Belly Dancing in Cairo

I wanted this to be my first entry on this blog, which is essentially a soft diary of my time in Egypt…I had always written long descriptions of my activities to friends and this time around, I thought I would share it with a larger number of people and hence this blog.

Last week, I attended a belly dancing workshop and it was like living a dream. Of course, I had heard about “belly dancing” and always associated it with something straight out of “Arabian nights”. The first time I ever saw a belly dance performance was in Jordan, at a resort by the Dead Sea. I remember being so mesmerized by the way the dancer was moving that I trailed her, filming the entire performance. I tried some of the moves in the privacy of my hotel room but they looked no where as flattering on me as they did on her. And now, living in Cairo, I was dying to give it a shot. After all, Egypt is the “mecca” of belly dancing and if I left this place without trying the moves, it would be unpardonable in my books.

It was a wonderful experience and something that I am going to cherish for some time-in fact the aches and pains in various parts of my body will make sure that I don’t forget the day in a hurry. Trying to move my hips in a circle parallel to the floor, without moving any other part of the body was to put it mildly “challenging”. Instinctively, I would move my shoulders and stomach muscles too. In fact, my training in Kathak-an Indian classical dance form and Indian folk dancing, made it even more difficult because I would do the movements in the “kathak” way. The basic techniques used in belly dance require that you make circular motions isolated in one part of the body-it could be the hips or the shoulders. The highlight of the class, was definitely the “shimmy”- a movement which is as delightful as it sounds. Then we were onto rolling of the belly muscles. It should go this way-push out your belly -first the top part of the belly and then the lower, then pull in the belly-again first the top part and then the lower. However, my belly muscles rebelled. Despite my best efforts (and that of the teacher’s, I might add), they moved in just the opposite way, making me appear like a “vomiting camel”.

The music was simply mindblowing-you simply wont be able to resist matching your steps to the beat. The teacher was really good –a Scotswoman. An Indian learning to belly dance from a Scotswoman in Cairo, Egypt is simply one aspect of globalisation.

Have bought myself a scarf with bells on it to tie around my hips the next time I go for a belly dance workshop-will make me feel a character straight out of arabian nightsJ).! Watch this space for more on belly dancing.