Belly Dancing as the Dance of Childbirth
Copyright 1976 by Barbara Brandt and Gigi
Groth Devitt
Belly dancing is an ancient art, many thousands
of years old, that celebrates the woman as the creator of life. Over the years
it has often been misused or vulgarized, leaving us today with the image of the
sultan and his harem, or the stripper. But these are misleading impressions.
When done in the true spirit, and viewed with understanding, belly dancing
affirms the power of womanhood and sisterhood.
Historically, belly dancing was done as part of
ancient Near Eastern religious rites that venerated motherhood and prepared
women for the efforts of childbirth. The dance was, and perhaps still is,
performed in the Near East during labor and birth. Women of the tribe dance
around the bedside of the pregnant woman to inspire her to imitate the movements
with her stomach and pelvic muscles, thus facilitating delivery and reducing
pain. (1)
The belly dance movements have also become the folk dance steps done by everyone
in the Middle East, men, women and children. One reason men began imitating
what was essentially a woman’s dance was as a form of sympathetic magic (in
other societies, for example, when a woman is pregnant, her husband goes
to bed to rest). It’s also interesting to note that some men in the Near East
believe that the Messiah will be reborn next time through a man, and they
practice belly dancing in order to be prepared for this event. (2)
In addition to being a folk dance, the dance
has also been developed into an art form by professional entertainers who wear
the costume with which we a re all familiar. This costume enhances the
important parts of the body – hips*, breasts*, and abdomen*. It has
similarities to costumes worn by dancers on wall paintings in ancient Egyptian
pyramids, and we like to think that it dates back to the very ancient times when
the women were the priestesses and leaders of society.
Today, many of the movements in belly dancing
have been rediscovered, and are being taught, in childbirth preparation
classes. We’d also like to point out that many of the childbirth movements and
exercises we’re going to show you are identical with sexual movements. For this
reason the dance has often been used – or misused- as a dance of seduction and
stimulation for a male audience.
Now we’d like to explain and demonstrate some
of the aspects of childbirth and childbirth preparation that are expressed in
belly dancing.
Let’s start with the breathing and abdominal
isolations. During labor, the woman’s breathing progresses from lower abdominal
breathing to chest breathing to panting. In belly dancing, these types of
breathing have been developed into movements known as lower abdominal isolation,
a diaphragm isolation, and a flutter. And when they are all put together, as in
the climax of labor, they become a belly roll.
The structure of labor is itself depicted by
belly dancing. The labor starts out with the woman trying to become as relaxed
as possible. Then contractions build up, stronger and faster, until at the
climax the woman is completely taken over, totally oblivious of the outside
world, lost in the intensity of her own contractions.
In several ways, belly dancing depicts this
process. It starts out with slow, relaxing, hypnotic movements, hand
movements, hip circles, hip figure-8s, torso undulations. The dancer, like
the woman in the childbirth preparation class, learns how to relax her whole
body and isolate and move only one set of muscles at a time, belly, shoulder,
and rib isolations. After a while, the dance builds up. The climax of the
dance is the drum solo, in which the dancer moves to the rhythmic beat of a drum
that builds to an intense peak until finally she is totally lost in herself.
An important part of the belly dance is the floorwork, getting to knees and backbend. The similarities between this
and childbirth are obvious. For one thing, it’s pretty hard to give birth
standing up. Symbolically, in the floorwork, the woman is close to the earth,
which is also seen as the giver of life. We should also point out two popular
floorwork positions. This one, lying on left side made famous by
Elizabeth Taylor in the movie “Cleopatra” is known in childbirth preparation
class as the “Sims position”. It is especially recommended for women in
delivery. Another popular floorwork position, getting on knees and backbend
is especially good for strengthening and stretching the abdomen and inside of
the thighs. When this position is combined with belly rolls, you again have a
depiction of the climax of the labor process, arched backbend with belly
rolls and flutters.
Another movement that will be familiar to
anyone who has attended childbirth preparation classes is the “pelvic rock”,
which strengthens and stretches the pelvic muscles, and supports the baby better
in the pelvic bowl while easing the strain on the mother’s back.
Hip and pelvic movements similar to the pelvic
rock are one of the most noticeable characteristics of the belly dance. You
will see these movements done in place, hip circles, forward hip figure –8s,
hip lifts, in traveling, step-together, hip-walk, and on the floor,
hip circles on knees, hip circles while leaning back from knees.
These are some of the movements you will see in
a belly dance. To make these various movements into an art form, they are
fancied up a lot, and other things are added purely for aesthetic reasons, to
make the performance more beautiful and exciting. For example, dancers often
perform with a veil and cymbals, two accessories which would get in the way if
you were actually giving birth.
REFERENCES
(1)
The Dance of Birth. Carolina Varga-Dinicu. Magazine for the
Young Doctor. October, 1974.
(2)
Belly Dancing and Childbirth. Carolina Varga-Dinicu. Sexology.
April, 1965
NOTE ON THE AUTHORS:
Barbara Brandt has been a professional belly dancer,
Bathsheba, and teacher. She has also done graduate work in Sociology at
Brandeis University, and the History and Structure of Ritual at the Harvard
Divinity School. She is also the founding mother of The Goddess Dancing.
Gigi Groth Devitt is the mother of two, and a member of
Birth Day, a group that teaches childbirth preparation especially for
women who want to have their babies at home. She has studied belly dancing.
WEBGODDESS’ NOTE: Barbara Brandt is also the founding
mother of The Goddess Dancing. This paper was originally part of
a lecture-demonstration given by the authors in 1976. All of the movements
italicized were physically demonstrated.
This article is reprinted with permission
of the authors.
|
