As some of you know, I've been working on my latest book, Period Impressions: Costumes of the Maghreb 500ce - 1500ce - For Middle Eastern Belly Dancers and Musicians. As this book nears completion (I'm in the drawing phase ~ yeah!) I've been checking and double checking my research and conducting a literature review. And wow - what a discovery I've made!
Google Book Search, a feature of Google that I've been using to check some old sources, has quite a few snippets and clips of belly dance books. If you are in the process of building your dance library, you might want to visit Google Book Search and check out samples of excellent books. Below I've included a few links to books that I recommend and include in my "Reading List for Dancers." Take them for a test-drive and enjoy!
~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Bellydance by Keti Sharif - This is the first 22 pages of this introduction to Middle Eastern Belly Dance. This portion of the book includes a great introduction to Middle Eastern instruments, and this is definitely one of the better belly dance history books.
Bellydancing for Fitness by Rania BossonisWhile I don't recommend trying to learn belly dance from a book, I started my own career by reading a book. There is something tactile and wonderful about looking at a book, memorizing the poses, reading the hints and tips. While videos are great, and classes even better, a book can hang out next to the bed, be easily pulled from a shelf, and shared with dance sisters away from TVs and computers.
Ancient Egyptian Dances by Irena Lexova'
This is the first 18 or so pages of this classic book that systematically analyzes Egyptian paintings of dancing girls to create a theory of ancient dance. I find this book fun and entertaining, challenging me to consider my own theories.
A Trade Like Any Other by Karin van NieuwkerkThis is a fantastic book, recommended by many dance scholars as a must-read. In this 16 page sample, you get a sense of the voice, tone and point of view of the author. She presents her theories and methodologies in this introduction, so if you like what you read, you can seek it out and buy it. I have a copy of this one on my shelf!
Women's costume of the Near and Middle East by Jennifer M. Scarce
One of my favorite costume history books, this is essential for any researcher of Middle Eastern costume history. This sample skips all over the book, randomly providing a page here, a section there. Definitely worth looking at in this sample if you are interested in historical reenactments.
