by Yzzy Quarker

Created on: August 29, 2008   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

It was the first day of my history with belly dancing. Mesmerized by the music, intoxicated by the costumes, and enchanted by the movements of those fantastic dancers, I sat in the blazing San Fernando Valley sun unable to pull my eyes from the stage. The encouraging ululations (zaghareet) of the dancers made me wonder how they could make that crazy noise. There, in that moment, I vowed that someday I would learn this wonderful dance; I would learn to make that crazy noise.

A couple of years and one baby later a friend who knew of my desire called to say Long Beach City College was offering a belly dance class. She proposed that if I would watch her daughter while she registered for some classes she would register me for the belly dance class. I figured even a class at the local city college was better than no class at all and agreed to the plan.

The first day of class our blond haired, blue eyed, totally non-belly-looking instructor introduced herself as Feiruz Aram. She was the exact opposite of what I had envisioned as a belly dancer so I was not expecting much. To my great pleasure I soon found out that fate had dealt me the equivalent of a royal flush. Feiruz did the required orientation and paperwork then got up on the elevated stage to show us what we would be learning in the upcoming semester.

To say she danced is like saying Mohammed Ali boxed. She owned the stage. I stood with my mouth agape, unblinking, as she performed moves that up until that moment I did not know the human body could execute.

But I have gotten ahead of myself since the history of belly dance in the Western world started almost a century before I met Feiruz.

Considered the oldest dance in the world it finally made it to North America in 1893 when Little Egypt belly danced at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. The love affair with this sensual, expressive dance has continued ever since, even when it was considered a mistress or worse.

Exotic and mysterious, North America had never seen anything like it and while the puritanical views of Victorian America were not ready for it, vaudeville was quick to realize it was a great crowd draw. The living art form of belly dancing became hoochie-coochie to the Western world. For decades the dance languished in relative obscurity until it began to gain some respectability when the American modern dance movement began including eastern dance movements in their performances and classes. This inclusion made many of the dance steps more

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