musings

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10. It's more fun than jogging
9. Improves your posture
8. Zills annoy the cat (and sometimes the spouse)
7. Any excuse to dress up in fun, shiny outfits
6. It’s a great mode of creative expression

5. Good for your body and soul
4. An opportunity to hang out and laugh with other cool women
3. Increases your self-confidence
2. Encourages a better appreciation of one's body

1. Life is too short NOT to dance

When I began this journey I was looking for an enjoyable way to keep fit and manage stress.  What I discovered was much more.  Call it Oriental, Middle Eastern or Belly, this dance has given me strength, grace, confidence and balance.  It is both a celebration of feminine power and a beautiful mode of creative expression.  A magical blend of sensuality and muscular control, bellydance heals and transforms.

Bellydance was first introduced to America at the 1895 Chicago World’s Fair by a Syrian woman named Farida Mazar Spyropodous, who was later known as Little Egypt.  Audiences were amazed and transfixed, referring to this fascinating new style of dancing as danse du ventre, literally dance of the belly.  Sadly it was not long before the term danse du ventre was replaced by “hootchie kootchie,” which put a scandalous and sexualized slant on the art.  Lest they show appreciation and reverence for feminine art and power, particularly in 1893, society belittled bellydance and attempted to attach a more pejorative name to it.

But that was then.  Although we still occasionally remind the uninformed that exotic dancing is quite different than bellydance, we are blessed to live in a time and culture that embraces the feminine spirit.  We as women have magic within us.  The belly is the seat of energy and creative fire.  We as sisters in dance draw from the spiral energy that glows in our center and share this light with those around us.  Our musician brothers and sisters  celebrate this energy as well, giving back in proportion, creating beauty and balance.

All of us have this creative fire, this magic within.  This is my power, this is the house of Chi.  Honor yourselves, honor this energy and claim your power!  Transform your fear, your anger, your despair through dance.  Love and honor all that makes you who you are.  Embrace your imperfections, laugh at your jiggly parts.  We are humans imbued with a divine spark.  Celebrate who you are and what you can become.  

How do we begin this journey toward self-discovery, toward reclaiming this creative power?  

We begin to dance.              

It was as if I had been infused for so long that I couldn’t help but unite with the energy.  I let go, in perfect love and perfect trust, allowing myself to flow.  I had become a vessel for divine female energy.  What a joy and an honor!

I believe in a balance of the tangible and spiritual aspects of the dance.  Technique and study help create a strong foundation.  An earnest student never loses the thirst for knowledge, however experienced they become.  When I am old and creaky-kneed I will still consider myself a student of Middle Eastern Dance.

My own challenge has been battling the darker parts of my being; I was forced to confront my primitive concept of self.  I realized that role no longer served me, and began to embrace the person I was growing into.  I am still becoming, and the dance has given me strength and grace to move along the path.

I used to think my dance-self was separate from my born-self; some kind of alternate persona who was stronger or more magical than I.  Through my journeys I have found that the separation was an illusion.  I am all these things, and embody all these qualities.

It is heartening to see and meet others on the same path…learning to love and appreciate their bodies, beginning to refine their movements and expressing themselves through music.  Together we learn, we practice, we work and we sweat.  We dance not for our egos, but for our hearts.  We are dancing for the sheer joy of it, celebrating the feminine, embracing the divine.   

Sound forms

inspiration and vibration;

these notes call, pulling

the water of self within

i can feel the ebb and flow,

enveloped in the peace of

this primordial sound

which stretches beneath my

heartbeat

drumbeat

rhythm drives my body

staccato and sharp

fluid and smooth

joyous and alive

i have tasted inspiration

from the great cauldron

i have been born, consumed

and reborn again

i will dance my destiny

along this beautiful trail;

with it i wander.