Belly Dance and Self Expression

How many of you have watched another dancer perform and became inspired to dance and create something of your own? It’s a given we have all been inspired by one particular dance, musical or expression of the body. I think Ruth St. Denis was correct when she said we are always looking for our perfect dance. The one thing we can’t do especially with ourselves is to cheat ourselves out of this pursuit of bliss.

This morning I was thinking about how many experts we have in our field and how many different ways we have all become experts. The road to belly dance expert-dom is as diverse as there are stars in the sky. Some of us have travelled on uncharted barely there roads or treacherous mountains with inclines perilously dropping off into the vast unknown below.

Well, okay maybe I am exaggerating a bit here but at times it did feel this way for me. Others were born into a family business while some became so captivated by the dance they immersed themselves into all aspects of its true meaning. No matter what your story is I think what we all have in common is the veneration of a dance form that is not as easy as it looks. Read more