All this talk about hips a few days back, has gotten me in the mood for belly dancing! I wanted to share this video I found on youtube, the dancer is Aziza Mor.
A few years ago, a tanguero that I know, upon learning that I was belly dancing, asked me if it was just a bunch of jiggling around. Heavens no! Belly dancing is not that simple. Look at the video and see how she uses her core, her hips, see her strength.
Belly dancing is NOT:
-loose and jiggly in movement, lacking technique
-submissive
-simple & easy
-tawdry
-meant only as a way for woman to seduce men (don’t believe me? Read this.)
Belly Dancing IS:
-very good for your core muscles
-good for stress relief (at the end of a hard day, put on a coin scarf and shimmy for a while. Works wonders.)
-a celebration of fertility (…in a lot of other languages, it translates to “dance of the womb”)
-a celebration of sisterhood
-sensual (and yes, seductive)
-grounded
-empowering
-a beautiful way to celebrate your individuality and express yourself!
-a good excuse to make pretty costumes with sparkly jingly things
-for all age groups, all body types
-part of several cultures that are fascinating to learn about
Some nice links if you’re interested in learning more about belly dancing -
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6 users responded in this post
Maybe I need to try it…
Now that I’m developing a belly, maybe I can do something artistic with it…
IMHO, belly dancing is incredibly difficult to learn (and look good while doing it) and impossibly beautiful when it is performed well.
I was lucky enough to go on a Visionary Dance retreat in Maui with Delilah a few years ago, and watching her and some of the guest teachers perform was one of the most amazingly beautiful and exciting things I have ever seen.
Delilah was wonderful in creating a supportive and loving environment for all of her students.
Wow, I wonder how many of us belly dance/have belly danced?
I’ve studied belly dance for over a year now and have my first performance coming up! We’re doing some really cool choreography to a song called ‘Arabian Spices’
Great to hear that you enjoy belly dance too, Tina. During belly dance classes, I often felt like I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but right there, learning to move my body to the rhytmic music. And it is true that your mind cannot be sad when your body is dancing:)
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