"No woman can be a belly dancer today and feel she's truly respected," said Safy Akef, an instructor and great-niece of dance legend Naima Akef, a fixture on the silver screen during the 1950s.

At a Cairo wedding hall, Russian belly dancer Anastasia Biserova shimmied to the dance floor in a bright, high-slit skirt and an elaborately sequined bra top. She swirled her diaphanous pink shawl and ...

CAIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A high-profile Egyptian belly-dancer, Sama el-Masry, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,500) on Saturday for inciting ...

CAIRO -- Egypt's foreign belly dancers have been given their marching orders. The government says it wants to protect homegrown practitioners of the seductive Middle Eastern dance form and is no ...

We call it "belly dancing," that alluring art form where dancers use their hips and torso in mesmerizing motion that is often seen as sensual and expressive. But in other places, the dance is referred ...

CAIRO — Sequins sparkled and beads jangled in a Cairo ballroom as students at a belly dance workshop imitated the teacher's undulations. "Step, twist, sit, shimmy, up!" came the commands, and their ...

When I turned 17, I wanted just one thing for my birthday: belly-dancing classes. The dance's beauty, grace and creative costumes, along with its strong connection to Arabic music, made it a natural ...

High-profile Egyptian belly dancer Sama el-Masry was sentenced to three years in prison Saturday after prosecutors said she posted sexually suggestive videos to TikTok. El-Masry, 42, was arrested in ...

You no longer have to be Egyptian to work as a belly dancer in Egypt. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The government has reversed a ...

A Russian belly dancer faces charges in Egypt for alleged “incitement to debauchery” after a video showing her scantily-dressed went viral, security sources said. The sources said the woman identified ...

CAIRO, June 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A high-profile Egyptian belly-dancer, Sama el-Masry, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,500) on Saturday for ...

As belly dancing gains popularity internationally, young Egyptian performers are working to restore its reputation at home, pushing back against decades of stigma to reclaim the dance as part of their ...