Mashup Belly Dance Open 126

The term "belly dance" is a translation of the French term "danse du ventre", which was applied to the dance in the Victorian era, and probably originally referred to the Arabic tribe Ouled Nail dancers of Algeria, whose dance used more abdominal movements than the dances described today as "belly dance". It is something of a misnomer, as every part of the body is involved in the dance; the most featured body part is usually the hips.

In Arabic, the dance is known as "Raqs Sharqi" ("Eastern Dance") or "Raqs Beledi" ("Country Dance" or "Folk Dance").

Dalilah while filming Keyf Ansak in Cairo, 1957.
Belly dance is primarily a torso-driven dance, with an emphasis on articulations of the hips.[2] Unlike many Western dance forms, the focus of the dance is on relaxed, natural isolations of the torso muscles, rather than on movements of the limbs through space. Although some of these isolations appear superficially similar to the isolations used in jazz ballet, they are sometimes driven differently and have a different feeling or emphasis.

In common with most folk dances, there is no universally codified naming scheme for belly dance movements.[3] Some dancers and dance schools have developed their own naming schemes, but none of these is universally recognised.