flowing, sinuous movements in which the body is in continuous motion, used to interpret melodic lines and lyrical sections in the music, or modulated to express complex instrumental improvisations.
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