Guest blog: why bellydance? Join Kelly May 15 and find out
A guest post from trainer and bellydance instructor Kelly Enston. This post originally appeared April 19 on her site at KellyKinetics.
Why would someone want to bellydance, you may ask?
Well, there are so many reasons why people should bellydance!
If you are worried about it being a sexual thing, don’t worry, it’s less sexual than it is sensual in its movements. Originally the history of bellydance started as a dance developed by women for women.
Although there are misconceptions about what bellydance really is, be assured, and anyone can correct me, that it only became sexualized by men. Funnily enough, now bellydance has taken the entire world by storm and there are amazing male bellydancers as well. That being said, I welcome everyone into my classes.
If you are worried about showing your midsection, guess what?! You don’t have to unless you feel comfortable doing so. In bellydance classes, you can wear whatever you feel comfortable in. You can wear a full-length tank top or t-shirt, or you can wear something showing your midsection. The main thing is, no matter the level of coverage, it should be form-fitting so that as your bellydance instructor, I can properly see your body movements.
If you decide to start performing in small student shows or even professionally one day, that’s another level and even there, there are options on coverage level. Main point here is, do not let this stop you from learning. I want my students to be comfortable coming to class.
Besides being really fun… I share a list of other reasons to bellydance. Some may come with an explanation.
1. Learning about how your body moves and feels
Your fitness journey doesn’t always need to start in the gym.
The way I teach bellydance (based on Hadia’s Amazing Body Logic System), you learn what muscles create certain bellydance moves, how these muscles are meant to work to create those movements and in turn you develop a greater sense of body awareness. So many people’s brains are detached from their bodies. I help you reconnect mind and body through bellydance. The methods I use also provide the body with a nice massage!
2. Learning what it can do for your overall mind, body and soul.
Once you start to see how my methods to teach this dance art work, and you get more comfortable and confident in your abilities, you will see how bellydance starts to collectively affect your mind body and soul positively. I haven’t met a person yet, including myself, that this has not happened to.
3. Learning that every person’s body, mind and soul is unique and so bellydance will empower each of you in a different way.
I think this is self-explanatory. Every individual is unique. I expect feedback on this to be very different for everyone.
4. Learning about your strengths and weaknesses and having the courage to work on weaknesses in order to build them into strengths.
Learning anything new will allow this to happen, but I find learning how your body works is an excellent avenue for this type of growth.
5. Getting a great workout in a fun, safe and friendly environment.
6. Allowing yourself to learn about a new culture while having fun and making friends.
7. Allowing yourself to use your body for something it was built to do.
If you want to bring fitness and health, joy and empowerment into your life, then come out and learn what bellydance can do for you!