Newly updated, lavishly illustrated classic book that celebrates the female dancers of the Arab world and their impact on the West. "I think it is the most eloquent of female dances, with is hauntinglyricism, its fire, its endlessly shifting kaleidoscope of sensualmovement." With these words, Wendy Buonaventura explains her ownfascination with Arabic dance and gives the reader a thorough understanding of the origins, history and development of this ancient art, which has survived in the face of commercialism, religiousdisapproval, and changing times.