There were a few recent threads on bellydancing. I have seen this ancient art form performed several times-usually in Morrocan restaurants. Usually, the dance is quite sensuous, but the dancers are very modestly clothed. I mentioned this to one of my friends (from Morocco), and he said that it is possible to see versions of the bellydance with are quite a bit more risque-according to him, there is one version where the dance winds up wearing nothing more than a string of pearls.
So-anybody know where to find (in the USA), some really erotic bellydancing?:eek:
Well, if you find a naked fat man wearing nothing but pearls whose belly shakes and ripples from the dunlap to the teats “erotic”, I might be able to arrange something… :eek: 
critter42
Hmm I missed those threads …I’ll have to go back and find them. But to answer your question. Bellydance is not an EROTIC dance form. Many of us in the bellydance community prefer to call it Danse Orientale, middle eastern dance, or Oriental dance since ‘Bellydance’ conjures up Hootchie-cootchie girls or strippers in some people’s minds. Bellydancers are not strippers.
Bellydance is an old artform which celebrates woman’s fertility and sensuality. (I’m not meaning to exclude male bellydancers). Many of the moves are centred in the abdomen and hips - in the centre of our fertility.
From a costuming perspective, the more traditional costumes are more covered. The coin belt and bra and other parts of the cabaret costume are American/Hollywood inventions. (As is the jewel in the bellybutton - the Hays censors in Hollywood didn’t like girls with their navels showing so they stuck a jewel in it).
In the late 1800/early 1900, Europe and America were fascinated with the Orient. During the Chicago World fair of 1893, (covered up) middle eastern dancers, notably Little Egypt, made quite a sensation with their torso movements. Hollywood and the Burlesque scene picked it up and developed the Hootchie Kootchie girl and the stereotype of bellydance. Hollywood and american nightclubs developed the cabaret bellydance costume.
The middle eastern dancers in the middle east started wearing some of the cabaret costumes as well. The amount of coverage often varies with the dance and with the country eg we wear caftan like things in many Egyptian folkdances. Beledi dresses are quite common too. Turkish bellydance is most notorious for the skimpy costuming but I believe that that is changing a little now. In Egypt, you can’t have your belly uncovered (it is an arrestable offence as are floor moves) - a body stocking will do fine. (But with my Egyptian costumes, I leave my belly uncovered).
Most Bellydance groups have codes of conduct prohibiting lewd movements, sexual come-ons to an audience member (we flirt with the whole audience), or touching dancers.
So at the risk of being snarky, if you want EROTIC dancing, go to a strip club. By the way, none of the dancers I’ve danced with are strippers.
For more info, including some more academic papers, here are some weblinks:
http://www.shira.net/about.htm
http://www.arab-esque.org/
While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. That is why I dance." -Hans Bos