To-do list:
- It was decided to rename Belly Dancer to Sultry Belly Dancer to more clearly indicate the Fanservice Character aspect, and it was also decided to move the Real Life example section to UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing.
- Clean up on-page examples of Sultry Belly Dancer. Move the following subpages to the SultryBellyDancer/ namespace if they're cleaned up and are still long enough to keep separate from the main page, or move the examples to the main page and Cut List the subpages if they end up being too short:
Note: This thread was proposed by Berrenta.
Belly Dancer discusses a type of dancer wearing Arabian style attire and performing a special type of dance. Unfortunately, this has also attracted examples that merely mention their existence, rendering it as People Sit on Chairs.
A check of 50 wicks here has sorted the wicks based on the focus, if any. The results:
- Fanservice: 5/50 = 10%
- Dance-specific: 8/50 = 16%
- Setting-specific: 9/50 = 18%
- They exist or ZCE = 28/50 = 56%
I also originally had a section in case someone is putting too much detail in the explanation, but none of the wicks checked crossed that line, fortunately.
As for my solution, a merge with "Arabian Nights" Days might work, or we may make it a disambiguation between that and various dancing/fanservice tropes.
Wick check:
A wick check for Belly DancerThe issue: The trope is about belly dancers being present in a work. As is, that's People Sit on Chairs. This wick check will see if there's anything worth saving.
Wicks checked: 50/50
- Token Wholesome: In Fire Emblem, the Dancer class often have the skimpiest outfits out of any other class with the women frequently dressing like belly dancers. The only exceptions to this rule are Ninian in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and Azura in Fire Emblem Fates, who dress like medieval noblewomen.
- Film.Theatre Of Death: The cut to the party in Davras' home opens with a close up of the navel of a belly dancer who is performing.
- Literature.Eye Of The Dragon: Ms. Fanservice: Pia appears as a good-looking girl with a midriff-baring attire that resembles the one of a Belly Dancer. Subverted by her real self, which is an old hag.
- VideoGame.Alchemist Code: The Dancer class, as most of them bare their midriffs and have Arabian-styled clothing.
- Music.Eric Prydz: In the video for “Call on Me”, the female dancers have their bellies out and are doing an aerobics class.
- Characters.Bug Fables: Has the appearance of one, and dances to boost Kabbu's stats in battle.
- Characters.Das Boot: She dances very suggestively as the party gets wilder... until the second watch officer sprays her panties with a water siphon.
- Characters.Rabi Ribi: She utilizes different types of dance in combat to cast powerful spells. Also, when she changes dance styles, her hair colour changes too.
- Fanfic.Ranma Club: Stella performs a belly dance as her talent in the Miss Magix EX pageant. She even dances to the theme song of Shantae Half Genie Hero.
- KitchenNightmares.Tropes A To D: In one show, Gordon went to a failing establishment where the proprietor saw her restaurant as a vehicle for showing off her belly dancing skills. She was blissfully oblivious to the food being crap, just as long as she could get to dance in front of an appreciative audience. Gordon's initial response was a disbelieving Gordon Bennett! He then had the task of explaining to her that she'd got her priorities wrong and her first concern should be the quality of the food (which was dire). Gordon also did not come over as a great fan of a belly dancing floor show even when the food served was good.
- Literature.The Red Tent: When Dinah comes of age, the women celebrate in the Red Tent. In particular, Ahavah (one of her sisters-in-law) is described as dancing with her pregnant belly.
- Manga.I Dont Like You At All Big Brother: Ran is a very dedicated cosplayer who adopts the persona of "Princess Leila". In her effort to find a mate, she performs a ritual dance; she performs one for Shusuke in private when she feels he's the one for her.
- Manga.The World Is Still Beautiful: In the episode "Wild Waltz", Nike briefly goes through her daily routine for lessons about conduct. One of her dancing lessons involves her trying to mimic the hip movements of a belly dancer.
- Snakes Are Sexy (description): They might also be decorated with fetishized "exotic" elements of the Middle-Eastern and Indian cultures from which they are appropriated: don't be surprised to see a serpentine seductress wearing a veil and doing a belly dance holding a scimitar.
- Anime.Free: "Arabian Nights" Days: The first-season ED sequence of Free! gives us the Iwatobi guys plus Rin dressed in Arabian-styled outfits. Nagisa's in particular makes him look a lot like a Belly Dancer.
- Characters.Funbag Fantasy: Bedlah Babe: Basically dresses like a Belly Dancer, or at least a royalty from an "Arabian Nights" Days setting.
- OurMissBrooks.Tropes A To I: Belly dancers appear in Miss Brooks' India themed dream in the episode "King and Brooks".
- Recap.Sixteen S 2 E 1 Going Underground: Mystical India: Taj Mahome Video, a new video competitor in the mall, is introduced in this episode. Taj Mahome's visual theme goes for a mixture of this, Bollywood and even "Arabian Nights" Days as the male employees are shown wearing turbans, and the opening day celebration has a couple of belly dancers entertaining the new customers.
- Series.Chuck: The compound in Morocco in "Chuck Versus the Seduction Impossible" had these. Sometime later, Sarah wears a belly dancing outfit to try to seduce Chuck into eloping with her.
- Series.The Bionic Woman: Jaime performs for an Arab sheik in "Jaime and the King".
- WesternAnimation.Dumbo: During the Pink Elephants on Parade musical number (easily one of the trippiest and most terrifying sequences in Disney history), the background changes to an Egyptian-like motif where a Pink Elephant easily morphs between a camel, a snake, a bellydancer and finally disappearing into an eyeball.
- WesternAnimation.Pacific Heat: In "The Face of Terror", Maddie and V.J. are told about Todd and Zac's secret identities being compromised by Yemenite terrorists. Before they get found out for sure, Maddie and V.J. decide to disguise themselves as dancers in an attempt to get closer to Todd and Zac and warn them of their situation.
- Bouncer: Some such takes care of the protagonist for getting a little too grabby with the Belly Dancer at the end of the song "Stop! Stop! Stop!" by The Hollies.
- Ethnic Scrappy: Azziza got the Belly Dancer gimmick, though she only made an entrance for a match that got changed last minute, and most people don't remember her.
- Girly Bruiser: Some Coordinator Contests also require the trainer to dress up: in such cases, May dons a Belly Dancer outfit and Dawn puts on a cute frilly dress... and still direct their Pokémon in battle.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Cyrus from Octopath Traveler is a handsome and charming scholar who is also hilariously completely oblivious to the gushing of women around him. He even manages to get Primrose to like him, and seducing people is her entire job.
- Animaniacs.Tropes A To I: Shown rather briefly in "Plane Pals".
- Anime.Wowser: From "I'll See You In A Dream".
- BabylonFive.Tropes A To H: Shown generously throughout the Dark Star club in "The Quality of Mercy".
- Characters.Aeterna Roma: What Zuleika is most famous for.
- Characters.Etrian Odyssey II: Both of the female Troubadours.
- Characters.Impractical Jokers: He got hit with this in the punishment at the end of "Bellydancer."
- Characters.Love And Rockets: With a twist: Maria has the celebrated ability to crack walnuts with her abdominal muscles. Shoehorn; no mention of actual belly dances
- Characters.Paladins Support: Ying's Legendary emote allows her to dance like this, while her Carnival skin helps her look the part.
- Characters.White Noise: A very good one too. She first meets Wren while performing at a carnival.
- ComicBook.The Spirit: Plaster of Paris.
- DarthWiki.Blue Heaven: Many of the Riff female characters, especially Tiziri.
- Film.Carry On Spying (re: Incredibly Conspicuous Drag): Harold tries to pass himself off as a Belly Dancer, despite his obviously male physique.
- Film.Head: Featured in the "Can You Dig It?" sequence.
- FireEmblemHeroes.Tropes A To E: Returning from Awakening, Olivia joins the roster, offering her dancing skills for players to use in-game. During the Performing Arts event, an alternate◊ dancing outfit for Olivia was revealed, and the game finally introduced a dancing outfit◊ for Inigo, which is fitting considering his future mother is Olivia and decides to take up dancing in her place in-game. Then two years after Heroes' launch, Tethys from Sacred Stones would also become playable, well after Olivia and Inigo.
- Music.Rihanna: Rihanna incorporates a few belly-dancing moves, as well as her backup dancers, in a beach at night in the video for If It's Lovin' That You Want.
- PhineasAndFerb.Tropes A To C
- Carl briefly dresses up as one during the "Carl, Incognito" song in "Undercover Carl".
- Some are featured in Uncle Sabu's “Rubber Bands, Rubber Balls” musical sequence from the “Summer Belongs to You” special.
- Recap.Cheers S 5 E 3 Money Dearest: Fanservice Extra: The two belly dancers that Sam hires to entertain at the bachelor party. It turns out to be a bad idea.
- Recap.The Wire S 05 E 07 Took: Dukie thinks maybe he could be the male equivalent of this.
- Ride.Busch Gardens: Performances can be seen in the Dragon Fire Grill restaurant in the Tampa Bay park.
- Theatre.Fantasmic: The 2017 Disneyland retool's Friend Like Me scene has Genie turning Ariel, Cinderella and Belle into belly dancers. However, that soon turns out to be an adult joke, so they got replaced by the dancing camels and monkeys.
- VideoGame.Island Saga (in description): Nadia: The Princess of Ruby, an accomplished Belly Dancer who goes to join Protag and Iris for the fun of it all and to be with Protag.
- VideoGame.Parodius: Chichibinta Rika (this series's version of the endgame Shadow Dancer robots). You have to fly either between her arms or Between Her Legs to survive.
- Webcomic.Suihira: Fictional Holiday: When Nicolai meets Wahida to potentially discuss a marriage between the two, he arrives in time for a festival celebrating the history of the Kingdom of Iona. Using a parade filled with large puppets representing the gods, water dancers and actors, they tell the story of how Zahi the First used the power of Ignis to convince Akia to bring Iona the plentiful water they've enjoyed for generations. As much as Nicolai is amazed by the showing, Wahida is far less than impressed.
- WesternAnimation.The Garfield Show: In the episode "Barking Mad", Scheherazade is seen dancing on TV.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 27th 2024 at 8:38:35 AM
Renaming always means cleaning up examples. As for that example violating The Content Policy, the policy page says it's about pages/subpages and threads for works and not individual examples on trope pages.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 6th 2024 at 10:01:40 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I decided to instead of with the option of renaming Belly Dancer rather than disambiguating. I'm still in favor of making a Useful Notes page on belly dancing, though.
If we can't rename without a redescription, I actually lean towards disambiguate and yarding new tropes.
Or is dealing with the description implied in the rename option?
I mentioned the intention of focusing on the Fanservice Character aspect in the header when it comes to what the rename would address, so we could adjust the description if it needs some adjustments.
Edit: The first paragraph focuses on the fanservice aspect, while the text between the sentence about it often occurring in Middle Eastern settings and the line distinguishing the trope from Bedlah Babe is more focused on real life than fiction, so that text could probably be transplanted from this page to the Useful Notes page, which I think we should do if we're transplanting the rest of the stuff about real life to a Useful Notes page.
Edit: The last line of the description would also be unnecessary if we're moving real life examples to a Useful Notes page. I'm also not sure why it limits real life examples to "particularly notable" ones, or where the line is even drawn for what counts as "particularly notable" due to that being subjective.
Edit: This is what we'd have to work with if we removed the text I said we could either cut or move to the Useful Notes page (though we could add more text if this makes it too short):
Often occurs in Middle Eastern settings. If a character dresses like a belly dancer, but is not actually one, she is a Bedlah Babe.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 6th 2024 at 1:40:35 PM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.Calling in favor of renaming to more clearly indicate the Fanservice Character aspect, as well as moving the Real Life example section to UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing, possibly trimming and moving the parts of the description about real life belly dancing there as well.
We'll need to hook a new crowner for deciding on a name; Hot Belly Dancer was one suggestion, and I'm guessing it would be a matter of selecting an adjective meaning "attractive" to put before "belly dancer".
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass."Sultry" has a nice ring to it, alluring or enticing could potentially work as well. (Definitely beats my first thought of just going with "exotic".)
I wanted to bring up another point that was said before; for the redefinition of the trope to be more tied with Fanservice, would that mean that it would focus on specific characters that dress and dance in that fashion and not mention scenes in media that feature them for however long the scene would last?
Also, what would be done about examples that involve dancing being the form of casting spells or magic in general? Shantae, some Fire Emblem characters and the average "Dancer" class in RPGs would fall under that, so is Magical Dancer a thing that already exists (or should become one)?
I suppose we could run another crowner to see if there are any changes/clarifications to make to the definition before deciding on a name. If there are any changes to make, post a list of options.
Edit: We already have a Magic Dance trope, so I think a Magical Dancer trope would be redundant with it. We can probably just go straight to choosing a new name related to fanservice while moving magic-related examples to Magic Dance, but I don't feel up to making one at the moment (I guess that would give people more of a chance to provide name suggestions, at least).
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 8th 2024 at 6:20:50 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I hooked a crowner. Since we mainly needed an adjective meaning "attractive", Wiktionary's thesaurus came in handy here.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 9th 2024 at 2:57:46 PM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.Posting this comment to make public that I voted in favor of Sexy Belly Dancer. I didn't upvote or downvote any of the other options.
135 - 169 - 273 - 191 - 188 - 230 - 300Calling in favor of Sultry Belly Dancer, with Sexy Belly Dancer as a redirect.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I copied part of the description of the current page, as well as some of the Real Life section, to Sandbox.Belly Dancing to eventually move to UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing. I might move the parts I didn't copy there to Main.Sultry Belly Dancer later to get the move out of the way.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 13th 2024 at 6:25:50 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I moved the main trope to Sultry Belly Dancer since a mod or engineer has to do that part. I haven't done any cleanup yet.
I think I'll move Sandbox.Belly Dancing to UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing in three days if nobody objects.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 13th 2024 at 6:42:40 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I was a bit late, but I went ahead and moved the sandbox to UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing, so we just need to clean up on-page examples and wicks for Belly Dancer / Sultry Belly Dancer.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I disambiguated the original Belly Dancer name. I meant to do that after UsefulNotes.Belly Dancing was made, but neglected to.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I think the current description for Sultry Belly Dancer can be somewhat expanded. At least mention Ms. Fanservice somewhere.
Go ahead and expand it if you can think of anything to add. I mostly removed text related to real life since we moved real life stuff to a Useful Notes page (where I moved at least some of the real life-related text to), and I figured we could expand on the text that was left behind for fictional examples.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 24th 2024 at 10:47:06 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.Got it under 90 wicks now. It can be cleared up quickly so the Belly Dancer will bust a gut and we can move on
I might work on on-page examples soon if nobody else has (I haven't checked). I finished Fairy Godmother recently and I'm getting close to being done with Basso Profundo.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 25th 2024 at 6:39:50 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.That should be it for wicks
What about the sandboxes?
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/AWhat sandboxes? If there were still wicks on sandboxes when you posted that, I checked and there aren't any Sandbox/ wicks anymore.
But anyway, have on-page examples already been cleaned? It's not just wicks that had to be cleaned.
Edit: Took care of the Anime and Manga subpage, which was rendered too short after cleanup, so I moved it to the main trope page. I might have missed some things, though.
Edit: Went through the examples on the main page, but haven't gone through any subpages other than the now-cut Anime and Manga subpage. I admit that I might have been kind of overzealous due to all the ZCEs.
Edit: The Fan Works subpage appears to be in better shape than the Anime and Manga subpage was, so I moved it to the new name.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 27th 2024 at 5:58:56 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.I think just BellyDancer.Live Action TV and BellyDancer.Western Animation are left to go through, and either move to the new name or the main page (depending on how long the example lists end up after cleanup).
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.Sorry but,I don't think the anime and manga section has been moved properly, it shows up as an empty folder.
Edited by animuacid on Mar 27th 2024 at 12:24:09 PM
Crown Description:
Consensus was to rename Belly Dancer to more clearly indicate the Fanservice Character aspect. What should the trope's new name be?
Voted in favor of a Useful Notes page and renaming, and against disambiguating. I'm still convinced this is A Thing, even if it's not as common as its page would suggest. Is it safe to assume renaming will include cleanup?
On a partially related note, I noticed the BD trope page includes an entry for the doujin The Moon and the Dancer. It doesn't provide a link, but doesn't that violate the Content Policy?
Edited by Negacube on Jan 6th 2024 at 10:52:18 AM