Secret love; intellectuals and belly dance

Perhaps my eagerness to write about belly dance is due to the Arab library's lack of good books on this type of dance, which has long occupied the audience of parties, television, movies, businessmen, politics, writers, poets, visual artists, and conservatives, not to mention Orientalist studies in this context. Nevertheless, belly dance remained marginal in Arabic writing; it did not become a "national" or "pan-Arab" symbol. In contrast, some countries chose dance to be the face of their civilization, and the names of some famous dances became prominent identities and distinctive marks for certain countries... This book documents belly dance but defends it and clarifies aspects of its appearance and the relationship of poets and writers with dances and dancing, whether through love or writing. The attempt of this book may seem difficult, but its importance lies in its being different and entertaining at the same time. The book traces the biographies of several dancers and stars (Tahia Carioca, Samia Gamal, Soad Hosni, Badi'a Masabni, Soheir Zaki)... and their relationships with poets, writers, novelists, and politicians, along with some articles about the employment of belly dance in international dances, exemplified by the spy Mata Hari and pop singer Shakira.