UCLA

In this thesis I argue that bellydance serves as a site for practitioners to transform their sense of self, transgress social boundaries, and build community, but that this transformative potential is compromised when the Orientalist assumptions that have historically been embedded in the practice are not recognized or challenged. I begin by highlighting particularly salient moments in Egyptian and American bellydance history from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, emphasizing the intercultural exchange and sociopolitical factors at play during the form's transnational development. I then examine the choreographic and rhetorical strategies American bellydancers since the 1960s have employed in their attempts to access the transformative and transgressive potential of the dance. I show that these strategies have given rise to new genres that either uphold or combat the tendency in bellydance performance to represent essentialized notions of gender and ethnicity, ultimately revealing the form as a heterogeneous complex of practices that grows more self-reflexive and critical throughout its various formations. Through choreographic analysis of foundational bellydance movement vocabulary and the organizational structures of Improvisational Tribal Style I explore how engaging with the physical practice of bellydance can allow people to expand their sense of self beyond societally-imposed boundaries and to form inter-subjective community. I conclude by raising concerns about issues of representation in American bellydance, questioning the discourse of authenticity, and offering some considerations for charting a course ahead.