I do love belly dancing
Got to go to a belly dancing workshop this morning, taught by the teacher I took classes from a couple years ago.
And I've decided: I like belly dancing much better than zumba.
Belly dancing is . . . beautiful. More than anything, it speaks to me as a celebration of the body, the physical vessel in which our souls reside. God made us physical creatures as well as spiritual creatures, and dancing like this, once you get past the self-consciousness of it, just sort of melds the three (physical; spiritual--or perhaps more accurately, emotional; and mental--because you really do have to stay present) into a single celebration of . . . being.
Also? It's theatrical. And you all know how I love theater and performance. The costumes and the presentation . . . it's just so much fun.
I really do feel good when I'm doing it and after. You get a workout without realizing you're getting a workout. And it makes me feel good to watch. It's amazing to see people who can isolate portions of their body and move them independently of everything else, when I didn't even realize there were muscles there to be moved.
And it's a nice social/learning time, especially when everyone is the same beginning level. Everyone is ready to embarrass herself and laugh at herself and just have fun with it. No one's judging, because none of us know what we're doing. (Okay, I had a wee bit of an advantage in that regard, since we learned the same routine I did a couple years back.)
Ironically, I was the only one in the class from Culpeper. Everyone else was from at least 40 minutes away, closer to big cities where you can find dancers if you know where to look. No such luck for me.
And I've decided: I like belly dancing much better than zumba.
Belly dancing is . . . beautiful. More than anything, it speaks to me as a celebration of the body, the physical vessel in which our souls reside. God made us physical creatures as well as spiritual creatures, and dancing like this, once you get past the self-consciousness of it, just sort of melds the three (physical; spiritual--or perhaps more accurately, emotional; and mental--because you really do have to stay present) into a single celebration of . . . being.
Also? It's theatrical. And you all know how I love theater and performance. The costumes and the presentation . . . it's just so much fun.
I really do feel good when I'm doing it and after. You get a workout without realizing you're getting a workout. And it makes me feel good to watch. It's amazing to see people who can isolate portions of their body and move them independently of everything else, when I didn't even realize there were muscles there to be moved.
And it's a nice social/learning time, especially when everyone is the same beginning level. Everyone is ready to embarrass herself and laugh at herself and just have fun with it. No one's judging, because none of us know what we're doing. (Okay, I had a wee bit of an advantage in that regard, since we learned the same routine I did a couple years back.)
Ironically, I was the only one in the class from Culpeper. Everyone else was from at least 40 minutes away, closer to big cities where you can find dancers if you know where to look. No such luck for me.