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Question:

What type of Bellydance would you describe these popular instructional DVDs as?


I really don't know much about belly dancing but I'm starting to get in to it.
I've bought these 3 sets of videos and was wondering what style of bellydance they were:

Jillina (Levels 1, 2, & 3)
Jayna (Bellydance for Romance)
Veena & Neena (Discover Bellydance)

I know the last one is Egyptian style, but what about the other two?


Also, what are the differences between all the styles? And what all is there? I've heard of Turkish, Gypsy, Tribal, Egyptian, and Indian styles. Anything else?

Thanks so much for clearing this up for me!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Jillina does mostly Egyptian Nighclub but occasionaly throws in a little American Nightclub.

Jayna I believe does a mix of Egyptian and American nightclub

Veena and Neena do mostly American Nightclub with a little Egyptian (and occasionally a little bit of bollywood flavor).

It can be very difficult to tell the difference in styles if you've not had much exposure to them. Even with exposure it can be difficult to tell without some explaining things. There are a lot of little things that give clues to the style of a dancer though. Unfortunately it's a vast subject that probably will never be answered well on answers. It has to do with many different aspects. For example Egyptian style is often small, contained and relaxed the dancer is sometimes seen doing movements that one might think of as drunken. Egyptian style uses a veil only for entrance and then discards it during the first few minutes of the performance. The dancer often dances in one place and does not cover much floor space, even traveling move are done around the small area but not far from it. Lebanese and Turkish styles use a bit larger hip movements and are often more staccatto. American style uses large movements focuses mostly on the beat and very little on melody, and utilizes large areas of stage. American also does extensive veil work and oftten utilizes props such as scimitars/swords, snakes, and even fans. The differences between all these styles could fill books though. There are many different styles of bellydance:
American Nightclub
American Tribal Style
Tribaret
Gothic
Fusion
Tribal Fusion
Pharonic
Egyptian Nightclub
Saaidi
Baladi
Ghawazee
Melaya Leff
Raqs Al-Assaya
Raqs Al-Shamadaan
Lebanese Nightclub
Turkish Nightclub
Turkish Rom
Moroccan Nightclub
Moroccan Shickat
Amazigh
Tunisian
Persian (largely based on arm movements)
Believe me the list goes on but I can't possibly list them all! Belly dancing is soooo much fun - i don't particulary like the Veena & Neena tapes. if you have a Myspace account there are many groups and very informative.