adventures in bellydancing: hips don’t lie

Adventures in Bellydancing: My First Class.

I think every woman should take a bellydancing class. If not now, at some point in your life. It doesn’t matter when. Age is irrelevant. Just do it.

It may not to be everyone’s taste. Some women feel empowered running marathons, some by lifting weights, some by pole dancing. (I feel most powerful when I’m performing; that’s just me.) But of these women and those not included in the aforementioned, some are not so comfortable with their bodies. How they look, how they carry themselves. How they’re clothed, how they’re naked. Some don’t feel comfortable in their curves, others wish for them.

It’s okay.

I remember a Sex and the City episode where Miranda and Carrie turn into the latest fitness craze, “The Inner Goddess.” Women are draped in swathes of pastel chiffon scarves, waving them, spinning with them, (attempting to) seductively move their hips with them. Miranda feels awkward – My hips don’t pop, I’m a guy – and gives up. This isn’t helping me find my inner goddess, only my inner humiliation. I’m never gonna be a girly girl. I never will.

And no woman should have to mold themselves to whatever is socially defined as “feminine.” But Miranda was too preoccupied with appearance; because unless you’re a professional in the field, it simply doesn’t matter. It’s not about how you look when you’re bellydancing, but how you feel: bellydancing reacquaints you with your body.

See yourself in a new light. Feel your body in a different way. Feel muscles you’ve never felt moving and pulsating; feel different feelings. Embody yourself, indulge the senses. Bellydancing is about sensuality.  Hip scarf optional.

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