Buddah Belly

I went back to Belly Dancing tonight. And boy was it ever sweet.

This lovely young woman by the name of Haley found me on My Space and asked me if I'd like to join a Belly Dancing Troupe and mentioned that she taught classes in The Nard and Camarillo. I said Hells Yeah! I told her I used to take classes at Ventura Community College. I picked it up so quickly that the instructor pulled me up front to help teach the class. Flattering to say the least. Haley told me I should sign up for the intermediate class. Score.

I caught the very end of the beginners class which was quite full. I started stacking up my dance memories. The intermediate class was me and four wonderful older women. I tied on my bright yellow hip scarf and started to build a slight sense of unsureness. It's been almost ten years since I've Belly Danced. Will I remember everything? Maybe I should have started out in the beginners class to brush up. Lord, I hope I don't make a fool of myself.

As we warmed up and started doing some basic moves it all came flooding back to me. Thank God for muscle memory. I was also reminded of how incredibly out of shape I am and how easily I get winded and how very little time I can spend standing with one leg bent. The climb back to athleticism begins.

About 15 minutes into class Haley asked me where I had danced before and I told her at VC. We discovered that we had danced together there. As I was driving to class the thought crossed my mind that her name was familiar and that she might have been in my class back in the day. Too funny how these things work out. Now she's teaching me.

There were parts that I felt went too fast for me. I would have liked to have the dance broken down into bits and then stitched together. I'm still warming up and remembering my groove and I'm sure it will get easier to catch on. I'm also going to go to the beginners class which is right before mine so I can brush up and take things a bit slower and get my technique back in perfect working order.

Belly Dancing is incredibly fun. It's challenging where Ballet was flat out hard. I'd say Belly Dancing is either 40/60 challenging/fun or 50/50. Ballet was 80/20 hard/enjoyable. It's so fluid and beautiful, sensual and mesmerizing. Keeping your arms flowing while your hips shake, swiveling your top half while the bottom remains motionless. All the while sweating like a mongrel dog. Dude.

Haley had a trunk full of hip scarves for sale. And low and behold there was a leopard print one with fantastic gold coins and beads. I think I might have to own one. Or two so I can wear the second as a top. So, so fabulous and so, so me. They go for $45 each, a sweet deal considering the detail put into them.

If anyone would like to contribute to my Leopard Print Belly Dance Hip Scarf Fund, feel free to PayPal your hard earned dubloons to bloodybess.rackham@yahoo.com =)

There's an opportunity to perform at the 12th Annual Multicultural Festival in Oxnard in October and it would be kickass to have an actual costume to rock it with. I promise pictures!

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