Belly dancing is known as “Orayantal dansi” in Turkish and “Raqs Sharqi” in Arabic. Westerners sometimes called and named it “the dance of the east.” The word belly dance is nonsensicality as all parts of the body are involved and concerned in the dance; in raqs sharqi, the most featured part of a belly dancer’s body is her hips. Belly dance takes various different forms depending on country and region; both in attire and dance style; and new styles have been made-up in the West as its popularity has spread internationally. Belly dancing is one of the great ways to fortify your body while you learn an astonishing dance form that has been around for hundreds of years. Many people are anxious to take up belly dance for a range of reasons. Some people presume that they are bad dancers, other think that they don’t have the right body to perform belly dancing, and still more people are fearful of the negative associations attached to belly dancers.
Belly Dance is also an effectual aerobic exercise. Practicing belly dancing on a regular basis burns calories, helping dancers control body weight, and improves cardiovascular fitness, which in turn prevents respiratory complications, as well as heart disease. It works as a strength-and-conditioning exercise for several muscles, such as the quadriceps and hamstrings, and all the muscles of the shoulder, arm and wrist involved in arm movements. This type of dance also strengthens the muscles of the torso: the abdominal, pelvic, lumbar and gluteus muscles, which in turn improve the dancer’s stance. It is well known that good posture is the first step for a chain of many physiological paybacks for the human body. Belly dancing also improves both cardiovascular robustness and posture. Another advantage of belly dancing is related to digestion. The swaying of hips and belly, circling, and rolling movements of the abdomen and torso could actually help in digesting foods. Thus, belly dancing can help in curing digestive illness, including indigestion.
Shakira (the belly dancer) turned this perception and has brought this type of dance into popular attention in the past 8 years. Her creativity in mixing of belly dance, vocals, and songwriting have made her one of the most booming artists of this new century.
