Body Acceptance Through Belly Dancing – Guest Post!

Today’s guest post for Just Move Monday comes from Amy.  Enjoy!

Sometimes I can’t really believe that I have been bellydancing for five years. If you had come to me even three years ago and told me that I would regularly appear in public wearing only a skirt, a bra and lots of sequins, I would never have believed you. Add in the fact that I’d be shaking my hips at complete strangers, and I think I might have tried to have you committed.

Like most little girls, I took dancing lessons. I took ballet, modern and tap dancing, and although I was very enthusiastic, I was not very good. My ballet and tap dancing teachers were wonderful, and never once did either of them even mention weight. But all the popular girls did modern dancing, and so I convinced my mother to let me try. That was a huge mistake. My modern dancing teacher was straight out of hell, and made no bones about the fact that me and a couple of other girls in the class were simply too fat (at age 11) to be dancers. I hated her classes, and eventually gave up a few months later. I didn’t dance again for about 10 years.

I first was introduced to bellydancing at a friend’s birthday party. One of her friends had been dancing for a while, and decided to dance for her birthday, in lieu of a gift. I was transfixed. Although she was beautiful, this girl was not thin, and yet she could move her hips and stomach in ways that I had never thought possible. I had to find out how she did it! And so a few weeks later I managed to pluck up the courage to go to my first bellydancing class.

I am very lucky to dance with such a wonderful studio. From the start, my teacher made it clear that the essence of bellydance is about embracing one’s body and womanhood, and awakening the goddess within. Self criticism and competitiveness are not allowed! Although she is a fairly thin woman, she also struggled with poor self-image in the past and has made it part of her life’s mission to help women love and appreciate their bodies.

So over the course of the next year, I gradually learned to awaken my never before used stomach muscles. I don’t think most women realise how many different groups of stomach muscles we have, and how little these are used in normal life, or even at the gym. Isolating these groups of muscles and learning to control them individually is the key to producing sharp, precise hip movements, as well as slow and sensual belly rolls and undulations. Bellydancing is an amazing workout… its a combination of cardio, strength, endurance and stretching. Its also fun! To me, there is nothing more boring than exercise for the sake of exercise. But dancing doesn’t even feel like a workout (although my sore muscles the next day would tend to disagree) – it just feels like an hour of great fun, spent with good friends.

I’d been dancing less than a year when I took part in the first student showcase. It was terrifying! There were going to be at least 1000 people watching my flabby white stomach shake itself around the stage! And yet, at the same time, it was exciting, and liberating. Seeing women of all ages, sizes, body shapes and skin colours dancing together was amazing, and it was especially heartening to see how little self-consciousness and body insecurity there was. I took the plunge and did my first solo dance just over two years ago, and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me. I’d never thought that I would be a solo dancer with the ability to wow the crowd, and yet… I did! 

Fast forward a couple of years, and here I am. I am not a professional dancer (I already have one impossible job!), but I dance regularly as part of a group and as a soloist at charity events, bellydance festivals and studio parties. Finding bellydancing was the single most important event in my journey towards self acceptance. I still sometimes have days when I feel not that happy about my body, but at those times I like to think back on the compliments and applause that i have received over the years. Just recently, a woman came up to me at a festival and told me how nice it was to see a voluptuous bellydancer with a real belly, and how inspiring I was to her!

So, for any of you who are thinking of starting bellydancing…  try it!! You don’t have to perform – I love performing, but it isn’t for everyone. But, I would recommend bellydancing to even the shyest person, for these reasons: it is a fantastic, fun workout, it teaches grace and poise, and it teaches you to love and respect your body for all of the amazing things it can do.

Dancing at a holistic lifestyle fair

Dancing at a friend's gothic themed birthday party

Tribal style, for a studio party

~ by Sylvia on November 9, 2009.