The case of Choe Seung-hui ( 崔承喜; 1911 – 69?), a prominent Korean dancer also known by the Japanese pronunciation of her name, Sai Shoki, illuminates an ironic dimension of cultural relations between Korea and Japan within the sphere of the Japanese Empire. Choe choreographed and presented creative works as a colonial female dancer in widespread performances […] What distinguishes Choe from other entertainers is that she was the first colonial female dancer ever to perform overseas. Obviously Japan did not allow any entertainment group to present the explicit political theme of resistance to Japan’s colonial rule. Promotions of Choe’s bodily movements on stage enacted “the Orient” itself. Choe’s dance performance was based on seemingly apolitical thematic features of Asian culturalism such as a colonial tradition, folkish humor, and myth. Japan dramatized the colonial and Orientalist fantasies of Pan-Asianism by staging a flexible female body.

The physical enactment of “the Orient” generated its multiple and discontinuous identities for the performing subject in different spaces according to what the intended audience wanted Choe to be. Tracking the changes in Choe’s career chronologically and observing national tensions that she navigated help us comprehend the ironic contradictions of the Japanese colonial empire. […] Although Korea had seen the beginning of industrialization and modernization after the 1920s, its image from the past persisted, as in how Chosen appeared in Choe’s posters. In this process Korea was exoticized, Orientalized, and gendered.

Choe’s life dramatically portrays a personal experience during the colonial era. It suggests that cultural performance should be understood as one aspect of sociopolitical activities. The intensive activities of theater helped disseminate Japan’s imperialist ethos in the guise of entertainment. Deployed as a useful vehicle for enacting political ideas both at home and abroad, colonial theater reinforced the machinery of cultural hegemony, noncoercive social control, and the underlying politics of culture.

The study of Choe’s U.S. recitals underlines how integral Japanese imperialism was in the context of the colonial culture and demonstrates the influence of colonial culture on the construction of one of the most popular cultural trends of wartime Japan. Choe was a useful figure, presenting herself in contrasting ways to people in different regions: in Korea, generally as a figure of national pride; in Japan, as a representative cultural figure of the empire; in the United States, as an “exotic” symbol. Embracing all of these intercultural features, Choe appeared to represent the East and embody Pan-Asianism. The analysis of the cultural embodiment of a colonial woman contributes to rethinking the relationship between the penetrating ideologies of imperialism and nationalism through sociocultural activities at the international level.

Park, Sang Mi (2006). ”The Making of a Cultural Icon for the Japanese Empire: Choe Seung-hui’s U.S. Dance Tours and “New Asian Culture” in the 1930s and 1940s”. Duke University Press. 

Also see her wiki page.

the bellydancer (tagged!) (by tomo)

Raqs Sharqi (or raks sharqi): Arabic for “eastern dance”. Used by many instead of the term “belly dance”. Can also be used to describe specifically Egyptian “belly dance” and also Hilal style (not the same thing).

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cairo was a cosmopolitan city with a population of over a third of a million people of which nearly 20% were not Egyptians. Most of the foreigners were there due to Cairo’s importance as a commercial trading hub. The Baladi style evolved with the urbanization of the population. When the rural people moved to the city they were exposed to influences from many countries that resulted in changes in their dance style. The Baladi style, influenced by the West, and by dances from Greece, Turkey, North Africa, Persia (snake arms), India (head slides), other Middle Eastern countries and possibly through contact with the Ghawazee evolved into a new dance form that came to be known as Raks Sharqi.

The new dance was a blend of styles and costuming specifically for female solo dancers. People frequently refer to “Raks Sharqi” as the “women’s solo dance,” to distinguish it from traditional folk dances that are group dances. While the dance retained many of the hip movements associated Baladi, the center of movement shifted to the upper torso.

 In the West, Raks Sharqi became known as belly dance. This misnomer may have evolved from a misconstruction of the term Baladi or from the French contrived name “Danse du Ventre.”

In its modern form, belly dance is sometimes referred to as “Cabaret.” This generally refers to the style intended for performing in a show-business venue, such as a restaurant or nightclub. The cabaret-style performance costume (known in Arabic as a Bedleh) is the beaded bra/belt/skirt. This style of dance and costuming only emerged after Hollywood exploited eastern dance with Western fantasies of the “East.” (See exoticism, Orientalism, and east of where, exactly- ‘West Asia’?)

Hollywood contributed to the popularity of Middle Eastern dance in the West during the 40s and 50s, resulted in a wide production of belly dance albums and, unfortunately, blurred the distinction between burlesque and Middle Eastern dance. The Hollywood image was then adopted by professional dance entertainers of the Middle East and re-exported around the world.

 Although Middle Eastern dance may be ancient, there is no documentation to support the myth that modern belly dance has any significant resemblance to ancient dance. Numerous other myths have evolved along with the historical cultural influences that have shaped modern belly dance. These myths have led to a variety of dance styles and the use of props, like snakes and swords, that have no proven roots to Middle Eastern female dances. 

Desert Moon Dance Academy’s Middle Eastern Dance Page