Belly Dance - The Addiction

Come on you all know you have it … the addiction …Belly Dance has totally taken over your life, your closet, your make-up bag and even your everyday clothes.

How does a dance class turn into something that we can not do without???

If I had to break it down to one thing that Belly Dance offers to women, it would have to be acceptance. This dance accepts us for who we are, what we look like, what we feel like ..  and adapts to suit us!

Nothing else in our lives accepts us for what we are, we are mom to our kids, wife to our husbands, (job title) at our place of work. How often in today’s world do we get to be just us? As women, we tend to put everyone else before ourselves. When we are dancing, it is all about us… not the kids, not the husband and definitely not the job. There is no room in our minds when we are learning a new move for the day-to-day worries. We are too busy trying to tell our body that - yes it can do this crazy thing with out hips. When we are performing, there is nothing in our minds but the flow of the music and remembering what comes next in the routine. “It’s all about me …”

Now this could be true for any type of dance, yet other forms of dance do not seem to carry the addictive qualities of belly dance. In other types of dance you have to conform to the body that is needed… Ballet can not be done if you are overweight; Tap is definitely not going to work for someone with bad knees. The list goes on and on … yet Belly Dance accepts us as we are - 80 pounds over weight and with bad knees? No problem …this dance is perfect for you.

This dance was created by women for women; it was not created as a form of entertainment to amuse the masses. The steps are meant to go with a women’s natural body movements, not against it. I think this is the most important aspect of Belly Dance. The dance suits all body types, so whether you’re a lady with big hips or a lady with no hips at all, there are parts of this dance that will look fantastic on you. The dance adapts to suit the individual not the individual adapting to the dance. Extra flesh … Shimmies are going to be fantastic on you. No chest… excellent, it will be so much easier to do Shoulder Shimmies. Big hips… wow I can’t wait to see you do some Down Hips. Long arms … oooooh your Snake Arms are going to be so smooth.

Every single one of us can look in the mirror and tear ourselves apart. There is always something that we do not like about ourselves. Yet when you find those moves that are a perfect compliment to how you look, and you see it in the mirror, it’s a ... “wow, I am perfect just the way I am” moment… and you can’t wait to learn the next move.

Belly dance does one more thing that I think adds to the addiction…it lets us feel like a goddess/princess/queen… like we are female and proud of it!

You remember way back when we were all little girls and we would play dress up…now we are big girls playing dress up! The glittering costumes, or the layers and layers of goop … change us from everyday women to Goddesses visiting earth for a few minutes. Even in class when all you’re wearing is your workout clothes, there is something about the flow of our bodies and the way that we move that is utterly beautiful and feminine! No where else in our lives do we get that feeling …

So when you take the two aspects …“It’s all about me …” “wow, I am perfect just the way I am” and add in feeling utterly beautiful and feminine. It’s a perfect recipe, how could you not be addicted to something that gives you so much…

Keep dancing ladies, this is one addiction that is actually good for you!