While Belly Dancing is now dominated by females, as you discovered in the blog post Male Belly Dancers: Men in a Woman’s World there is a long history of male dancers which continues today.
Physically, men are quite different from women – narrower hips, wider shoulders and chest – and while women’s hips move better from side to side, men’s hips move easier front to back. Some male belly dancers choose to work with the differences, while others practice the same movements as women.
Male costumes during the Ottoman Empire tended to be caftans. Nowadays, most male performers wear harem pants with a shirt and vest combination, or choose to be bare chested. Some are still happy to wear traditional clothes as you will see in today’s video clips.
Male oriental dancers often use props to enhance the dance for themselves and the audience. Veils are just as popular for men as for women, as are swords and canes.
The male stick dance is especially exciting to watch. Take a look at what I mean in this video of Egyptian dancer Tito performing with sticks:
Guys, if you want to belly dance and don’t know where to start, contact a local teacher and see whether they are prepared to include males in their classes. Ladies, if you have a male join your group, don’t feel threatened. Instead, think of the wonderful possibilities of learning this beautiful art together. Here’s another great video of Tito:
If you are a man interested in Belly Dancing (or a woman interested in teaching men to dance), you should check out this DVD…Learn the Art of Male Belly Dancing…
