Does belly dance have anything to do with worshipping ancient goddesses? If so, isn’t it against religion, since those ones were pagans gods?…

When you hear about connections between belly dance and worshipping ancient gods, first of all, ask yourself where this kind of information comes from? Is it a reliable source of academic peer-reviewed journal, or is it a blog post from an anonymous writer? Or maybe it’s a title/premise on the advertising flyer for a show or dance class?

Do you think that a random blog post is really a reliable source for such conclusions? It’s definitely a cool ‘market-selling’ legend that appeals to many people. It creates that high ’spiritual’ & exotic element for the sake of promotion, that in my opinion is not necessary at all because, even without it, belly dance is such a powerful tool for healing not only your body, but your mind and soul too.

Anyway do we have any actual proof of such statements? Has anyone indeed discovered how they danced in the ancient temples, or does it remain to be a product of our imagination till these days?

Our dear guest Prof Dr Khalil Hassan has expressed an interesting opinion during the podcast interview that both belly dance and ancient temple dances had the same origin. And this origin was regional folklore dances. As a result there may be some similarities in the movement vocabulary.

I don’t know about worshipping dances... again, any actual proof of how they danced except our interpretations of the old rare paintings? But I agree on the point that belly dance is based on the Middle Eastern folklore dances which mainly had social and entertaining nature, and sometimes celebratory elements towards the nature.

If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to like and share! :)

Author: Iana Komarnytska
Photographer: Pedro Bonatto