When I turned 17, I wanted just one thing for my birthday: belly-dancing classes. The dance's beauty, grace and creative costumes, along with its strong connection to Arabic music, made it a natural ...

Traditional belly dancing arose in Egypt in the early 20th century with the rise of evening cabarets and has been declining a century later owing to the lack of suitable public venues It is a late ...

Cairo (AFP) – As belly dancing gains popularity internationally, young Egyptian performers are working to restore its reputation at home, pushing back against decades of stigma to reclaim the dance as ...

Not only is the alarm of an "Islamist" clean sweep of Egypt making itself felt in the routine sensational reportage of the foreign media who have been ramping up the notion of no bikinis, booze or ...

Egypt’s culture ministry on Thursday censored a song in a popular new film, which hit the box office last week, after Islamist groups filed lawsuits against its producer, claiming the song insulted ...

Giselle Rodríguez is the author of "Danza Oriental en Egipto", a Spanish-language book that traces the origins of oriental dance all the way back to the Pharaonic Egypt until today.

Egyptian entrepreneur and belly dancer Nada El Masriya. Photo by Dave Abreu. Nada El Masriya grew up in Cairo where music and dance played a big part in her everyday life. A vital part of Egyptian ...

The Islamization of Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood-backed regime of President Mohamed Morsi continues, with a Cairo court this weekend ordering a TV channel off the air that broadcasts belly dance ...

At a Cairo wedding hall, Russian belly dancer Anastasia Biserova shimmied to the dance floor in a bright, high-slit skirt and an elaborately sequined bra top. She swirled her diaphanous pink shawl and ...

Belly dancing in Egypt faces stigma despite growing global popularity and heritage value Safy Akef, linked to a dance legend, has never performed on stage in Egypt due to lack of respect Choreographer ...