Asia and South America

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This post will be short because I don't know much about either of these regions, but I don't want to leave them out. In the future, I am hoping to have this re-written by some one with more expertise in the areas covered.

Asia

Starting with bellydance in Asia, obviously the silk road connected the areas raqs sharki originated in with many cultures in central Asia and beyond. There's a reason one of the abbreviations for the reason is SWANA, meaning South West Asia and North Africa. The dances that are folk dances in Central Asia don't typically look anything like bellydance, but remember that SWANA areas have a plethora of dances that also don't resemble raqs sharki. I have seen some hints that it is done socially at home in the Uyghir community, and have seen it in Uzbek music videos, although that might still be considered "exotic" for the production of the entertainment.

Traditional Uyghir dance

There are instruments that became popular in China and Japan after being imported and modified from Egyptian versions. For example, the Chinese erhu and the Japanese shamisen are both descended from Middle Eastern instruments.

As bellydance globalized, dancers all around the globe picked it up. In places where a SWANA diaspora did not exist in large enough numbers, folks learned from DVDs. As with everywhere else, it is changed by the culture around it. For example, in Japan the cultural norm expects that, even for hobbies, you'd go all in and try to perfect something you participate in, without the same expectations of monetization that we might feel in the US.

Here is a trailer for a Cantonese movie about 4 women who take a recreational bellydance class from a local Uygir woman, and how it improves their confidence and lives, as well as the preconceptions their families and community have.

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South America

Thanks to Liz for her help in researching this section!

Bellydance in Latin America likewise picks up local influences. Spanish dance, particularly flamenco, was influenced by Moorish and Arabic cultures, as well as Roma culture. These influences then traveled to Latin America during Spanish colonization. The Spanish dance influence then went on to influence Latin American dances (e.g., samba, tango, salsa, rumba, etc). You can read more about that in this paper in the American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. While you might see hip-hop fusions in the US, you would be more likely to see samba and salsa fusions here.

Like in the US, many countries in Latin America have sizable SWANA diaspora communities. You can read more about that here, an article about Tamalyn Dallal's experience as a dancer in Latin America in the 1980s. Dancers are popular at Arabic restaurants, in the same way as here. This video shows Brazilian dancer, Ju Maronato.

In general, there is an influence from the drama and posture of Latin Dance on the styling in these countries, although this is very much a generalization. Ezmeralda is a master class in allowing space in your dancing and undoing any "over dancing" habits one might have.

And of course, you can't talk about belly dance in Latin America without mentioning Shakira. Here's a recent news story about her home town erecting a statue honoring her. It briefly touches on the Syrian and Lebanese diaspora in Colombia. The soap opera "El Clon" was also a big driver bringing people into dance classes.