How I fell in love with belly dancing (part 2)

I came to the first training, a bit confused, and also scared of what was waiting for me, considering that the girls had been attending classes for some time. My friendly teacher welcomed me and directed me to the locker room to get ready for class.

And there I am, my first encounter with belly dancing, in a huge practice hall, with lots of mirrors, dimmed lights. In the corner of the hall stood a darbuka and dance props, about which I knew nothing at the time. The teacher put me in the front row, so that I could follow all the dance moves better. I'm slowly getting to know the basic dance moves, and I'm more and more sure that this is what I want to do in the future. The more difficult the movements, the more I want to learn more and more.

"Now we will learn hip sway, a slight movement of the hips right to left, with bent knees," said the teacher, and I waited for her to show us how it looks, all the girls watched her carefully and repeated this movement after her, and so did I.

"WOW, this is interesting", I thought to myself, "Well I can really do this, I'm doing really well", I continue to talk to myself, "ugh, my legs are a little sore now, I have to hold on a little longer", I continue, "and my hands hurt, are they going to tell us to put them down, I can't take it any more! How much more is left to the end? It's only been half an hour, I'm exhausted," I continue with questions, "when are we going to learn that wiggle that I watched on TV", I ask myself, and just then the teacher spoke to us: "It's time for the Egyptian shimmy, it's that movement that you all can't wait to learn, straighten your back, straighten your knees and gently move them back and forth, then speed up the knee work and that's it, Egyptian shimmy." - All the girls and I repeated Egyptian shimmy with a big smile on our faces, our happiness never ended. At the moment, I forgot that my legs and arms hurt, because doing this movement was priceless.

Admit it while reading this now that you've tried to do an Egyptian shimmy? :D

When the training ended, the teacher asked if I was satisfied and if we would see each other again, to which I enthusiastically answered a big YES. I immediately boasted at home about what I had learned, while dad was still not thrilled that I had chosen that particular dance. So my first belly dance class was over, and I had a major muscle soreness the next day. But it was worth it. For the next lesson, I provided myself with a dance scarf for my hips and regularly practised everything I learned that day. Every next training session was better than the previous one, we learned new movements, listened to new music, practised various combinations for choreography, through practice we also learned about the history of belly dance, its styles, props, costumes, music... And that's what you love it or give it up. I fell in love and did not regret it. I enjoyed every beat, every melody, every word of Arabic songs, every movement. Trainings were held twice a week for an hour, it may seem small, but it is quite enough, because this dance is practised regularly at home, not only in a dance studio. I started researching more about Arab male and female singers, their songs, which are really beautiful and very emotional. I regularly translated all the songs using Google Translate, although sometimes it was very difficult to find the correct translation, because the Arabic language and their script is not very simple.

After 6 months of training, the teacher had to choose 4 girls from my group, who will dance at the annual concert of our dance school. I confess, I secretly hoped that she would choose me, but I waited patiently for her to announce which 4 girls would have that privilege. And yes, I ended up being one of those 4 girls. There was no end to my happiness. When I told my family the good news, that I would have my first performance, my brother was uninterested as always, my dad didn't give any reaction, and my mom was as happy as I was. We prepared the choreography for that performance, we came to rehearsals with girls from advanced groups more than 3 times a week. I remember the first rehearsal, when all the girls were dressed in their costumes, different colours, sequins, crystals. I felt like I was in a fairy tale and imagined myself like that one day.

The annual concert of the dance school approached, and the invitations that I personally handed to my dad arrived: "Dad, this is an invitation to the concert and my first performance, to which you must come and see what oriental dance really is". He looked at the invitation and asked me how long THAT would take. Honestly, I didn't have an answer to that question either, but it wasn't that important to me. I turned and left, but I was sure that he and mom would still come to watch me.