Hey everyone!
Mauvais-having pictures taken sounds great! My stepfather is a former pro photographer and a former pro bodybuilder...(some combo, huh? ) He is one of my family members who is always rooting for me in the diet/exercise arena-rather than some of the family who can be "sabotogers" if you know what I mean!
He took our wedding pictures, and is always there taking the candids at family events-I definitely want him to take some pictures of me in some awesome pictures of me in costumes in the future!
I was talking on the phone a couple of days ago with a member of my instructor's troupe...and we ended up talking for about an hour, and really got to know one another better. I wanted to share part of our conversation with all of the bellydancin' divas here!

What we discussed was our different reasons for beginning to take bellydance lessons, and how interesting it was to see how we have "evolved" and how much of a learning experience it has been for us. She told me that she started taking bellydance lessons through a special community program that our nearest large city offers-my instructor is a part of this program and offers a beginning class through it-along with her regular lessons at the dance hall. She said that she always liked to learn new things, and took floral design, or some sort of class through that program-and when she saw bellydancing on there, she took it just because it was something different. She said that she was shy about showing her body (and she has a nice figure) and never even wore a choli or half top to the beginning classes. She never dreamed of performing because she was very shy and "unrelaxed". She fell in love with the dance and culture, and slowly gained more and more confidence with herself...now she is a troupe member and performs in great costumes and has finally relaxed into it and is having a ball! Her little sister (who is 12) is anxiously awaiting her 14th birthday, when she is old enough to start taking lessons in the adult class! Her little sister has a poor body image because os a few extra pounds, and watching her big sister dance with all shapes of women (and the audience loving it) has her really excited about getting into it as well.

I had always loved bellydancing, and when I found a local instructor I thought it would be a great way to combine that with exercise-and finally have an exercise form that I enjoy. I have accomplished that, but I have also found that I have lost the "exercise" mindset with it-that I am concentrating on my form and technique and taking it very seriously. I have also learned that while I still am in the losing weight and firming up process, that I accept and enjoy my body more the way that it is now. One year ago I never thought I would be baring my belly and dancing in public weighing in the 170's....
We also discussed that for the first time in both of our lives (with the exception of my friends here at 3FC) that we are in an environment of women where it is totally supportive. I am used to women being catty, backstabbers, superficial....and for the first time I feel like I have sisters who are 100% supportive of me and that we all really care about each other. Before now, the closest female friends I had were my mother and stepmother...even all of the female in-law's in my family can be catty and unsupportive.
Our classes have women of all shapes, all sizes, and all ages...and we are embracing this beautiful art form, learning about another culture, getting wonderful exercise, making lifelong friends, and being in a supportive environment where we are encouraged to be ourselves 100%. I don't know any other "exercise" that has done that for me. I feel more alive and more beautiful than I have in years...

I have also just ordered the book called "Grandmother's Secrets" and it has been recommended to me by my instructor as well as other dancers...they sell it at Amazon.com if anyone is interested in learning a little but more about the culture/history of the dance. It is a true story about a young girl growing up in the culture, and learning all about belly dance from her grandmother.

Take care,
Aphil

Yes! Tomorrow night I am going to a belly dance party/benefit at a local dance club with two of my friends.

There will be dance demos by local dance teachers, dance videos shown, prizes given away, an auction and afterwards a big party with a dj playing arabic music!

All this for $6.00 and the money goes toward cancer research!

We are to bring our hip scarves with us or show up in costume- should be fun!

That sounds awesome!!!!! We are in between classes right now with my teacher about to "pop" any minute... but we are getting together in about a week and a half for "video night". WE are going to do the "Stretch and Tone" workout by Suhaila-it is supposed to be a workout video for belly dancers, and then we are going to watch vintage belly dance performance footage...YUMMY! We are supposed to have popcorn and door prizes as well...I am looking forward to it.
I have been watching and doing/reviewing some videos that I haven't done before-so I thought I would tell youa l about them:
~The Goddess Workout with Dolphina:veils~
I really liked this one-it is short and sweet, the entire thing from warm up to cool down is only 20 minutes long-but I really felt it in my arms and shoulders!!! There was a lot of moves in it that I have learned in class, so it was good review/practice at home-and fun to do. Dolphina calls some moves different names than what my instructor calls them-but I have heard that it is a pretty common thing in bellydance-what she calls "whirlpools" by instructor calls "egg beaters" but it is all the same...if anyone likes to practice basic veil moves at home this is a decent tape to do that with, and it is also easy enough for a beginner who doesn't have a teacher but wants to learn to dance "with a prop" to do on their own. All you need is a veil, and if you are doing this at home-all you need is a 3 yard piece of chiffon-and it doesn't even have to be hemmed.
~The Goddess Workout with Dolphina:finger cymbals~
This was also a 20 minute short and sweet lesson...I really liked the 5 minute "hand yoga" warm-up to loosen up and strengthen the hands/fingers. Something that Dolphina did that I really did like was instead of using the drum sounds to tell the rhythm, she used easy to remember the pattern. Instead of saying "Dum" or "Tek" like an instructor did, or "Right Left Right" or some other phrase, she made it easy for a newbie or at home user by saying "Wor-ship Me" to remember the "R-L-R" triplet cymbals pattern and so on...You can do the dance segment with this one, or if you want to concentrate on the cymbals alone, you can just sit down and play along until you are ready to tackle both.

All in all, I would recommend both for a student new to either prop, or just for practice use at home. You are not going to learn some spectacular move, but you will get some good review if you are taking a class, and learn enough to use both props if you have no teacher and are learning with videos alone.
Aphil

Hi ladies! Its so cool that you're talking about bellydancing. I always wanted to try it. I bought 2 of the videos by the twins. The basic moves and 1 other. But I barely watched the 1st one and never opened the 2nd. I ended up loaning them to a friend who probably hasn't watched them either. I thought about trying a class. There is a group in my area called Isis that perform at Scarborough Faire and they have classes in Hurst, TX. Here's the link: www.isisandthestardancers.com I just haven't gotten around to doing it. But you're really encouraging me! I'd love to feel sexy and make my man drool! Thanks

Thanks for the reviews Aphil!

I want those 2 videos but I haven't been able to find them in my area yet and I don't want to pay in U.S. $ plus shipping plus GST taxes on my side of the boarder so I guess I'll keep looking.
My favorite part of dancing is the veil work and could use that tape for zil practice.

I do have Dolphina's introduction to belly dance tape and her warrior goddess workout which I really enjoy.

BTW - I have introduced yet another friend to bellydancing
She is currently taking the begginer's class and I am taking her to Friday's bash with me. She was over the other night and I was showing her my hip scarves, silver zills and my costume making materials and I think whe went home with visions of her own future outfits in her head! This makes the seventh person - we could start our own troupe in a few years

Hello again shoequeen! You should get your tapes back and dust them off
Hope you can make it to a class it is so much fun and very empowering!

The party on Friday was awesome!!!

The costumes were amazing, the music was great and the dancing was incredible!

I felt really inspired to sew some costumes after seeing the beautiful outfits.

One woman danced with a chandelier with lit candles on her head and two other women danced as a team with lit candelabras on their heads - amazing!!!!

Hello everyone,
My instructor had a beautiful baby girl one week ago today! I have been emailed pics and she is ~GORGEOUS~
We have a twp hour practice today-one hour with just me and one other girl for swrod practice, and then another hour right after for who ever wants to practice while we are still all out on "maternity" break.
We are choreographing an American Tribal Style piece to perform for her when she comes back...actually-I am planning a surprise gathering in celebration of her and the baby in a few weeks...
SHHHHH....
Aphil

Hi girls! I just found this thread, very cool. I just started bellydancing like 6 months ago, I go every Thursday night with my sister. It's American Tribal style, and as soon as we're ready, we're going to start performing and forming a troupe. (We all started as beginners, so we have a ways to go yet) I like it, I think it's great for toning, but I don't think it's very cardiovascular at all. It's amazing learning to move parts of my body independently that I never could before. I also love the costumes, the instructor is also a seamstress and has made a lot of beautiful harem pants and cholis, and I got a set that looks fantastic on me. Anyway, I've found something that I really enjoy, the costumes, the music, the moves, the friends in the class, and plan on sticking with as long as I can! :-D

Hi Harmony!
I am taking bellydance from an instructor that teaches tribal fusion-or a combination of styles. We learn Caberet with Turkish and Egyptian influences, and we also learn Americal Tribal style. She teaches zils, veil, cane, and sword. Since you are doing American Tribal Style-you probably would work mostly with zils and less, if any with the other. I definitely recommend learning both styles if you ever get the chance.
I think it CAN be very cardioascular, depending on what you are doing-if you are learning very isolated moves like belly rolls and ribcage rotations-it is more for toning-but you get some fast songs going and end up doing 15 minutes of 3/4 shimmies and Egyptians...that heart gets pumping! I think because you are concentrating on what your instructor is doing and where you need to be moving to in the room, and all of the other-that a lot of times we tend to forget that we are getting our exercise in...whereas you watch the clock the entire time while you are on a treadmill just waiting for it to be over.
Good luck and welcome aboard!
Aphil

Whew! I am wiped out! I spent most of my day at a bellydance bazaar...part of it as a volunteer helping set up and direct the vendors to their tables, some time spent watching a few peoples tables while they got food, drinks and a bathroom break and the rest of it shopping.

I got a new black and gold belt, a small silver and black waist tie and a veil that attaches to your head with a band of silver coins- (me doing the happy dance )

Welcome Harmony-good to see you over here. I do cabaret style.

Don't you just love it when you get new belly dance "pretties"? I know I sure do! My birthday is next week and my mother always just sends me cash to get whatever I want...decisions, decisions, decisions...I am tossing around the ideas of either a scabbard for my sword, a fancy caftan/coverup, or calling every belly dance supplier in the known world in search of a brown chiffon hip scarf with gold coins...
Aphil

Yup! I love gettin new stuff I also bought 2 of the Goddess workout Cd's as I really like the music she uses. I can find two of the work out tapes here but not the CD's so that was a find in itself!

Bumping this thread up for Beach Gal!

Thanks for the bump Mauvais! Wow...I haven't posted on this thread in months! Too busy DANCING!

Things have been going well since I last posted here! I went to a Middle Eastern Festivale Saturday...and a couple dancers and I were out dancing to the live group...(Amin Sultan...and he is WONDERFUL...and SEXY!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!) and a man came up that owns a local restaurant and offered us jobs as dancers in his restaurant! It was too far out of town for me, but one girl lived closer and she just may take it!

We had a great time dancing there, and tasting all the food and looking at the great hand made items. There was a woman there giving Middle Eastern cooking demonstrations...and I bought a GORGEOUS handmade pillow cover with some beautiful embroidery work! And when we were out dancing, Amin Sultan motioned that he wanted us to go on stage! We were too flustered to go do it...he was just too darn good looking! ha ha There were also some cute little girls doing dances with canes and tambourines...they were so fun to watch!

I am preparing for a lot of performances this summer...I am doing lots of sword balancing dances and floorwork dances, as well as some drum solos! And, I am loving every minute of it! I am still dancing with my fitness belly dance videos on days off from performances and classes to keep brushed up on the basics, and to get the benefits of the continual exercise.

How is everyone else's dancing going? Are you taking classes, performing, or just trying out videos at home for the exercise benefit? Are you enjoying yourself? Any new finds in videos or music? Mauvais-I know you are learning floorwork like I am? Are you still learning cane? I want to learn cane so badly!

Aphil

I actually spent about an hour yesterday on the web, researching bellydancing classes in New York, before I had seen this thread! I went to a party recently where there were several bellydancers, and I was really amazed by a) how sensual it is; b) how much control it requires; and c) the acceptance (even reveling in!) the different shapes and sizes of women's bodies.

I'm not sure I have the guts to take a class yet, but I'm working up to it .

So glad to find this here!