Wendy Buonaventura

Dancing Women from Salome to Madonna

Something in the Way She Moves

Women and Dance in the Arab World

Serpent of the Nile

This history of dancing is rich with fascinating anecdotes, like the New Jersey girl arrested for dancing the Turkey Trot on her lunch hour, and astonishing facts, the first geisha were men, as well as tender portrayals of dancers whose stage antics have earned them lasting fame.

I Put a Spell on You

The Serpent and the Sphinx

Belly Dancing

Newly updated and lavishly illustrated, this classic celebration of female dancers of the Arab world is available in an appealing new format. "Serpent of the Nile" traces the origins of this ancient art, which survived in the face of commercialism, religious disapproval and changing times. Wendy Buonaventura demonstrates how Arabic dance came to be influenced by Western ideas about art and entertainment. But the influence was two-way. In the heyday of Orientalism, Arabic dance captured the imagination of writers and artists such as Flaubert, David Roberts and Jean-Leon Gerome, and imitators Colette and Mata Hari. Often based on common fantasies about Middle-Eastern women, this obsession produced evocative images and inspired fashion, theatre and popular entertainment.

Midnight Rose

This fascinating story of body care focuses on customs practiced in the Middle East, Africa, and India. A potpourri of practical information and delightful stories, the book is illustrated throughout with sketches and line drawings.

A Book of Oriental Body Care

Beauty and the East

How the Dance of the Seven Veils led to 'the libel case of the century'. Maud Allan's rebellious life is set against an examination of the changing lives of women during a crucial period in the history of feminism.

Maud Allan and the Myth of the Femme Fatale

Dark Venus

A celebration of the female dancers of the Arab world and their impact on the West, this book explains the origins of this ancient art, which has survived in the face of commercialism, religious disapproval and changing times.

Wendy Buonaventura

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