” Let the beauty of what you love be what you do”

Rumi

 

What is it that attracts us to this Powerful Dance?

Oriental Dance is purely feminine…there is no question about that!!!  That exquisite feminine movement calls to the natural rhythm of our ‘creature-hood’ as female.

The deep and powerful beats and the heart-centered melodic movements of Arabic music elicit  a primal, yet ethereal, body expression.

It is as if our deepest ‘self’ recognizes a perfect expression of beauty! It is our highest vision of ourselves.

The experience is, at once, empowering and transformative.

Those of us that have lived our lives with dance as our ‘center’, as  a constant ‘touchstone’ of our Joy, Beauty and Power KNOW that it has been bestowed through the Gift of Grace. Our greatest Joy is to Dance!

As a young woman I was awakened in and through this dance. I had truly ‘fallen in love’…I was consumed! I even had my Dance Teacher say “it is only dance’…

but that was because he was a male…he could not KNOW the Primal Passion of the Goddess! Yet, he felt the Power of the Dance and understood it.

Now, after all of these years, I can reflect and SEE how pivotal it was to embrace this dance. In spite of the resistance I encountered, on so many levels.

I do KNOW that it has been the instrumental, if not, central aspect of my personal and spiritual development.

I know, or at least imagine, that I share that with countless women.

The greatest beauty of this dance is that it is for ALL women…All ages…it is a source of Joy and Power wherever and whenever the music plays…

Even in the kitchen!!!

Thank You Maria Aya..You are Fantastic!!!!!

OK Ladies! Let’s Dance!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Happy New Year to All

You Beautiful Dancers and Family!!!

Dance and Celebrate Iraqi Style…

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Love, Hugs and Happy Wishes…
Kathreen

Shahraman Of Lebanon

The beautiful and talented Shahraman dances in the classic Lebanese style!

Her presence is elegant with a feisty edge that is accented by her gorgeous costumes, many that she designs herself!

Recently, I had a conversation with Shahraman and asked her some questions about her dancing career.

Here is a snippet of our conversation!

Read the rest of this entry »

…Why Dancing Keeps us Sane!

If there is one aspect of Belly Dancing that everyone, who has experienced this dance agrees upon, it is it’s ‘Theraputic Value’.

In my personal experience of teaching many women in and from different cultures, the responses are the same. Although expressed in various ways, the acknowledgement of the joyful, liberating ,physically freeing, meditative and self-acceptance qualities of Oriental Dance are unanimous.  It is this fundamental core that ‘keeps us coming back for more!’

We can explore this subject of Belly Dance as Therapy intellectually while knowing that the actual experience is the ‘Holy Grail’. Nonetheless, we are creatures of intellect and it is fun to dissect, analyze, validate and confirm ‘why’ we do the things we do.

There is certainly a long list of the benefits of Belly Dance as Mind, Body, Heart,Spirit integration to be found in many sources.

But ,today I ran across an interesting source from the Dance Therapy domain. Read the rest of this entry »