Belly Dancing with Confidence

I've been radio silent for a few days, but probably because it hurt to stand up straight from Belly Dancing.

BT and I went to Saffron, the dance studio in Clarendon, for our first ever belly dancing lesson. A few things:

- I did not know that Belly Dancing has such a feminist draw. I was unaware that there really isn't a male counter part.

- I LOVED that my instructor quit her high powered lawyer job to open this studio and now is a full time belly dancing instructor. I see this as a sign of hope for me.

- While I often balk at group discussion based entirely on "let your inner goddess glow" crap (I'm not a sit in a circle, talk about feminist ideals kinda girl), I did appreciate that every person in that class let go of their inhibitions, even if just a little bit. One woman, who I will love watching, has a bit (read: a good deal) of what our instructor calls "residual" (the three letter "F" word is banned at the studio). She rolled her shirt up underneath her bra, all her residual hanging out...and shimmied. I was thrilled for her.

I appreciate the ability of an instructor, class, facility, dance, whatever, to make people, especially women, comfortable in their own skin. It's not just a self image thing, it encourages people to try a bit harder. That woman was clearly comfortable...and she was moving with confidence. I'm convinced that moving with confidence is probably directly related to an increase in the amount of calories burned.

It relates to the commentary I had earlier about women being resistant to working out in the free weight section that is often dominated by men. It might not be labled as confidence in some cases, but more a good self image.

Regardless, I'm loving shaking my residual all over my body, and having dinner/drinks with BT afterwards. I haven't shown Chadd my new moves yet. Maybe I need to borrow my classmate's confidence.