Turkish & Egyptian Bellydance... What's the Difference?

by Mayada

reprinted from MID-BITS Magazine

Here in Toronto, Canada we have a multicultural celebration that takes place throughout the city every year called Caravan. Pavilions representing cities from all around the globe present crafts, cuisine, music, and dance so passport holders can "travel" the world and experience a peek at various cultures. One year I get a call: Mayada, do you want to dance at the Istanbul pavilion? You know how to do Turkish bellydancing… right? Hmmm… I thought entertaining at the Istanbul pavilion sounded like an interesting gig, and so began my quest to discover what makes Egyptian and Turkish styles of bellydance distinct. Asking dancers about the differences usually results in rather fuzzy, inconclusive feedback. But through a combination of discussion, personal observation, and studying hundreds of hours of videos, I've identified several areas where notable differences occur. Read on…

Music, naturally, has a big impact on dance. Turkish and Egyptian music use basically the same instruments, and often sound similar, but one big difference is the rhythm or timing. Egyptian music is in regular 4/4 time, while Turkish has a funky off-beat 9/8 timing called Karshilama. Of course, this changes dance and finger cymbal patterns, and can make it very confusing to get used to dancing to Turkish music if you're used to dancing to Egyptian, or vice versa.

Perhaps the most obvious difference when you compare Turkish and Egyptian dancers is the scope or span of their movements, Egyptian bellydancers work on making the dance very subtle, demure, and controlled. For Turkish bellydancers it seems the movements can never be too big: everything is very exaggerated - more carefree, fun, sometimes even reckless. Turkish bellydancers seem disposed towards a more energetic, even acrobatic style of performance: it's not uncommon to see a dancer suddenly turn a cartwheel or stand on her head in the middle of a dance!

Another interesting difference is that Turkish folk dance seems to play a big role in the Turkish cabaret bellydance show. In the middle of it all a dancer will suddenly flip into crazy folk dancing and then flip back to her cabaret stuff. Egyptian dancers usually have separate shows - or at least separate songs - for folk dancing: it doesn't usually just pop-up in the middle of a veil-work segment. Various movements borrowed directly from folk dance regularly find their way into Turkish cabaret work. Turkish bellydancers, for instance, incorporate into their oriental show characteristic skirt gesturing common to the Turkish gypsy dance.

When most people think of Turkish-style bellydance they think of floorwork. Floorwork once had its place in Egypt as well, but since it was outlawed, it never really regained its popularity. Floorwork is still going strong in Turkey, and is a very important part of the Turkish bellydance show. This is when the dancer gets to show off how flexible she is doing Turkish drops, splits, backbends, etc!

Egyptian and Turkish bellydance costumes differ as well. These differences change the essential look and impact of the dance. Turkish costume skirts tend to be worn higher up at the waist and have huge slits up the sides (often right to the waist) exposing the legs almost completely. Turkish bellydancers usually accentuate this very leggy look by wearing high heels! The Egyptian-style skirt is worn lower on the hips to highlight the characteristic midsection moves to the fullest. Skirt slits are usually more modest than Turkish-style. Egyptians consider bellydance a traditionally barefoot art form and will hardly ever be found wearing shoes. Turkish: legs! Egyptian: belly!