There are many different forms of belly dancing

EGYPTIAN, TURKISH AND LEBANESE STYLES

Great and beloved dancers of the silver screen - Samia Gamal, Naima Akef and Tahia Carioca were all Egyptian.  The Egyptian film industry first introduced the sparkling sequins, coins and bare bellies.  They created elaborate tableaus music by Farid El Atrache and Mohamed Abel Wahab.  In the 1980s Nagwa Fouad, Souhair Zakia and Fifi Abdou staged elaborate shows with music composed and performed by bands specially for the dancers.  Now a new generation of dancers including Dina and Raquia Hassan have taken over performing traditional Egyptian cabaret style dances to orchestrated music, often as long as 10 minutes per song.

The Turkish Roma (gypsies) had a major role in the development of belly dancing.  The Roma originated in India and adapted the music and dance as they travelled. Adapting the steps to a fusion of different styles, often performed in high heels or on the toes, the Turkish dancers introduced finger cymbals to their dancing.  In the 1990s Arabesque songs - modern Egyptian pop songs sung in Arabic with a driving beat and modern instrumentation - became all the rage in Turkey. The music was played everywhere - on buses, in shops and restaurants etc.  Finally the Turkish government clamped down and decreed that because traditional Turkish culture was being lost, belly dancers could no longer dance to music with Arabic words.

Lebanon too has contributed to belly dancing through dancers such as Nadia Gamal. In the last 10 years there has been a resurgence in Lebanon's music and dance industry.  Dancers are thinner, more appealing to Western ideals of beauty and where high heeled shoes.  Their dance incoprorates more jazz steps.