ABSTRACT
Belly dancers perform in a variety of public places, such as on stages, in restaurants, hospitals, at festivals, and as part of cultural events. To what extent and how participants play with the sexuality or sensuality of the dance hinge on both context and audience. Although many participants use belly dance to do gender and express sensuality, some dancers simultaneously manage perceptions that belly dance is erotic dance. Like the internal power struggles that involve boundary work, dancers also engage in symbolic boundary work when negotiating external perceptions of belly dance. Emphasizing not removing their clothes is one role-distance strategy that belly dancers use to counteract perceptions that belly dance is like erotic dance. As primarily a form of leisure, belly dance is voluntary and carries no permanent physical marker, so dancers can move relatively easily in and out of the potentially stigmatizing role. Tipping is one of the most significant ways customers show satisfaction with an erotic dancer's performance.
