After a long, multicultural development throughout its areas of origin, belly dancing was discovered by Westerners during the age of Western expansion and colonialism. At the Chicago Exposition at the turn of the twentieth century, Americans and Europeans, at once scandalized and titillated by belly dancing, began to use modernized forms of the style in pseudo “oriental” cabaret acts. As the modern world developed, immigrations to Europe and North America from the parts of the world in which belly dance flourished created crosscurrents of influence between Western pop styles and belly dance tradition.  

Today, belly dance takes many forms. Some belly dance remains highly traditional; some employ Westernized music and glitzy show-biz ambiance. In whatever form it expresses itself today, belly dance remains one of the worlds strongest and most vital links to an ancient heritage.