Are Indian dance and belly dance the same dance? The answer must be no, Indian dance and belly dance are like two beautiful flowers on the lush tree of Oriental dance, which bloom separately, but set each other off.

In order to clearly distinguish these two kinds of dances, we might as well start with the classification of world dances.

Dance, especially the early human dance, is an advanced means for dancers to express their feelings with sensibility as the mainstay and rationality as the supplement. Therefore, it is difficult to classify all dances clearly from the perspective of theoretical research. But in order to help people learn and develop dance more systematically and clearly, dance theorists have created various dance classifications. For example, Ms. Yu Haiyan, a famous dancer in China, used the phrase "Overview of Oriental Dance Garden" in her book? Cultural circle? The concept of "world dance" divides world dance into eight categories. The breakdown is as follows:

China dance cultural circle. Include China, Japan, North Korea and Mongolia.

2. Indian Malay dance cultural circle. Include Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.

3. Indian dance culture circle. Include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim.

4. Malay? Polynesian dance cultural circle. Include New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Western Samoa, Hawaii, Nauru, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australia.

5. Arab dance cultural circle. Including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other West Asian countries. Egyptian, Tunisia, Libyan, Algerian and other North African countries and Spain, Russian Caucasus, China and Xinjiang.

6. Latin American mixed dance cultural circle. Including Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Jamaica, Colombia, Cuba and 32 other Latin American countries.

7. African dance cultural circle. Include Mali, Congo, Guinea, Mauritania, Zaire, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola.

8. European dance culture circle. Including France, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Greece and other European countries. The United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, etc.

We can clearly see that according to this theory, Indian dance belongs to the third dance cultural circle, while belly dance and even folk dance in Xinjiang belong to the fifth dance cultural circle. Therefore, the two may not be the same dance.

So, what is the Indian dance cultural circle and the belly dance cultural circle? Let's take a look at the related vocabulary in "An Overview of Oriental Dance Gardens".

? The Indian dance cultural circle includes seven countries in the Indian subcontinent. Historically, it was also a country called Hindustan. China history books call it Tianzhu. The main race is Europa, Pamirs, India. In the northeast and northwest of India, there are still aborigines, that is, Mongols or Malays in the south. Nepal's Ka Pilovic Acropolis is the birthplace of Buddha Sakyamuni. At present, people in this area mainly believe in Indian polytheism or Islam. A few people believe in Mahayana Buddhism. Indian classical dance is world-renowned, with six schools: balata, Kartak, Kadakali, Manipur, Odisi and Kuchepudi. Kartak is distributed in northern India and is mainly popular in Pakistan. Manipur is also a traditional dance in Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, there is a charming and unique male dance. The artistic rules and training methods of this dance are similar to those of Indian classical dance. It was not until modern times that a special dance school was established to teach classical dance. The dance of the six schools in India is a highly stylized dance with a history of more than 2,000 years. It has a systematic and complete theory, and it is also the oldest and most perfect dance living fossil in the world dance history. ?

? Arab dance cultural circles are distributed in the vast areas of West Asia, North Africa and Iberian Peninsula. Due to the particularity of geographical location, various historical reasons and the influence of the spread of Islam, this dance culture has a special style of combining East and West. Among them, the flamenco dance in Spain and the oriental dance in Egypt are two bright pearls in the world cultural treasure house. Arabic dance can be divided into two series: West Asia and North Africa. North African dances twist hips, and the movements are mainly trunk, with fewer steps. Lucia doesn't twist her hips much, but her feet are very complicated. Most group dances are "Hora" style, that is, long training formation or circular queue dance. Speaking of the comparison between eastern and western dances, Spanish dance is the most worthy of anatomical study, and it can be said that it is the originator of Latin American mixed dance. When the Spanish washed the earth with blood, they also brought the cross and their culture, including music and dance. Up to now, Mexico's Halabe dance, Venezuela's Horobe dance, Argentina's Gato dance and Chile's Cuaika dance have left deep traces of Spanish dance. Spanish dances can be roughly divided into four categories: classical dances, local dances, flamenco dances of gypsies and mixed dances performed in theaters, with more than a thousand kinds. ?

From the above two paragraphs, we can clearly see that Indian dance and belly dance, which also have a long history and rich cultural background, originated from different regions, have different cultural and religious backgrounds, and have different expressions and dance vocabulary. Here is a very important concept? Oriental dance? This concept has broad and narrow meanings. Oriental dance in a broad sense refers to the dances of more than 100 countries in Asia, Africa and other eastern countries, including Indian dance and belly dance. Oriental dance in a narrow sense refers to belly dance popular in Egypt, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries. In recent years, the Oriental Dance Competition or Oriental Dance Training held in various parts of China generally refers to belly dance.

;