Mahirimah's Middle Eastern Costume and Dance History Page

A Salaam Alaikum, traveler! You are most welcome here, and every hospitality will be extended to you. Here is where I record all my studies on the art of Middle Eastern dance, and all the complex culture and beauty that surrounds it.  My focus has always been on the history of the dance, and on re-creating the costumes and styles that would have been found in the Middle Ages.  This stems from my participation in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medeival recreation group that encompasses the best of the Middle Ages, defined as 600AD to 1600 AD.  "The Middle Ages as it Should Have Been" is the creed of the SCA, and its members are passionate about the pageantry and chivalry during that span of history.  To learn more about my SCA persona of study, Mahirimah bint Habib, click here.

Click here to go to the Seattle Med-Dance Forum --a bulletin board dedicated to Middle Eastern Dance in Western Washington State and surrounding areas.

Click here to see my article reviewing Oasis Dance Camp West on Gilded Serpent

The part of the world known as the Middle East, during the Middle Ages,  is a challenging period to study, especially from the view of a dancer and a costumer.  These are two of the most difficult areas of study to find dinifinitive information on, largely because we have little in the way of a pictoral record

which remains from that period.  Religious teachings forbade the drawing or sculpting of the human form, believing it to be blasphemous to try and "create life", as that was in the power of Allah alone.  Written descriptions of what was worn and how the dance was performed were also rare, as the dance was, and remains, an oral tradition handed down from mother to daughter throughout the centuries.  Much of what remains today in any form are accounts composed by European travellers in the 19th century.  As you might imagine, their interpretation of the dance and culture was hopelessly colored by their experiences in the, to them, extremely foreign and exotic Middle Eastern culture held up for comparison to their lifetime in a Western world.

Note that the pictures you find here on my page are largely the result of the Orientalist artists.  These artists traveled, most often in secret (one famous artist traveled in the guise of a deaf and dumb local), among the populous, documenting on canvas that which they saw of interest.  As one might imagine, the images captured by young Western males in the chauvinistic world of the 18th and 19th centuries were prone to the tittilating themes of sex and war, and that is frequently what you will find among the topics represented in this genre.  The women are not often found fully clothed, and there are images of slavery and war throughout.

Next: Learn about Tribal Style Belly Dance