Profile: Fritha Coltrain finds 'true bliss' in 'orientale' dance

The first time Fritha Coltrain saw Marie Wilkes — founder of Kahraman Dance Co., a small orientale dance company (she spells it with an 'e' in the traditional sense) based in Iowa City — swivel her hips, shimmy her shoulders and twirl her hands to Arabic music, she was 'entranced.'

Coltrain has been drawn to dance all her life because it's allowed her to 'express herself with her body.' But the dances she was doing throughout high school — ballet, modern and jazz — bored her. She quit dance and tried karate, but that didn't hold her attention, either.

It wasn't until she moved from her hometown of Monticello to Iowa City at 21-years-old that she found her 'true bliss' in orientale dancing — also known as Arabic dancing, Raqs Sharqi, Near Eastern dancing or, as many know it, belly dancing.

Coltrain insisted it's not what you're thinking, or at least not what some people think when they hear 'belly dance.' She said many people find it difficult to find the balance between sexual and sensual in the dance.

'I have women come in (to learn to dance) and say, 'Oh my god, I cannot do that ­— I cannot move this part of my anatomy,'' Coltrain said with shimmying shoulders.

Our aversion to the movements, she thinks, is mostly due to the meaning our culture places on the movements. But in Near Eastern culture, the core undulations and shimmies aren't intended to be sexual.

'It's an art form ...

An embodiment of the culture,' she said. 'It's the dance of the people, the dance they do at home or at festivals and celebrations.'

The exact origin of belly dance is difficult to determine due to the vast geographical area — North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia — and lack of historical records, according to a sociology faculty article published by Western Michigan University, but is considered to be a derivative of the oldest documented dances dating as far back as 3400 BCE in ancient Egypt. Traditionally, the dance was used in tribal rituals as well as holiday celebrations, courtship practices, marriage ceremonies, funerals and more.

In the 1700s and 1800s, orientale dancers were depicted in paintings and other art forms as sexual, mysterious and exotic. In 1893, 'dancing girls' from the Middle and Near East were brought to the United States for the World's Fair in Chicago to boost ticket sales through sensual dancing, which only further stigmatized the style of dance.

These stereotypes continued well into the 1900s and exist still today. In recent years, though, belly dancing has grown in popularity in the United States as a leisure and even exercise activity.

'We have so much dance in the United States, but I think that Arabic dance and the Orientale get swept under the carpet,' Coltrain said.

She suspects it's because of the 'sexy costumes' that show off the belly.

'We're in a culture where we (women) wear bras underneath our clothing so that nothing moves and nothing shows that we don't want to ...

We'll get harassed if we don't,' she said.

Though some costumes leave little to imagine, she assures they always stay on. In fact, they're safety pinned 'in at least two to six ways.'

'When I'm wearing my beautiful full costume with the bra, belt and hundreds of sequins, I don't wiggle. My costume does,' she said.

After all, she explained, she's 'not doing her job' if the whole family can't watch, as the style of dance is traditionally performed in a private, family setting.

'It's not as much about what the dancer is doing or what she's wearing, but culturally, it's more about who is watching,' she said.

Coltrain, now 40, still performs as 'Farida' — her stage name for Kahraman — and teaches belly dance. In her 19 years with the group, she's transformed into a whole new woman, she said.

'When I first came to Kahraman, I was a blushing wall flower,' she recalled.

Today, she stands tall with confidence, with a wide, welcoming smile and seemingly effortless grace — especially when dancing.

She hopes her students, regardless of their age, walk away from class with the same sense of presence that she has, as well as a 'deeper sense of personal experience.'

'Part of (teaching belly dance) is helping women learn to stand tall, relax their bodies and enjoy movement,' she said. 'Dance provides us a way of building stronger relationships with ourselves, which translates over into everything else you do.'