Belly Dancing

After leaving an educational technology conference, I went to a belly dancing Spring festival. In 2003 I set five goals for myself. For one of the goals I tried to think of what would be the most random thing I could learn to do, and of course the answer was belly dancing. It took me till 2005 to actually take a class, but I had so much fun with it. I’m taking my second class right now. Our teacher suggested we attend the Spring Fest where troupes and individuals would be performing all day long. It was great. There are several things that stood out to me while I watched the performances. I love how comfortable people are with their bodies when they belly dance. When you look at costumes, they list the sizes as petite to goddess. I like that. There are all shapes and sizes that belly dance. It can be a celebration of women and of how amazing these bodies we have are. My favorite performers weren’t the ones who seemed to be saying “let me turn you on” but rather those who were amazed and thrilled with what their bodies could do. Off to the side I saw a woman with a hip scarf on and she was holding her baby and feeding her a bottle. It was great. I don’t know if I will ever do this seriously, but it is a lot of fun to play around with.