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 ...

CAIRO -- 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 no ...

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 ...

An Italian belly dancer has been arrested and jailed in Egypt for outraging public decency with her saucy performances. Linda Martino, 32, was held after videos of her scantily clad shows were spotted ...

How the Saudi influence is transforming Egyptian society. CAIRO, Egypt, June 20, 2008 — -- It was almost midnight at the five-star-hotel overlooking the Nile, but it was far from bedtime. The ...

She is likely to remain in jail for at least two more weeks. A belly dancer was detained in Egypt for "using seductive techniques" in her dance videos posted to Instagram. Sohila Tarek Hassan Haggag, ...

CAIRO -- Egypt's top religious body demanded Wednesday that a new belly-dancing TV show be suspended for "corrupting morals" and serving "extremists" who could use it as a pretext to depict Egyptian ...

'Al-Raqisa' — or 'The Dancer — was suspended after just one episode By Alex Ritman The Square Berlin Film Festival - H 2014 Reality shows rarely fall short when it comes to controversy, but they don’t ...

As a dance that was created by women of color, is amenable to a wide diversity of bodies, and is often described by its disciples as "empowering" and "liberating" one would think that "belly dance" is ...

Belly dancing in Egypt faces stigma despite growing global popularity and heritage value Safy Akef, linked to a dance legend, has never performed on stage in Egypt due to lack of respect Choreographer ...