Belly dance regularly

Since I added the goal to start dancing more regularly, I’ve made a bit of progress. I haven’t been dancing so much as I’ve been doing isolated practice, but it’s getting me more motivated. When I started exercising in conjunction with my diet, I made myself a routine of 6 different shimmies (Egyptian, hip, twist, pelvic-up, pelvic-back, 3/4) that I do for 2 full minutes each, at varying speeds. I’ve been following it up with chest lifts, drops and circles, as well as different hip circles. I’m going to slowly integrate more moves each day as my stamina increases.

In this time, my shimmies have gotten more fluid, and I’m able to speed them more. My knees are beginning to strengthen and the movements are coming a bit more naturally. I’ve lost a lot of strength and flexibility since I stopped dancing, and although it’s a little depressing, it feels good to be building it back up.

Bellydancing used to take up most of my week, as I would find myself alternating between group classes, private lessons and personal practice. However, after moving back to Vancouver nearly 2 years ago, I almost stopped completely. I found myself dancing once every few months if I was lucky. It makes me sad to think of how much time I’ve wasted not dancing, and I’m really aching to get back into doing it regularly.

While I’m up here with my mother, I want to start dancing again on my own, then as soon as I get back down to Vancouver I want to start taking private lessons again. Thankfuly my private teacher moved down to the coast as well, so I will be able to continue learning from her, which is fantastic because she’s amazing.

I packed and brought my veil, zills, a few hipscarfs and a bunch of DVDs up with me to help me get back into it, so now it’s all about making the time to do it.

I have some tapes that I got a few years ago and they’re a pretty good, fun way to get some activity in at home. But even better, I just found out that my school is going to offer a Middle Eastern dance class this summer, so I’m really excited.