Read

From Ancient Custom

to Modern Experience!

^ Learn
t Watch
k Hire
d Look
i Buy
f Read
g About
x Network
o Calendar

Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio

1045 9th Ave. N, St Petersburg, FL 33705

727-459-8558

info at hip-expressions dot com

WHAT IS ‘BELLY DANCE’?

The term ‘Belly Dance’ as it is used today, is a term for a style of dance that originates in the Middle East, involving isolations of the head, arms, chest, and hips, in time to the music. There are many different styles and types of Belly Dance, but first you need to understand that this dance comes from the stylizations and customs of dance in the Middle East. If you go to any Arabic or Turkish nightclub here in America, you will see everyone ‘Belly Dances’ though they may not claim to if asked. So ‘Belly Dance’ has evolved from particular ways people have danced in the Middle East. Is is a dance of celebration, of joy, from family events and small get-togethers to nightclubs and parties. It is an improvisational past-time, a release through personal expression boldly using the body to embody emotion.

However, although everyone throughout the Middle East – men, women, children, grandparents – dances with moves characteristic of Belly Dance, they will not claim to be a ‘Belly Dancer’. This is a separate thing. To claim to be a ‘Belly Dancer’ is to say that you would perform the dance, possibly for money, and possibly for strangers – and in the Arabic culture, to perform for strange men would be unacceptable! Dancing in the living room with your family is one thing, performing for strangers for money – another! The step from custom to commodity causes a huge paradigm shift that is not socially acceptable.

Fortunately for us, we live here in America, in the West, where we follow different customs and experience much fewer social restraints. Belly Dance in America has grown into an entirely new art form of its own. The dance has evolved, from living room, to classroom – Belly Dance classes are everywhere in America. Belly Dancers perform at neighborhood festivals, theatre shows, at restaurants, nightclubs, and private parties – Belly Dance is celebrated as a beautiful feminine art form, and proudly performed in public, not restricted to the privacy of the home.

To Belly Dance in America is to embrace your femininity, to claim power over your body and your expression, to be bold and sassy and in control of your body. It is reconnecting with Goddess energy, through self-control and body awareness, whether performing solo, in a group, or just attending classes and workshops. It’s a great workout, and it’s fun. Though often people have some misconceptions about what Belly Dance is, through pop stars like Shakira, public awareness is growing. The movement is especially strong in the larger cities, New York, Miami, Chicago, LA, and especially on the West Coast, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a belly dancer.

So, what is ‘Belly Dance’? It is an art form that has evolved throughout the ages, from the Middle East, to the Western world where it has evolved into a symbol of the powerful feminine. Belly Dance is what you make of it – dancing in your living room, on stage, or in class – it is celebrating and expressing yourself through your body, no matter what size, shape, or form you have, it is yours and it is powerful!

Belly Dance is…

...an art form.

…many different cultural styles, as well as fusion styles.

…self-expressions fo all emotions and feelings

…personal explorative journey

…exercise

…lifestyle

…performance art

…group dance

…therapeutic release

…reconnecting with the divine feminine

…dressing like a goddess

…preparation for childbirth

…practice for sexuality

…opening the body and joins in a natural manner – like Michelangelo ‘released’ his sculptures from

the block, we release these movements from our body

…fun

…hard work!

…natural movements, that take consistent effort to put together a dance as an art form to do it justice

…sensual not sexual

…ancient custom to modern experience