Bellydance

Happy Sunday all............

Today I practiced some of my dance moves. I really haven't fully gotten back into bellydance like I used to, but I am slowly getting there. Today I pulled out my sword and just improvised. Not my big one, but the little one, the first one I ever bought. It has a case and is harder than my larger one to balance on my head. But I did it and improvised a little. It was nice, I had a good time.

I kinda stopped putting my heart into dance last year. I started to let it go. It was a mistake. Last year was a hard year for me and I spent over half of it depressed. I just felt like everything was going wrong that year, and I felt trapped. And because of that I didn't want to dance anymore. Big mistake. But I think that when you stop doing something you love, you realize how important it was to you all along.

I started bellydance in the summer of 2002. Technically I took a couple of lessons at the university in the spring of that year. But I consider that summer the first time I actually decided that I would pour my heart into it. I remember seeing a Persian bellydancer in Germany while I was eating with my aunt at the restaurant. And I got inspired. It has become a part of me since then and helped me stay in shape and build my confidence level. I have also met some cool girls.

My teacher that summer was from Egypt and she taught out of her living room. I ended up buying my first professional costume from her.

Anyway, I was on You Tube and came across this girl that isn't an expert, but she is a real good dancer.

http://www.youtube.com/user/aisayah

I have a hard time finding a dancer to watch that I connect with. Time almost means nothing when you bellydance. Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's important to practice. But to me it's more about the enthusiasm and charisma. If the person doesn't love the dance, or isn't confident about the moves you can see it.

I've seen a lot of dancers perform at the dance fairs, and I've tried out different teachers, and I just don't get most of them. I'm not saying I could do better, but I guess I am a picky watcher.

 This girl on You Tube is wonderful dancer, a natural. I watch a lot of bellydance videos on You Tube only to come up disappointed. Even when I watch some of the performers in Turkey or Lebanon. I also see a lot of videos of young girls trying to bellydance and it just isn't my style. But this girl is. I also love watching my teacher perform. She is awesome and she and I have the same name.

This girl whose video I am posting, is located in Spain. Notice how small her room is. When I lived in Spain, my room was that size too. I never practiced dance in my room there.

I did, however take belly dance lessons in Barcelona. It was a beautiful studio with a nice wooden floor. I even bought a coin belt there. Beautiful lavendar belt with silver coins. It took me a while to take the metro and walk to the studio. The class would last for a couple of hours.

The teacher was nice. My Spanish still wasn't all that, but hey all I had to do was follow ! I remember when she started speaking in Catalan...... I think when she asked me a question I kinda freaked out because I didn't even know how to respond. I appologized and said that I was from the U.S and that I didn't understand. She was nice enough to stop speaking Catalan, which is a rare thing over there. They almost get mad at you for not learning it, lol.

Anyway, enjoy the video clips.