Belly Dancing Music

The important thing when selecting music to belly dance to is to choose something that inspires you and makes you want to dance - whatever that might be. The music should speak to you personally and as a dancer.

If you do not feel comfortable dancing to Arabic music then find something you do enjoy. Alternatively, if you don't feel you can dance to anything other than traditional Egyptian music then there are plenty of pieces to choose from.

My first experiences with belly dance music included Ofra Haza's "Show Me" (middle eastern pop) and traditional Saidi (pronounced sigh-ee-dee) and Beladi (pron. bell-a-dee). Much of it sounded alien to me and I didn't have a clue how to move to it or interpret it. But the more you listen to middle eastern music and practice to it, the easier it becomes.

I suppose it is like going to a nightclub. Even if you don't know a song, you are familiar with styles and rhythms so you instinctively know how to move to it. That's because you have grown up listening to that style of western music. You hear it everyday. It's on the radio, in stores, on your ipod or cd player.

You can become just as familiar with Arabic music. Simply immerse yourself in it. Have it on in the car, exercise to it, listen to it while cooking and cleaning, watch videos of other dancers performing and see how they interpret the music.