Everything Belly Dance: History, Instruction, & More

Book List for Belly Dancers

Below is a reading list for belly dancers that I’ve compiled based on books I’ve enjoyed and reviews from my colleagues. I will be working my way through the books I have not read, adding more when I hear of them, and reviewing them when I finish. If you have a book you’d like to recommend, please add it as a comment!

Psychology of Dance by Jim Taylor & Ceci Taylor - Techniques & exercises to help dancers overcome mental obstacles. This one I finished and found to be really helpful in helping to set goals and manage insecurities and stage fright. Recommended to me by Nadira.

Serpent of the Nile: Women and Dance in the Arab World by Wendy Buonaventura history of female solo dancing in the Middle East.

Daughter of Egypt by Marjorie A. Franken – To purchase contact mafranken@earthlink.net – I just ordered by copy. I’ll let you know whow I like it.

The Voice of Egypt by Virginia Danielson Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century- Zulaika recommended this book to me, and I’m reading this now.

Badia Masabni, the Legend: Jewel of the Nile by Jodette – I cannot find a copy of this. Let me know if you have information.

Egyptian Music Appreciation by George Dimitri Sawa Comes with music CDs – Recommended by Sahra Saeeda and Zulaika

Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron- A 12-week program to help remove blocks that impede on your creativity

“A Trade Like Any Other:” Female Singers & Dancers in Egypt by Karin van Nieuwkerk

Blood Memory by Martha Graham – An autobiography about Martha Graham’s life as famous contemporary dancer. Sahra Saeeda recommended this one.

Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan by Janice Patricia Boddy - Book about the “zar” cult in northern Sudan

Arab Music and Dance an International Encyclopedia of Dance by R.J. Racy – Sahra Saeeda recommended all these books by R.J. Racy.

Improvisation, Ecstasy, and Performance Dynamics in Arabic Music, in In the Course of Performance. Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation by R.J. Racy

Music of the Arabian Desert in the Accounts of Early Western Travelers and Musiqá al-Badiyah fi Sijillat al-Rahhalah al- Ghardiyyin (translation by the author), al-Ma’thurat al-Sha’biyyah by R.J. Racy

For more info about the author, Mellilah, please visit www.mellilah.com

Tags: belly dance books, belly dancer reading list, dance books, historical dance books