Once we moved to Eugene, I quickly learned that belly dance is kind of a big deal out here. There are lots of belly dancing studios and several different forms of belly dance. Who would have known?
I thought about taking a belly dance class for several weeks and one day decided that I'm in Eugene, I might as well be adventurous and try something new. So, I signed myself up for an 8 week belly dancing course. (Don't judge).
I wasn't really sure what to expect with my first class but thought to myself, "I'm in good shape, this should be fun and easy." Boy was I wrong. Belly dancing is not easy at all! It is actually quite hard. People think that you use your hips when you belly dance--wrong! It's all in the abs and you have to learn to move and control your abdominal muscles in ways that you never have before.
The class had 6-8 students in it and their were only two of us that were new to belly dancing. I was really impressed with our teacher (Molly). She would break things down and work with us one on one to try and perfect the different movements.
Molly said that for being new to belly dance, I was quite good. She asked if I wanted to perform in October at some sort of festival. I was flattered by the compliment and thought about performing but I don't have the time to put in to be ready to perform by then, I have been so busy it's kind of ridiculous.
I will say that belly dancing is awesome and I have a new found appreciation for people who can belly dance.
Here is a clip of Molly demonstrating part of the dance we learned. The video low quality and she isn't dancing with the giant scarf things (they look like big sails when we perform--they are hanging on the rod in the background of the video.
