Day 37 ! Belly Dancing

I’m not sure what connotations people generally have of belly dancers - I imagine beautiful, sultry, hourglass-shaped voluptuous dancers, exquisitely dressed with colourful silks and fancy coin belts, delicately hiding behind a silk veil as they move their hips and chests around in a slinky manner.

Though I’ve never been to a restaurant or show where belly dancers perform, I’ve always thought that they have a rough deal – it’s perhaps one of the oldest forms of dance, is an incredibly graceful yet sensual dance with beautiful costumes and the main place where they perform (in the UK)…is in restaurants. While people are digging their pitta breads into the hummus pot and eating lamb kebabs or falafels, probably with their fingers. Now I heart falafel (and hummus), but I also heart dimsum and I wouldn’t want a mid-riff (toned, or not) gyrating towards me during a meal of either. In fact, I would go as far as saying, sexy dancing should not be mixed with meal-based activities. It deserves it’s own show, like ballet or theatre, where people can pay attention and fully appreciate the skill. Do you find restaurants with ballerinas pirouetting around diners’ tables? Exactly.

But, it is what it is and all I can do for now, is just try a belly dance class and see what it’s all about. And I found out it’s not just about hips and chest (though they do play a very large, or in my case, small part). It’s about grace, elegance, confidence, skill and transforming movements into dance. Instructor Tara, substituting from the normal instructor, Beverly (who another student, a regular to the class, said was “lovely, but proper crackers.”), was an expert at these things. Every dance move was not only taught, but also performed to show how the whole package should look.

The class started with a few simpler moves – from the gentle (moving the hip from side to side, a one-sided hip drop or hip raise (there is a difference) and some turns) to the more energetic (shaking hips as fast as you can by moving legs – basically trying to re-create the effects of being on a powerplate (Day 36 Powerplates) but without the powerplate. Instructor Tara was very calm and patient but she did set a standard and would ask us to repeat moves while thinking about very specific points (keeping arms straight, frame in place, head up, shoulders back) – it worked and did make a difference (I think, anyway!). It was easy to see quickly, how belly dancing can be quite complicated – isolating the hip movements already takes some practice, isolating the chest movements is probably marginally easier (from dancing around to Beyonce songs in younger days), but isolating both parts and moving them independently in a sensuous pattern? It’s hard to not look like you’re having an epileptic fit. When you’re learning, of course, Instructor Tara unsurprisingly could pull if off with ease!

Once we “had” the basics, we learnt a short routine, which Instructor Tara had choreographed. The first few moves were relatively straightforward (stepping, turning) which meant we could focus on making them look good but the last few moves were more complicated, my hips weren’t doing what Instructor’s Tara’s were doing, I couldn’t step and shake at the same time and I am quite confident I did not look good (this was, in fact, later confirmed later as I gave the The Boy my look-at-me-and-what-I-learnt-at-belly-dance-class-today-performance).

It wasn’t a high calorie-busting or super toning class, but it was a very basic class – I imagine the benefit of all the core isolation moves will start to show after a few sessions and the calorie-burnt counter will increase as you move onto more routine-learning (and less individual move-learning). As Instructor Tara repeated, you have to practice and will get better each time!

The Need To Know:

- Where: Aquaterra's Sobell Leisure Centre, Finsbury Park

- Nearest Station: Finsbury Park (11mins) / Arsenal (7mins)

- When: Mondays 11.30 or 8.30pm at Sobell or Thursdays 1pm at Highbury

- How Much: Around £7.50 for Non-Members
- Special Note: Instructor Tara's website is www.bellydancerlondon.com

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who are after a graceful but gentle and low impact dance (at first). And who like to shake it, shake it!

- Sweat Scale: 4/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Light toning

- Complexity: 8/10

- Fun Factor: 6/10

- Changing Facilities: Usual

- Instructor Inspiration: 7/10. Graceful whilst being able to shake it!

The Stats:

- Total Time: 49mins

- Calories Burnt: 93

- Average Heart Rate: 77

- Max Heart Rate: 102 

Instructor Tara!

With Miss N, who I met at Trampoline Fit class!