When they think of belly dancing, most people picture a scantily-clad woman shimmying her hips - or I Dream of Jeanie! In fact, neither image accurately reflects the belly dancing of today. There are many different genres in modern belly dance, and it's an evolving art with more offshoots developing all the time.

In the Middle East, the closest thing to the old stereotype is Turkish belly dance. It's a cabaret style: dancers often wear heels and the costumes can be revealing, with bountiful cleavages and high leg splits. The hip movements are generous, joyful and sensual. It's an earthy style where you can really abandon yourself to the music and let it all hang out!

Egyptian bellydancers look down their noses at Turkish bellydancers. They think the Turkish style is rather vulgar - the Egyptian version is classical and refined. The Egyptian philosophy is "Less is More".

The hip movements are controlled rather than abandoned, and the typical Egyptian dancer will show less leg (and in Egypt itself, they'll even wear a body stocking to conceal their midriff). Most Egyptian dancers are barefoot - none of those Western heels, thank you!

Most of my teachers have taught the Egyptian style but personally, I find it hard to stay elegant and restrained when that drumbeat takes hold...

Tribal bellydance looks and sounds as though it should predate the other styles, but in fact it's an American invention, and a recent one at that! That doesn't make it any less valid - after all, all dances have to start somewhere. Ballroom is a modern dance style and we don't think any less of it - and the flamenco we know today owes a lot more to the 20th century than to any earlier times!

Tribal dancers generally have excellent technique - they have wonderful control of their arms and can do spectacular backbends. The elaborate costumes are an entertainment in themselves!

There's a lot of freedom in tribal bellydance. Dancers from many different genres take up tribal, and bring their own dance style into it, resulting in all kinds of tribal fusion - flamenco fusion, gypsy fusion and even Goth fusion.

All text copyright Marisa Wright. Photo courtesy of David Dennis on Flickr.

See Australian belly dancers of all kinds at Belly Dance Oz