Dancing As Healing

Nijinksy, Library of Congress

Four months ago, my dance teacher broke up with her long-term boyfriend. She immediately threw herself into a new choreography with props and custom costumes, and planned an elaborate stage show I was lucky to be a part of.

Around the first of the year, I experienced my own heartbreak. The following night, I got on a stage with my troupe around me and danced. And then I danced on stage the next week. And the week after that.

For me, dance is a way of expressing the feelings I can't express, or that feel as though they are about to poisoning me. Though my heart was cracked that first night on stage, I still felt the love of getting my makeup done, even though my face was swollen from crying. I still felt the creativity and beauty as I put my costume together. I still experienced the excitement of getting on stage, the thrill of the music, the togetherness of dancing with my troupe, even as the one person I wanted in the audience wasn't there.

Since then, I have danced as much as possible. I've taken new dance classes, made new dance friends, and through it all, dance and music have brought me through. When I am feeling lonely, I go to class and my students or fellow dancers cheer me up. Last week after a particularly bad weekend, I settled into the slow taxeem of ITS and just felt as though I belonged. There have been mornings when I felt so low I just had to get up and out of bed and dance. In fact, some of the people who have been there for me the most, who have given me light, have been people I have danced with.

If you have been dancing long enough to feel comfortable doing it, the next time you feel low, experience heartbreak, or just need a pick-me-up, try putting on some music and dancing it out. Play a song that particularly speaks to you, a song that makes you feel happy, even something silly that just makes you laugh. Grab a friend or family member if you can, and just dance. The feeling of the music, of putting yourself back inside your body again, of slowly finding yourself again when all seems lost, they are things that can heal you. At the very least, it'll help you get your mind off your sadness for awhile.

Or go to a dance class.

To me, dance class is the nail shop for dancers. There's the camaraderie of women doing the same thing you are--learning the steps, the moves, the music, gossiping, talking about spouses and significant others, complaining about work and family. It's hard to imagine that the woman next to you in line at Starbucks ever experienced the same thing you did, but when you are doing the same choreography as that woman, or following her lead in improv, you have a better sense that she is coming from the same place--everyone has their own problems, everyone has their own heartaches.

The roots of belly dance lie in the houses of women who danced for each other because they couldn't dance in public. They danced for birth, for death, for love, for life. No matter your style of dance, take a lesson from them. Use dance to get you through life's joys and sorrows, and remember that there will always be someone to dance with.

Breaking up is hard to do

The studios that I've danced at usually take a break for Christmas and New Year's. This week I'm facing my last practice class for the rest of the year, and the classes I teach are breaking the following week. Neither is planning on starting up again until the first week of January. Everyone is so busy around this time and it's sometimes just easier to get things done when you don't have dance class to fit into your increasingly busier schedule. While taking a break from your dance class is a relief, though, don't you feel a little bit guilty for not dancing during that time?

So what do you do during your dance break? Well, as with everything else, you have options. There's a ton of things you can do on your own time, depending on your schedule and how much you can fit in. Take a look at some of your choices:

• Do nothing: This is probably the easiest thing to get away with over a holiday dance break. However, it's also the thing that will leave you feeling the guiltiest. After all, if you do nothing, aren't your skills going to degrade? Will your teacher notice? The thing is, though, sometimes you do need a break to do nothing, especially if you take several classes a week over the year, or dance more than five hours a week. You don't want to risk burning out, and if you're starting to hit that point, then take a full break from dancing and enjoy it. Of course, there are still some things you can do to keep the dance fires alive.
• Try something new: Do you want to keep dancing but are feeling a little burnt out on bellydancing? Look around and see if there's any workshops or short classes in other styles of dance going on in your area. Flamenco and ballet are good ones to take to supplement your bellydance, and ballroom is an old favorite that you can take with a partner or friend. This is also a good time to go with something crazy and fun, like pole dancing or burlesque. Whatever you pick, just have fun with it!
• Drills: No matter how good you get, you'll never escape drills. However, instead of drilling your usual hip and chest work, take the time to work on something that's been giving you trouble. Think back over the last few months. Is there a move or a piece of choregraphy you couldn't wrap your head around? Ask your teacher for some final pointers before the break, and devote some practice time to just that. Make sure you try different pieces of music so you don't get bored.
• Watch dancers: Christmas is when all the ballet troupes are doing their version of The Nutcracker. There's also plenty of other dance theater in different styles and stories.  If you have a theater nearby, check out what they have to offer and make a date to see a professional dance show. You can even get your dance sisters and brothers in on it by forming a group to go see a show. 
• Read a book: There are so many books on bellydancing out there. Stop by your library and pick up one or two, or hit up Amazon.com and buy something. Not only do you get some entertainment, but a book is the perfect escape from the crazy holiday season. One of my favorite fiction bellydance books is *The Bellydancer, by DeAnna Cameron. Other favorites that cover some of the history and stories of other bellydancers are A Trade Like Any Other, Serpent of the Nile, and Grandmother's Secrets.
• Watch a video: Not just bellydance practice videos, though if you've been eying one for a while, now's the time to get it and try out. There's also documentaries about dancers (not just belly dancers) and Egypt that you can watch if you want to get a little bit of history and real life in there. If you've got Netflix, they have several dance documentaries available on streaming.

As you can see, there's plenty for you to do during your holiday break. Personally, I'm planning to see a folklorico ballet, read two books, one on the history of Egyptian performers and one on dance anatomy, and drill shimmies. I also have Zoe Jakes's new DVDs on my Christmas list, so if I get it, I'll be running through it at least once.

Do you have a favorite thing to do when you're taking a break from dancing?

*Disclaimer: I don't know any of these authors personally, though I've met Ms. Cameron several times through my teacher. I don't receive anything from the links except good karma.

What's Bellydance?

I've noticed a disturbing trend among bellydancers. It makes me really sad sometimes, especially since bellydance in general is a very misunderstood artform, and we already have to fight for some modicum of respect.

Some bellydancers refuse to acknowledge other bellydancers.

In fact, there are some belly dancers out there who claim that their fellow bellydancers aren't real bellydancers.

With the current generation of bellydancers exploring what they can do with the dance and the creative ways they can update it, modernize it, or just make it their own, the old school dancers and their protegees are refusing to claim some branches of tribal bellydance as part of the overall tree of bellydance. There are even some tribal and ATS dancers out there who insist that what they are doing isn't bellydance. Why would they say that?

A Brief History

There are thousands of resources out there that explain, in detail, where belly dance came from. For the CliffsNotes version, the origins of belly dance are found in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and North Africa. So right away we don't even have a specific area to work with. And, like most things that have have developed and evolved along with the human race over the centuries, it wasn't a single culture or race that came up with the idea.

Eventually, belly dance moved over to the United States, via the The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the many iterations of Little Egypt. Some of the burlesque dancers caught on, and so did Hollywood, and of course, everyone put their own spin on it. This lead us into the 70s and 80s, where the folkloric aspect of belly dance started spreading to Renaissance Faires and the Society of Creative Anachronism, which eventually led to Jamila Salimpour, Masha Archer, Carolena Nerricio, and the creation of FatChance BellyDance and American Tribal Style. From there, ATS dancers began taking some of the FatChance moves and spinning them into their own style, and tribal fusion, improve tribal style, alternative tribal, urban tribal, gothic tribal, et al., were born.

The one line that sums it up: It's all bellydance.

That's right. From your restaurant cabaret dancer to your Egyptian dancer covered in sequins, to the tribal troupe wearing kuchi jewelery and plain cotton skirts to the fusion dancer wearing yoga pants and minimalist accessories, it's all bellydance. Like it or not, we all came from the same place. We evolved from the Ghawazee dancers who inspired raqs sharqui, which became bellydance when it moved to Europe and the U.S.

What's not Bellydance? Well, you've got your hobbyist dancer who wants to learn a few moves to look sexy. Or the woman who takes six classes and decides she knows everything she needs to know about bellydance. Or the dancer who calls herself tribal fusion without ever learning what she's fusing. Or the bellydance that is so far removed from the basic movements that it's basically modern dance or hip hop.

None of us are performing "true bellydance" because there is no true bellydance. We evolved to avoid becoming extinct, like Ghawazee style, the knowledge of which is now mostly contained within the Banat Mazzin family in Luxor, Egypt.


It all comes down to respect

We spend so much time asking for respect from the general public, that we don't even realize we're crippling ourselves by infighting and refusing to change. It's true that tribal fusion, alternative tribal, and other kinds of tribal are the most popular styles right now, but tribal wouldn't have existed if it weren't for the women before us who evolved the dance, who asked, "What can I do with this?"

As long as you recognize where you come from, and respect the men and women who came before you, you're a bellydancer. And what you do is bellydance.