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 ...

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 ...

“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 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 part of their ...

It is 1:30 in the morning at the packed Al Rashid nightclub, and the scene is “Arabian Nights” crossed with Studio 54. A private nurse wearing an Islamic veil attends to a heavy-set Saudi man in robe ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...