DID YOU KNOW... Bellydance with a sword is rarely performed in the Middle East and North Africa. Bellydancing with a sword is depicted in at least one historical painting by Gerome in 1870. Although, there is no evidence that the sword was a common prop used by Mid-East and N. African dancers in the past. In 1968, Jamilla Salimpour reinacted a dance from the painting by Gerome in Jamilla's famous Bal Anat Renaissance Faire production in San Francisco. The performer Rhea was the sword dancer in that show. Since then, sword dancing has been widely popular as a prop, used mainly in the US.
