10 Countries to visit to learn about belly dancing (Part 2)
6. Algeria - Algerian belly dance is usually associated with the Ouled Nail women. The Ouled Neil is a Berber tribe, based in Algeria, whose women traditionally went around making money from their dance performances and from selling their bodies. Ouled Neil women started travelling very young and, once they had made enough money, they returned to their village in order to get married and start a family. Their costumes were very rich and included heavy headdresses, lots of jewellery, coins sewed to their costumes and heavy make up. The jewellery of Ouled Nail dancers has inspired the costumes of today’s American tribal belly dance.
A famous belly dancer, who was born in Algeria and who has travelled the world, is Amel Tafsout. Amel Tafsout is not only an international dancer, but also an anthropologist, a choreographer, a singer and a language instructor. Algeria is also known for its own characteristic belly dance music, called Rai.
7. Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia is one of the countries of origin of what is known today as belly dance. Probably not worth going to for learning how to dance, but it can be nevertheless very interesting culturally. Saudi Arabia has its 
own belly dance style, called Khaleeji. Khaleeji is different form other types of belly dance, in that the
dancer wears a long and wide kaftan called thobe nashal, which is used as a prop as well
as a costume. This type of dance involves a
lot of movements of the upper body and a lot of focus on footwork.
8. Syria - Belly dance is very popular in Syria too and, if you go there and visit, your tour will include belly dance shows.
9. Greece - Greek belly dance is called tsifteteli. Tsifteteli has been danced in Greece for centuries, as belly dance was performed in Greece already by the ancient Greeks. Nowadays Tsifteteli music can be heard everywhere in Greece, but it is usually danced socially rather then performed.
10. USA - With its big influx of immigrants, the USA has always been a melting pot of cultures. Officially, belly dance arrived in the US in occasion of the "Street in Cairo" exhibition on the Midway at the World's
Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, when Little Egypt performed (little Egypt’s real
name was Farida Mazar Spyropoulos and she was a bellydancer from Syria). However, a big part in the spread of
belly dance in the US was played by the immigrants coming from various Middle Eastern and Northern African countries.
American belly dancers preserved an art form that threatened to be lost in some countries of origin and they even invented a new form of belly dance, American tribal belly dance. Nowadays, there are a lot of great belly dance performers and teachers, well known worldwide, who are based in the USA. Many of them are based in California, such as Jamila Salimpour and her daughter Suhaila, Jim Boz, Carolena Nericcio, the Bellydance Superstars who tour around the world all the time and more. On the East Coast, in NYC, is Morocco, who has been involved with Arabic dance for over 40 years and still teaches and performs in the USA and abroad.
