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Somewhat. I'm friends with a Turkish belly dancer that I taught to pick locks. She's actually a Greek but has a Turkish stage name, and has been doing it for decades. The women are overly judgmental in scrutinizing the women. As far as I am concerned it is the women who get me hot and bothered who are the best, but apparently there is technique involved. I know a bit. I would fail horribly doing it myself (I'm a guy), but know a bit.
@PriyaB It's a very long story, so will try to keep it simple and short.
I found a 1200BC text that precisely parallels what Lucian of Samosata said of the whirling dancers in the Dea Syria Cult during roman times, and have systemmatically looked at what is known of historical dancing in europe and the middle east as a result. I also did this for unrelated reasons for Sumeria and Assyria. The historical survival of this bronze age cult is islamic swirling dervishes.
Secondly my godmother was greek orthodox with famiky ties to the Greeks of Smyrna in Asia Minor (Izmir). I know alot of the community dances of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria as a result. Mostly women.
I myself am no dancer and it is a bad idea to try and make me. But it doesn't mean I am unaware of it. At times in history Alchemy was treated as a art best expressed in music and dance. Might still be the case in certain Sufi sects, I just can't get info on that and it isn't a priority in relationship to other stuff I research.
Also a slight chance I might recover some aspect of the rites of the medieval Neo-Platonists. They had to break the philosophy into two groups due to cognitive issues, most people can't directly pull off platonism unless they can see inner mind images as well as Hypnogogia, so the bulk of people who can't do this would be put into esoteric reinactments where they would dance or do rites and also silly little absurdities that sorta explained what the others were doing. Some of this might of survived. Also the late roman army trained by choreographed dancing and mock dance battles (not joking). We don't have a memory of this in the west because of how late the concept was adopted, the roman empire in the west already largely collapsed, but became important in the eastern half of the roman empire from that point on.
I found a 1200BC text that precisely parallels what Lucian of Samosata said of the whirling dancers in the Dea Syria Cult during roman times, and have systemmatically looked at what is known of historical dancing in europe and the middle east as a result. I also did this for unrelated reasons for Sumeria and Assyria. The historical survival of this bronze age cult is islamic swirling dervishes.
Secondly my godmother was greek orthodox with famiky ties to the Greeks of Smyrna in Asia Minor (Izmir). I know alot of the community dances of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria as a result. Mostly women.
I myself am no dancer and it is a bad idea to try and make me. But it doesn't mean I am unaware of it. At times in history Alchemy was treated as a art best expressed in music and dance. Might still be the case in certain Sufi sects, I just can't get info on that and it isn't a priority in relationship to other stuff I research.
Also a slight chance I might recover some aspect of the rites of the medieval Neo-Platonists. They had to break the philosophy into two groups due to cognitive issues, most people can't directly pull off platonism unless they can see inner mind images as well as Hypnogogia, so the bulk of people who can't do this would be put into esoteric reinactments where they would dance or do rites and also silly little absurdities that sorta explained what the others were doing. Some of this might of survived. Also the late roman army trained by choreographed dancing and mock dance battles (not joking). We don't have a memory of this in the west because of how late the concept was adopted, the roman empire in the west already largely collapsed, but became important in the eastern half of the roman empire from that point on.
