What if I was a Belly Dancing Mama

There I was (original right?) parked on the street and walking toward the community center in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Do you all know about the Beacon Hill neighborhood? My guess is that your answer would probably be NO for the most part. Beacon Hill is actually a lot nicer today than it was five or ten years ago when it was ghetto central. It's probably not the safest neighborhood as it has been known for gang activity. There are a few other areas that I would personally classify as more seedy but it ranks among the top five in my book.

Strange little fact about me? I love raw city life. My favorite. I lived on Capitol Hill for a few years and loved every second of it. I had a studio apartment on the top floor of an old 4-story walk-up right on Broadway. $525/mo for 525 square feet. That was back in 1999 or close to it. I lived there when the neighborhood was being terrorized by a serial rapist. Did I mention that I worked just a half mile down the road and walked to and from work every day? I walked everywhere. Loved it. Yes, even the homeless people who slept in the dumpster behind my building. There was one drunk homeless dude who would get totally pissed and walk in the middle of the street during the night and yell at the top of his lungs "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!". *make sure you read that with a very drunk slur so you get the right effect*. One night after he had done this a few times right under my window, my boyfriend at the time (who is now my hubby) leaned out and yelled back "Hey! Can you go not give a fuck somewhere else?". How can you not LOVE raw city life? I mean really!

I entered the community center and made my way up the old linoleum stairwell to the top floor where the hallway was plastered with art, clothes, food, collages. It looked like they were having an art fair or cultural celebration or something. I didn't take time to appreciate all that was on display though because I was on a mission and needed to make sure I found my destination without fail this time around. It was a matter of moral importance and I could not be distracted by bright colors and pretty pictures.

I found the room all the way at the end of the long corridor. As I walked in, just past the sign gently requesting shoe removal, there was a clothing rack loosely filled with hip scarves, skirts, pants, and a lone black jeweled bra for sale. Belly dancing swag. Sweet! Focus, do not get distracted by the pretty sparkly things. At the end of the clothing rack was a small table where I was greeted by a rather large woman in purple flowing fabric and a lacy lavender bra. "Hello" she said, "I know I've completely forgotten your name". I replied with a puzzled eyebrow lift and said something about how that's interesting because I've never been there before. She smiled, as did I.

After I got all signed in, removed my shoes and placed them in my very own personal cubby along the wall, I made my way right back to the pretty sparkly things. I found the perfect belly dancing outfit for me. Too bad it would have cost me $125 for a bra, $59 for a mesh skirt, $39 for a hip scarf, and $29 for the zills. Ya...um...a little more than I'd like to spend on a slutty outfit to dance a dance I don't even know how to do yet, not to mention that I am um...a little shy about wiggling my jiggly bits while exposing as much skin as possible to anyone.

One of my goals for these belly dancing adventures is to become a little more comfortable with my jiggly bits while simultaneously reducing the density of said parts.

After meeting and chatting with a few of the women in the class and the instructor, I realized that I was walking into the second class of the repeating 6-week series. I had no idea it was a series there too. Their website should really explain their programs a little better because I wasn't sure that I was even showing up to the right beginner's class. The title of the class was Belly Dancing Phase 1. Then they had a Belly Dancing Beginner's Fitness and a Belly Dancing Beginner's 2 as well. Luckily, I chose right and was in the beginner's class for dummies. Katrina (the instructor) informed me that they did an overview of belly dancing basics in the first class last week and she would start breaking them down as we move forward so I should be good to start now. Phew!

The class began with a ridiculous amount of stretching. I'm all for stretching and getting the body warmed up but 15mins of it for a class that doesn't require much of the body in the first place just seems like overkill. It's not like we were doing gymnastics or anything. Just a little wiggle and a bit'o jiggle. But whatever. She started walking us through a little warm up with the arms and pretty wrist and hand stuff then we moved on to learn "the wave" which is technically called undulations in belly dance terms, the Egyptian walk, and then we played with the zills a bit before doing a cool down and calling it quits for the day.

Here are a few videos for you to watch and learn or just be entertained.

Pretty Wrist Stuff




Undulations or "The Wave"



The Egyptian Walk alla Sahira


Fun with Zills



There you have it! My first belly dancing class EVER. And what do I have to show for it?

MY VERY OWN FINGER CYMBALS!

I think I'll leave you with that for now. Stay tuned though because I'm a belly dancing mama for the rest of the year and I have a plan. Oh YA! A plan. I have some fun stuff coming for this belly dancing extravaganza.

Skin Deep Dance Studio

And I may or may not be willing to get all dressed up and do a little dance for you all as a year end present from me to you. Of course, you'll have to convince me though because...as you know...I'm a little shy with the jiggly bits. The best way to convince me? COMMENTS. Lots of comments. I'm gonna need some serious convincing.

What if I got all dressed up at the end of the year and did a little dance for you?