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 ...

As the traditional dance is increasingly associated with nightclub culture, Amie Sultan seeks to change perceptions of the artform and those who perform it As a trickle of tourists slowly returns to ...

“Here, there is a growing trend to invite foreign belly dancers to weddings, nightclubs and other events.” At a Cairo wedding hall, Russian belly dancer Anastasia Biserova shimmied to the dance floor ...

As a trickle of tourists slowly returns to Egypt, the floating nightclubs along the Nile are back in business. And belly dancers are once again in high demand. The glitzy late-night shows attract ...

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.

While some prominent Arab and Turkish belly dancers plan to take part in upcoming festival in Eilat, others condemn idea as treasonous given Israel's ongoing abuse, dispossession of Palestinian people ...

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egypt's foreign belly dancers have been given their marching orders. The government says it wants to protect homegrown practitioners of the seductive Middle Eastern dance form and is ...

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 ...

A Mexican dancer performs during a Cairo festival -- foreign belly dancers have dominated the Egyptian scene in recent years AFP / PATRICK BAZ At a Cairo wedding hall, Russian belly dancer Anastasia ...