"The philosopher's soul dwells within his head, the poet's soul dwells within his heart, the singer's soul dwells about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body."
— Khalil Gibran, The Wanderer
Typically, a woman who wears a midriff-revealing outfit, harem pants, and a lot of jewelry and sequins. Sometimes, she covers her face with a Mysterious Veil. She moves her hips, stomach and buttocks in a way that can mesmerize onlookers. She's almost always a Ms. Fanservice, whether a fully-fleshed character or a mere Fanservice Extra. Occasionally, men belly dance too, but this is less common and may be Played for Laughs or Fan Disservice.
Often occurs in Middle Eastern settings, from the fantastical "Arabian Nights" Days to the more modern Qurac. They can be members of a Royal Harem. If a character dresses like a belly dancer, but is not actually one, she is a Bedlah Babe. For information on belly dancing in real life, see Belly Dancing.
Check out these shimmying examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Ai Kora: Ever since Hachibei discovered that Ayame has the perfect waist that he's been looking for, Ayame learned how to belly dance for whenever she wants to get Hachibei's attention. A very good example of this is in chapter 24, where Ayame and Haiji (who happily swings the other way, it seems) compete for Hachibei's affection. Ayame whips out a tropical dance costume and begins to perform in front of Hachibei and the rest of the school.
- Blue Dragon: Trials of the 7 Shadows: In Episode 9, the group comes across Donna and Reina, two twin dancers who have the power to steal the souls of jealous people. They were originally penniless on the streets, losing their money to other beautiful dancers until Mikheil offered the two Dragon Scales, which made them appear more beautiful and gave them their soul-stealing powers.
- Code Geass: One of the many Picture Dramas, set before the China Arc of the second season, shows Lelouch, C.C., and Kallen sneaking into the Chinese Federation to scout around under the guise of three belly dancer sisters. The Fanservice of C.C. and Kallen in skimpy outfits and interesting poses is contrasted with the (admittedly pretty) Lelouch showing up at the end and Geassing all the men in that place to believe they are pigs (after getting hit on by them, with one even showing appreciation even after his real gender is revealed). Needless to say, it's a very silly situation that has the extra bit of funny that somehow the resident Manipulative Bastard Lelouch got convinced to crossdress, which he absolutely hates.
- Entaku No Kishi Monogatari Moero Arthur: In one episode, Arthur and his friends stumble upon a castle full of beautiful, half-clad women that wear belly dancer outfits that show a lot of their upper halfs. It's all an elaborate Honey Trap, but the heroes fall for it, and one of the women stumbles upon the bathing men, he gets so excited he jumps out of the bath naked.
- There is a belly dancing scene in episode 6 of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, featuring Amy, Saaya and Melty. It's still a bit unclear as to why their costumes were rather skimpy for their ages as well as the beloved festival for which they were performing. Following supplementary material would inform that during the festival’s time, young girls dancing on stage in dancer outfits is more or less a cultural tradition on Gargantia.
- Gosick: Episode 6 reveals the origins of Cordelia Gallo, whom came to Saubreme after being shunned by her home village. She began to work as a dancer at a cabaret, and managed to catch the attentions of Marquis de Blois.
- The Heroic Legend of Arslan, being a High Fantasy set mostly in the Middle East during its Golden Age, is rife with scantily-clad Belly Dancers. We even see one of them in one episode and even in the OVAs.
- Shino from Legend of Himiko is a very sensuous belly dancer. You see her dancing for a few soldiers, who became allured by her performance.
- Lupin III: Part II:
- Episode 17 - Go For the Oildollar note : In order to get closer to Lawrence the Third and his men, Fujiko disguises her as a dancer while Lupin and the guys dress up as her band; the performance manages to appeal to Lawrence, telling Fujiko to meet him in private after her performance.
- Episode 22 - Search the House of Mystery Women note : A group of dancers perform for Lupin and Zenigata, mainly to distract from the fight between Jigen/Goemon and the lady warriors of the house.
- Episode 30 - The Wind is Hot in Morocco note : In the very beginning of the episode, a beautiful belly dancer, complete with a hourglass figure and a teasing costume, is shown amongst the street performers, immediately capturing the gaze of Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen. Once Fujiko starts trying to mimic the dancer's movements out of slight interest/jealousy, the dancer reveals to be impressed with Fujiko's mimicry; she beckons for Fujiko to dance with her, leading to a dual performance by the two.
- Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, being a High Fantasy set mostly in the Middle East during its Golden Age, is rife with scantily-clad Belly Dancers. We even see Morgiana try it at some point.
- A doujin called The Moon and the Dancer takes place in a desert country, where a Japanese business representative tries to start a business relationship between the oil sheiks and his company. During his stay, he meets with a representative from the sheiks, who begins to fall for him. Some time later, at a party celebrating the new business deal, the Japanese rep thought he would never see his new acquaintance ever again...until she shows up at the party as the belly dancer for the party's entertainment, both greatly surprising him and leading the two into a romantic night together.
- One Piece: In the Alabasta arc, Vivi asks Sanji to get all of them some clothes like the local citizens, so they won't stand out as much. The boys all got burkas. The girls? Dancing Girl Outfits. His excuse was that 'dancing girls are citizens too!' If Nami hadn't liked it so much, he would probably be lacking a few vital organs.
- Tiger & Bunny: The second movie Tiger and Bunny: The Rising featured Karima Graham, a villainess who dressed like a dancer and fought against the heroes with large circular blades and the power of illusion. Turns out her costume wasn't just for appeal, as the movie reveals that she used to be a dancer at a cabaret until Barneby's new promoter bought out her business, leaving her with a loss of purpose.
Comic Books
- Action Comics: In issue #592, Big Barda was temporarily hypnotized by Sleez, a former loyal servant of Darkseid, and was forced to dance for his own entertainment.
- Beau Peep: One of the recurring characters in the strip is Vera of the Seven Veils, an exotic belly dancer who has captured the heart of Dennis at first sight. One of the gags of the comics ends up being Dennis constantly feinting/going absolute bonkers at the mere sight of Vera as well as constantly professing his love for her, despite all the rejections she gives him every time.
- One shows up on the cover of The Fox and the Crow issue #98
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- Garfield: In the 34th book "Life to the Fullest", an extra strip reveals a few group of women considered to be Jon's worst dates, among them being Suki, a Japanese woman who is a combination of a sumo wrestler and a belly dancer.
- Luke Cage: Hero for Hire: In issue #81 of the first series of Power Man And Iron Fist from 1978, the cover advertised "dancing girls" in a plotline set in the Middle East. The dancing girls in question were Power Man and Iron Fist.
- Scooby-Doo: In the story The Spooky Spook House, which was published in Archie Comics #8, the gang finds a mystery at an amusement park, and Daphne becomes a dancer to attract people to Scrappy Doo's ballgame stand.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage): In issue #32, April takes up a chance to visit an Egyptian archaeological dig site and meet up with a local friend to uncover a legendary pharaoh's tomb. During her stay, April partakes in a nightly performance involving her friend and a local Egyptian dancer. And later on, after uncovering the tomb and reawakening a deceased pharaoh and a few Egyptian spirits from the afterlife, April and her friend are forced into wearing dancing slave outfits to mark them as new wives for the pharaoh.
Commercials
- ServiceExperts: 3 Bellydancers entertain a young boy whose mother (who was expecting air conditioning) tries to cover his eyes. Even the boy's father begins to dance with them.
Films — Animation
- The Chipmunk Adventure: The Chipettes get dressed up like this at the sheikh's palace. They actually perform a dance in those outfits to distract some guardian cobras, but the music and the dance moves are closer to rock and roll than any authentic belly dance.
- Edison and Leo: Early on in the film, Thomas Edison decides to wait for his "fateful" encounter with his mysterious guest's wife by playing a short motion film of a belly dancer using a zoetrope and a special organ played by his teeth. As the film plays, however, the dancer's movements begin to break out of its animation cycle, making the dancer come to life in front of Edison's eyes, both disturbing and arousing him before snapping out of the trance and leaving for the meetup with his guest.
- Some are featured in El Cid: The Legend as members of Ben Yusuf's Royal Harem. Jimena is also made to dress like one when Ben Yusuf captures her.
- An elegant animation of a belly dancer is in the late-70s British film, Gulliver's Travels starring Richard Harris. The sequence with the bellydancer is a bit misplaced in the culture of Lilliput but well choreographed, drawn and executed. The funny thing is that although this is a children's animation feature, the dancer is bare-breasted!
- Ilya of Murom and Nightingale the Robber: After landing at Constantinople, Alyonushka gets stopped by a smooth talking slave owner, telling her that he'll transform her into a world-famous dancing celebrity. Alyonushka then proceeds to imagine herself as being a talented belly dancer, before quickly snapping out of the owner's inviting trance thanks to the Prince of Keevs.
- Invitation to the Dance: The "Sinbad the Sailor" act of the film takes place in an unknown Middle Eastern country, where the main character briefly watches a real dancer in a casbah before confronting an animated Sultan and his beautiful wives; this encounter quickly leads to a short belly-/tap-dancing sequence in the palace, where the protagonist tries to distract the royal guards while admiring the beauty of the harem girls.
- Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights: Haman, dressed as the Prince in disguise, enjoys a dancer's movements in the royal palace, all before Aliyah-Din interrupts the session in order to present herself for marriage.
- The Suicide Shop: For his sister Marilyn's birthday, Alan decides to get her a transparent veil and a CD of Middle Eastern music as her gift. When night comes, Marilyn strips off all her clothes, plays the CD and dances to her heart's content, finally being able to explore her femininity.
Literature
- Transito Soto, the Hooker with a Heart of Gold from The House of the Spirits, once dresses up as one as she speaks to Esteban about her and her friend's brothel. It lets her show off a snake-shaped tattoo around her belly button.
- The main character of Go Figure by Jo Edwards explains her main complaint with Halloween due to her weight:
...Finding regular clothes that make me look good is challenging enough; now imagine how tough it is to find a trendy plus-size costume. Making matters worse, all of the skinny skinny chicks take the opportunity to show off their hot bods in some rocking costume or other. Nothing shatters my self-esteem like standing around in a dowdy, floor-length witch's robe while all the cute girls parade around as French maids, belly dancers, and leotard-clad devils.
Live-Action TV
- Are You Being Served?: In "Fire Practice", an Arab Emir wants to buy some trousers from Grace Brothers. After Captain Peacock refuses payment of a goat, then a handmade rug, the Emir offers a wife which Peacock also refuses. However when the woman takes off her burka and does a sensual belly dance, he's tempted to reconsider.
- The Champions (1968): In "Desert Journey", a dancer performs for the tribe belonging to a sheik who was saved by Craig. The sheik's advisors welcomed in Craig as thanks, allowing the dancer to be intimate with him after her performance.
- Chuck: The Moroccan palace in "Chuck Versus Seduction Impossible" have these. Later, Sarah wears a belly dancing outfit to try to seduce Chuck into eloping with her. It almost works, but then he figures out what she's doing.
- CSI: NY's season 3 episode, "Sweet 16" has teenage girl's birthday party with a Middle Eastern theme. One of the girl's friends is in an inappropriate relationship with her father and shows up dressed as a belly dancer, complete with a chain with gold coins hanging from it. When they start making out, the coins scratch the car he was giving his daughter that night - making her one of the suspects when he turns up dead.
- The Evil Touch: In "Gornak's Prism", the main character of the episode wishes for his kind yet boring wife to have a more interesting personality. Throughout the episode, his wife begins to act more outgoing and flirtatious, eventually ending up with her trying to belly dance to seduce her husband.
- Farscape: In one episode Noranti distracts two mooks by casting an illusion that makes her look like a tall, sexy alien-faced woman doing a bellydance and stipping off her outfit. The mooks are completely enraptured which allows Crichton and D'Argo to sneak up behind them and knock them out. The illusion doesn't work on Crichton and D'Argo who see Noranti as she really is (grey-skinned and very old), so to them the whole performance is some major Fan Disservice.
- ''Get Smart': At the end of "Survival of the Fattest", the Chief informs Max that the Arabian prince he rescued has sent a gift, but as a government agent he can't accept gratuities. Max promises to send the gift back tomorrow, but when a scantily clad dancing girl enters...
Max: Would you believe the day after tomorrow?
- The second episode of the 2016 HBO comedy High Maintenance, titled "Museebat", features a polyamorous couple who try to host a Moroccan-themed party, even hiring a belly dancer for entertainment, that quickly goes to waste as the couple decides to confess to their other partners about possibly having a STD.
- The episode "La vida es un suspiro" (translates to Life is a sigh) from the telenovela La rosa de Guadalupe featured Virginia, a promiscuous teenager who loved to dance, albeit provocatively in what seemed to be a Catholic school. After going out with her friends into a club and gaining the attention of the owner, she began to moonlight as a belly dancer with the nickname Salome. At first, the new job made Virginia happy until the owner began to molest her about being a personal dancer for one of his customers.
- The Magician: In "The Vanishing Lady", Blake visits a witness who runs a belly dancing school. There seems to be no reason for her to have this particular occupation beyond Fanservice.
- Married... with Children In "Live Nude Peg'', Peggy decides to go undercover as a belly dancer in the talent contest held in the strip club that Al frequents. This quickly backfires, however, when Al falls in love with Peggy's secret persona more than Peggy herself.
- The Odd Couple (1970): "The Rain in Spain" - Myrna feels fear that she's no longer physically attractive to her boyfriend anymore. In a last-ditch attempt to help her regain her confidence in her own beauty, Oscar convinces a belly dancer to help Myrna shake her body in all the right ways for her boyfriend.
- Sex and the City: In "The Awful Truth", one shows up to perform at Carrie's table during her birthday celebration at a Moroccan restaurant. Once Mr. Big, Carrie's ex-boyfriend, walks into the restaurant to wish her happiness, the dancer immediately starts flirting with him, leading to an awkward situation at the table.
- Stephen Fry, on his Stephen Fry in America series, encountered a belly dancer, who also happened to be a member of the Salvation Army. She pointed out that she takes tips, but not in Victoria's Secret Compartment.
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?:
- Season 2, Episode 33 (from the American version) featured a Newsflash segment where Colin was receiving clues related to an Arabian Nights-esque short film, where belly dancers were entertaining for a large throng of men. The scene was made even more hilarious when Colin signaled that he understood the clues by attempting to dance like the belly dancers behind him.
- An episode in Season 5 had attractive twin belly dancers with snakes show up for a game of Duet. Both Wayne Brady and Chip Esten kept alternating between humor and terror throughout the whole scene due to the snakes, especially when one of the snakes tried to get very personal with Wayne Brady.
Music
- The late R&B princess Aaliyah often incorporated various dance moves borrowed from raqs sharqi (especially "figure 8's" and "hip/belly rolls") into her choreography. The most clear examples can be seen in her last video filmed just before her death, 'Rock the Boat'.
- Britney Spears seems to have incorporated a few moves that focus on the abdomen and hips in her music video for "I'm A Slave 4 U".
- Dutch pop music group Ch!pz had a single titled "1001 Arabian Nights". In the music video for this song, the two female singers, Rach-L (Rachel van Hoogen) and C!lla (Cilla Niekoop) performed a belly dance to distract an evil sultan while the male members of the group reclaimed a magic lamp that was being misused by the sultan.
- "Stop, Stop, Stop" by The Hollies is about a man who is so obsessed by a belly dancer that he grabs her in the middle of her performance, naturally getting thrown out by the bouncer. Now with its own animated music video!
- 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.
- The music video for Sarah Brightman's "Harem" takes place in a Arabian setting, complete with an young sultan, servants and a couple of belly dancers.
- Shakira, the world's most famous Colombian, is one-quarter Lebanese and incorporates Lebanese cultural elements into her videos. See "Ojos Asi" and "Hips Don't Lie" for the most blatant examples.
Print Media
- A number of women in the Humorama gag cartoons were this, often wearing Fanservice costumes of nothing more than bikinis, veils and jewelry. It helps that some talented artists like Dan DeCarlo drew these dancing ladies.
Professional Wrestling
- GLOW had Little Egypt, who danced her way to the ring and even wrestled in the costume - thus merging this with Dance Battler.
- WWE's developmental documentary series Breaking Ground shows a developmental Diva called Aliyah attempting a belly dancer type of gimmick, as she is of Arab descent. The gimmick never made it to TV but the outfit did, making her a Bedlah Babe briefly.
Video Games
- Ape Escape: Yumi from Ape Escape 3 dresses as this while wearing the Genie Dancer Morph, complete with a real genie used to distract enemies.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: In Soviet Mission 4 of the Yuri's Revenge Campaign, Romanov is shown to be alive and well from his plane crash; he spends the entire mission in a cabaret, eating dinner while a dancer performs for entertainment.
- Conquests of Camelot: While in Jerusalem, the player ends up in the home of Fatima, a sultry belly dancer who constantly offers the player (or Arthur, in this case) tempting offers to kiss her and end the journey right then and there. Turns out Fatima is supposed to be one of the Guardians of the Holy Grail, testing you to see if the player is indeed worthy of obtaining the grail. Should the player give in to their desires and try to kiss her, she ends up choking you with her veil and proceeds to smother you to death. Not kissing her, however, guarantees you story progression and the info needed to enter the final area.
- In Criminal Case: World Edition, starting in case 7 you meet Asal Hawaa, a Femme Fatale Spy who disguises herself as a belly dancer while acting as an Israeli Intelligence Service member on the side. Given her looks, her deadly skills and her gyrating hips, she's one dancer you do not want to mess with.
- In Dragon Quest IX, the "Lady of the Dance" sidequest involves you searching for the inheritor of the amazing belly dance left behind from Flamenca, a world-renowned dancer. The description states that the current holder is "very pretty, and he is always adorned with jewels", but before you start thinking about finding an attractive guy who can shake his hips and is adorned in glistening beauty... the inheritor turns out to be a Goody Bag enemy, a bag-shaped monster filled with jewels. Regardless, once the sidequest is complete, the Belly Dance party trick is able to be used.
- Echocalypse: Yarena is a Dance Battler whose attire amounts to an underboob-baring bikini and is adorned with a variety of gold and jewelry.
- Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan: The females of the Dancer class are not only dressed as exotic ballerinas, but have dancing skills that are even more efficient and inventive than those of the previous games' Troubadours. The NPC Wiglaf, who is herself a Dancer-class combatant, counts as well.
- In Final Fantasy IV, when the player goes up to a certain woman (who appears in most towns), she gives the player a belly dance, instead of "paying her taxes". Obviously Cecil has a bad reputation.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future: While Midler's appearance (or at least what we can see of her) in the manga has her wearing a regular dress, her redesign for the game chooses to go with a more attractive belly dancer inspired look.
- As a dancing game, Just Dance has its share of dancers dressing up like this for their choreographies. The most blatant examples are: Hips don't lie (of course, save for the alternative version), the alternate version of Lean on and Leila (bonus for the latter being based on a Turkish pop song)
- Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: One quest on Nar Shaddaa requires a female member of the player's party (Either the Player Character herself, the Handmaiden if the PC is male, or Mira; Visas flat out refuses and Kreia won't for obvious reasons) to wear a skimpy outfit not unlike the one Leia would be forced to wear by Jabba four thousand years later and dance for a Hutt until he falls asleep.
- Primrose Azelhart in Octopath Traveler is a tavern dancer at an "Arabian Nights" Days setting.
- Quest for Glory:
- Featured in Quest for Glory II. In this case, though, it's a literal Cat Girl, which probably helped convert more than a few young gamers into Furries.
- In Quest for Glory V, the Dead Parrot Inn has a pair of former harem girls who will occasionally dance. In a plot event, the Player Character (who is decidedly male) gets roped into belly dancing at the other local inn.
- The dancer class in Ragnarok Online. Interesting, she's introduced and has a hometown in Comodo Islands, the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Hawaii.
- The titular character of Shantae not only dresses like a belly dancer, but her belly dancing is even magical, allowing her to transform into various creatures and cast magic spells.
- In Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, to get past a heavily guarded door, Carmelita disguises herself as a belly dancer and performed a dance to distract the guards allowing Sly and the others to get through.
- Violent Storm: In the Downtown stage (Stage 3 overall), the player goes through a bar/nightclub where the entertainment for the night is a belly dancer, prompting a change of background music for hard rock to Middle Eastern to fit the dancer. Once the player clears all enemies in front of the stage, the dancer stops dancing and jumps for joy while the player continues on.
Webcomics
- Dumbstruck offers a romantic night with a dancer as part of a "Priceless Valentine's Day" in its 2004 Valentine's Day strip.
- Housepets!: Bailey dresses as a belly dancer to entice King in a guest strip, although the appeal is lost on her.
- Nerf NOW!! shows a couple of instances: one where Angie ends up modeling/cosplaying/dancing as Shantae for Jo (after making the comment that Jo was only supporting a Kickstarter for Shantae just for "belly dancing fanservice"), and another when Shantae switches places with Ora from Mark of the Ninja, where Ora learns dancing lessons from a citizen of Sequin Land.
- Gwynn wears one of these in this Sluggy Freelance strip, in a fiendish attempt to kill Doctor Schlock. He would have died happy, at least.
- Anna, the Love Interest of the protagonist of White Noise. In fact, they first meet during one of her performances, when she singles him out in the crowd to make him blush.
- Winter Moon: After finally reaching the desert city of Abu Qanasta, Florence decides to relax for a bit and heads into a club with dancers performing. The female lead dancer tells Florence to leave a tip if he enjoys the perfomance —and is quickly shoved away by him. Turns out that Florence was trying to eye the male dancer performing in the back of the club.
Web Original
- Bravest Warriors: Beth's "30% sexier" costume is a version of this in "Butter Lettuce". And thanks to Wankershim, the Beth hologram decides to perform a dance for Chris as a "reward" for his victory.
Western Animation
- Bibi Blocksberg: In the episode "In the Orient", the Sultan of Kaleidostan introduces Bibi and Karla Kolumna to the wonders of his palace, including three of his ninety-nine 'talented belly dancers'. After being smitten by her beauty, the Sultan offers a deal to Karla: if she and Bibi can solve a puzzle that can reveal the treasure of the previous Sultan, she can have any wish granted; however, if she is unsuccessful, she must surrender herself and become the Sultan's hundredth dancer.
- The titular character of Stripperella performed a striptease while resembling a belly dancer in "The Return of the Queen".
- Wonder Woman belly dancing in a Super Friends episode, "Rub Three Times for Disaster", as a ploy by the heroes to distract their enemies while they make a go at retrieving the magic lamp.
- In Total Drama, Izzy's special talent is belly dancing. It was so hypnotizing it made Owen fall in love with her.
