Level One: Circle Unit, Class 3

Articles
One of the beautiful things about bellydance is it gives a place for women to have community. This piece is from the e-Zine Gilded Serpent written by Artemis about that, and the author sometimes comes to Ithaca to teach workshops on Turkish style.

Regional Highlight This unit, we're focusing on Egypt. These regional highlights are meant to give a general orientation, and really only scratch the surfface of the diversity of arts in the MENAHT/SWANA area (Middle East, North Africa, Helene, & Turkey/SouthWest Asia & North Africa).

The Sinai peninsula is sparsely populated by Bedouin folks. The Suez Canal brought workers from all over who created a music and dance tradition that is now uniquely Egyptian

Red Sea coasts both are home to different Bedouin groups with unique dances as well, including the Beja people, who move their herds from Sudan and Eritrea into the area.

---

---

The movements of dance in Bombuteya mimic the work on the canal: pulling in fishing nets, rowing a boat, and so on. The songs are playful.

Rachid is one of my favorite male dancers in the Modern Egyptian style, and his costumes are as on point as his dancing and expression.

Mona Said is from the Sinai area, and one of the most famous dancers of the 60s/70s/80s era.