Glossary
Afrobeat - music genre which involves the combination of elements of West African musical styles such as fuji music and highlife with American funk and jazz influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion. (Definition from wikipedia.com).
Amazigh - plural Imazighen, any of the descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants of North Africa. The Amazigh (sometimes called "Berber") live in scattered communities across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mali, Niger, and Mauritania. They speak various Amazigh languages belonging to the Afro-Asiatic family related to ancient Egyptian. (Definition from britannica.com).
Baladi - can refer to an Egyptian musical style, the folk style of Egyptian dance Raqs Baladi, or the Masmoudi Sogheir rhythm, which is frequently used in baladi music. (Definition from wikipedia.com).
Darbuka - a goblet- or hourglass-shaped hand drum having a single drumhead, typically held in the lap or under the arm and widely used in Middle Eastern, Balkan, and North African music. Also called tabla or doumbek. (Definition from yourdictionary.com).
FatChance Style Belly Dance - a form of improvised group dance created by Carolena Nericcio, director of Fat Chance Belly Dance studio. Formerly known as American Tribal Style (ATS). See more at www.fcbd.com.
Flamenco - a highly-expressive, Spanish dance form. The flamenco is a solo dance characterized by hand clapping, percussive footwork, and intricate hand, arm, and body movements. Also refers to the style of Spanish music. (Definition from liveabout.com).
Ghawazi - The Ghawazi dancers of Egypt were a group of female traveling dancers of the Nawari people, a subgroup of the Dom people, sometimes referred to as "Gypsies". The Ghawazi style gave rise to Egyptian raqs sharqi by the first half of the 20th century. (Definition from definitions.net).
Hip-Hop - hip hop dancing is thought to have officially begun in New York City during the late 1960s and early 70s. During this time, individuals without professional dance training but with a natural instinct for movement brought dancing to the streets. A dance form meant to be popular in the original sense of the word, meaning that it was for the people and not for the academy, hip hop moves were inspired by complex rhythms and the down-to-earth movement style of African dancing. (Definition from dance.lovetoknow.com).
MENAHT - acronym for Middle Eastern, North African, Hellenistic, and Turkish, describing a broad area with diverse but often similar cultural characteristics, particularly relating to dance.
Odissi - also referred to as Orissi in older literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India. (Definition from wikipedia.com).
Rajasthani Dance - Rajasthan is a state in northern India, from which emerge many styles of folk dance, most notably Ghoomar, Kalbeliya, Bhavai, Kachchhi Ghodi, Gair, Chari, Kathputli, and Chang.
Raqs Sharqi - "Dance of the East". A classical Egyptian style of dance that developed during the first half of the 20th century, focused on soulful expression and isolated movement of the body, particularly the hips. Commonly referred to in the west as "belly dance".
Saidi - a folkloric dance (one of the baladi dances) from the Sa'id, a rural area in Southern (Upper) Egypt. The dance style includes a lot of energetic bouncy footwork and horse-styled steps, and frequently incorporates a stick or cane, called an Assaya (Arabic for stick). (Definition from shaktistudio.co.uk).
Tahitian - a dance art coming from Tahiti, French Polynesia, an island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Styles of Tahitian dance include ote'a, aparima, pa'o'a, hivinau, tamure, and ahuora. It is often characterized by knee-powered hip movements.
Transnational Fusion Dance - trans, meaning "transcend", national, meaning "of nation-states", and fusion, meaning "to join two or more things". Refers to a style of dance that blends world dance styles into a flexible modern format, leaving room for the inclusion of many styles in an individual's dance practice.