ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the case of belly dance to analyze how participants draw on symbolic resources in female-dominated leisure subcultures for the creation of individual and group identities, and the challenges they encounter along the way. It explores how participants use these symbols to mark group membership and to resist some aspects of the mainstream that they find offputting. Because, belly dance is highly visible and dancers frequently interact with outsiders, the chapter examines the interplay between participants' views of themselves and how outsiders perceive them. It illustrates several aspects of the dance that students and teachers use to both construct and confer a belly dance identity. The chapter shows how a sense of self outside of leisure and group norms internal to the activity coalesce in the adoption of dance names. Finally, at the cultural level, examining belly dance sheds light on how participants negotiate dominant Western ideals regarding masculinity, femininity, body image, and sexuality.
