HANOI: A belly dance craze is sweeping the capital of communist Vietnam, dropping jaws, lifting spirits and — the dancers say — empowering women through a new mode of self expression.
Since the Oriental dance arrived in Hanoi two years ago, six dance groups have popped up and more than 1,000 women have joined, among them students, businesswomen, journalists and even a police officer.
This is the other side of belly dancing, its modernizing side. In the movie Satin Rouge, for example, an Arab woman is liberated not by the individualizing technologies of consumer culture but by the tradition of belly dancing. In the sensual motion of the hips and belly is a power that can simultaneously open society and drop jaws.
Maybe belly dancing will empower women in Vietnam so much that some day they can dream of entering school, or business, or journalism, or even becoming police officers. Thanks, belly dancing!
Do Vietnamese women have enough hip to belly dance?
According to the photo, they certainly have enough armpit hair.
when I was in ‘Nam (for vacation in 2006) lunch for 8 people in the DaLat market worked out to be about $3 in total. Hand tailored silk shirt, about $12. Pack of Bic razors, about $8.
Dear god… ecch. Empower yourselves all you want, just keep your body hair confined to your panties. Yecch.
Their parents are probably the VC bastards I fought against!
@ #6,
Er, didn’t most GIs in Viet Nam spend a lot of time shtupping the Vietnamese ladies? So wouldn’t that make their parents er, you?
Belly dancing is the worst excuse for women’s empowerment ever.
Belly dancing is tacky and belongs in the realm of women who re-name themselves Phoenix.
Sorry, but it’s true.
@9 – not when Shakira does it.
If Qatar’s Leading English Daily can use the expression “Oriental dance” may I continue to use that adjective as a generalization of anything from east of Europe? Jus’ askin’