The month of love is upon us, and there’s no greater love than your relationship with yourself. If that concept seems tricky to embrace, February is a good time to try it.
But how?
Consider belly dancing. It’s fun and offers health benefits. At least that’s what friends tell me.
I’ve never belly danced, but I could sense they were homing in on something worth illumination, so I tapped a belly dance expert.
Hang on! What is belly dance?
Belly dance is rooted in the social and performance traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, India and parts of the Mediterranean, says Rachel Brice, founder and owner of Datura, a dance and movement studio and online class platform, based in Portland, Oregon. Brice was the artistic director and choreographer for The Indigo Belly Dance Company and a frequent performer with the Bellydance Superstars.
“While it’s often recognized for its isolations, fluid movements and intricate rhythms, belly dance is not a single codified form,” Brice says. “Rather, it’s a collection of styles that have adapted over time and across cultures.”
Belly dance is art, of course, just as all dance is. It can be performed as solo improvisation, structured choreography or a social dance, Brice notes. All those forms invite practitioners to connect with themselves and their bodies in new, expressive ways.
The benefits of belly dancing
Belly dance awakens self-discovery
“Belly dance can foster positive body image by shifting the focus from external aesthetics to an internal experience,” Brice says. It invites practitioners to work with their body through movement rather than against it.
The same is true of yoga, another practice that involves embodied movement and drawing your senses inward. Brice, it turns out, has significant experience in yoga, including having trained with Gary Kraftsow, the founder of Viniyoga, a well-regarded therapeutic form of yoga that emphasizes adapting movement and shapes to each practitioner, instead of the other way around. Viniyoga emphasizes function over form, and the same principle guides belly dance.
Belly dance encourages a constructive relationship with your body
“The way a movement serves the body and nervous system, the function, is more important than how it looks, the form,” Brice says. “This perspective is crucial for cultivating positive body image in dance. Students are not asked to conform to an external aesthetic ideal but to explore movement in a way that is personal, functional and sustainable for their unique physiology.”
As belly dancers continue their practice and become more comfortable with it, perhaps also improvising movements, “they begin to develop a more compassionate relationship with their body, replacing judgment with curiosity,” Brice says. “This allows dancers to listen more carefully to their body, fostering a friendlier relationship with themselves.”
And belly dance is appropriate for everyone. “In a typical class, students of different ages, genders, body types and abilities move together in a shared experience,” Brice says.
Belly dance’s movements offer physical benefits as well. Here are several, according to Brice:
Belly dance nourishes the spine, taking it through a full range of motion
“From a biomechanical perspective, belly dance movements include spinal articulation and joint movement, all of which contribute to ease of movement,” Brice notes. The dance mobilizes the spine through undulations, body waves, and rib cage and circular pelvic motions. This can counter stiffness and ease back pain.
“In a single class, the spine will experience forward, backward and lateral bends, and gentle spinal rotation,” Brice says. “Consequently, the intervertebral discs are fed by drawing in nutrients and fluid from the surrounding tissue, keeping them flexible and shock absorbent.”
Belly dance can benefit all the body’s joints
Belly dance’s wave-like movements can reach as far as the toes and fingers, helping all the body’s joints with mobility through low-impact activity. Joints (including those of the spine) don’t have their own blood supply, so movement is crucial for keeping them healthy.
Belly dance also promotes flexibility, increases coordination and builds strength, particularly in the core and along the spine.
Want to give belly dance a shot?
Here’s what Brice suggests:
Snoop online
“If you just want to see if you like it — right now — do some searching on YouTube and find a style or dancer you like, and playfully follow one of their performance videos,” Brice says. “You’ll know immediately if your body likes the way it feels.”
Search out a class
You’ll reap the most benefits through working with a teacher who resonates with you, whether online or in person.
“Because belly dance is such a rich tradition, learning with an experienced guide can help you build a solid foundation, while offering important context and insight,” Brice says. “An experienced instructor can help you see the big picture of the dance form, and help you progress safely and effectively, and the community you find in class or online can help you stick to the style you’ve chosen.”
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