Middle Eastern Dance

Poetry, Art, Opinion Pieces, Essays

This page features poetry, opinion pieces, essays, and artwork by modern-day artists that honor Middle Eastern dance, history, and culture.

In the future, I would very much like to add not only more poetry and artwork, but also cartoons, fiction, more opinion essays, and other creative endeavors inspired by belly dance. If you have created something you would like to share through this page, please see the section below titled "What Can YOU Contribute?"

Belly Dance Poetry & Art

Table Of Contents

Belly Dance Poetry & Art

Artwork Inspired By Belly Dancing

These entries are arranged alphabetically by artist's last name.

By Jean-Léon Gerôme:

Sabre

NewSabre Dance in a Café. Added January 11, 2008.

Almeh

NewDance of the Almeh. Added January 11, 2008.

By Kelly Hawes:

Hawes 1

Dancer in Red

Hawes 2

Dancer in Blue

Hawes 3

A Party of Women

Hawes 4

Mermaid in Red

Hawes 5

Apple of Discord

Hawes 6

Women's Hafla

By Regina Lafay:

Lafay 1

Worship

Lafay 2

Dip

By Janet Morgan:

Morgan 1

The Possessed

Morgan 2

Long Sleeve Dancer

Morgan 3

Crazed Dancer

By Wendy Pini:

Pini 1

A Grand Celebration

The creator of the popular Elfquest graphic novels shares her love for Oriental dance through a scene from one of her books.

By Delight Prescott:

Prescott

Taming The Dragon

By Gaia Wildmane:

Wildmane

My Green Leaf Gown

Belly Dance Poetry & Art

Essays, Opinions & Creative Prose

By Shira

By Arabella

By Joy

By Despina:

  • Respect! Despina shares her thoughts on what we can all do as dancers to heighten the public's respect for our art form.

By Diana DeMille & Friends:

By Thea:

  • Hair And Home. A belly dancer's humorous tale of her adventures with hair styles and home-selling.
  • To Teach Or Not To Teach. One dancer's thought process as she attempted to answer this question for herself.

By Anne Maclean

  • When Dance and Politics Meet. How can we reconcile the fact that we're celebrating a dance form that originated in the region where terrorists come from? Here are one person's thoughts.

Belly Dance Poetry & Art

Poetry Inspired By Belly Dancing

Poems by Shira, with Artwork by Shira:

Silly Poems by Shira, Some with Cartoons by Bill Smith and Shira:

Poems by Myrrha, with Artwork by Myrrha and Hossam:

Poems by Dr. Charles Albano:

Poems by Jezibell:

See the section titled, "Poems Inspired by Middle Eastern History & Culture" for more poetry by Jezibell.

Poems by Sha Had Aroba:

Poems by Savannah Skye:

Poems by Rose Salinas:

Poems by Sumaya

Poems by Other Contributors:

Bellydance Poetry & Art

Poems Inspired by Middle Eastern History & Culture

Poems by Jezibell:

See the section titled, "Poetry Inspired by Belly Dancing" for more poetry by Jezibell.

Poems by Assorted Contributors:

Belly Dancing Belly Dance Belly Dancers

If You Like This Web Site, Please Read This!

Please show me courtesy and respect by cooperating with the following, and ask your friends to do the same:
 

  • Please do not send the articles, music files, and artwork on this web site to other people via e-mail. Instead, please give those people the address for this site, and encourage them to come visit for themselves.
  • Please do not post the articles or music files you find here on your own web site. Instead, please just link to the pages you like.
  • Please do not use artwork from this site to decorate your own web site, flyers, business cards, or other projects unless you found it on the Clip Art menu. If you do use artwork from the clip art menu, please cooperate with the conditions set by the clip art providers.
  • Please do not publish anything from this site in a newsletter unless you get my permission first. Yes, I will give permission if you're willing to meet my conditions. So far, everyone who has asked has found my conditions to be reasonable.
  • Please do not make copies of material from this site to distribute to other people unless you get my permission first. Yes, I will give permission if you're willing to meet my conditions. So far, everyone who has asked has found my conditions to be reasonable.
 

Of course, you may view or print pages from this site for your own personal use. And you're welcome to link to this site without asking me first.

If courtesy and respect for my generosity in sharing all of this are not enough to get you to honor my wishes, please also remember that the law is on my side. All articles and artwork appearing on this web site are protected by copyright law.

I truly regret the need to say all of this, but I've been driven to it by people who stole things from my site. If this theft continues, it could drive me to remove this site from the web. So please be an honorable member of the Internet community, and cooperate with my requests.

Bellydance Poetry & Art

Recent Additions To This Page

  • May 2, 2008: Serpentine and Elven, a poem by Brea Morgiane.
  • January 10, 2008: Dance of the Almeh, a painting by Jean-Léon Gerôme.
  • January 10, 2008: Sabre Dance in a Café, a painting by Jean-Léon Gerôme.
  • June 19, 2007: I Am a Woman, a poem by Serena Wilson.

Bellydance Poetry & Art

What Can You Contribute?

Have you created poetry, artwork, fiction, cartoons, or other material yourself related to belly dancing that you would like to share through this web site? I'd love to include it here! Please send me a note including:

  • Information for me to use in creating the attribution that will accompany your work: your name (as you would like to have it appear), a comment on whether you would like me to include your email address online, a photograph of yourself (if you wish) and any biographical information about yourself (such as how long you have been interested in belly dancing, how long you've been an artist, poet, or other creator) that you would like me to include.
  • Any background information about the material you're submitting that you would like to see included on the page with it--what inspired it, where it has been published before, what it means to you, etc. For example, see "About This Poem" for "Eye Over You" by Jack Wells.

Here are the copyright terms I am proposing: If your work has appeared elsewhere in the past, it is still welcome here as long as you have retained the rights to offer it. I request from you the right to present your work on The Art Of Middle Eastern Dance web site for an ongoing, open-ended period of time. I will assume that I have the right to keep your material on my site until such time as you explicitly ask me to remove it. If my web site should change its URL, I will continue to display your contribution as long as the fundamental focus of the site remains Oriental dance--but I will attempt to notify you via e-mail of such changes so you can evaluate whether they impact your willingness to continue having your creation appear on my site. You retain all other rights to your work.

A practical application of these proposed copyright terms: If I receive inquiries from people who would like to publish your poem, artwork, fiction, cartoons, or other work in another medium, or read/display it at an event, or otherwise use it, of course I will tell them they need to contact you for such permission. Typically, this means they will be attempting to contact you via the electronic mail address that you provided me to include with your biographical information on the page with your material. So, if your e-mail address changes, please notify me of either your new e-mail address or an alternate way to contact you so that other people who would like to showcase your work have the means to reach you to request permission!

Bellydancing in Poetry and Art

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