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| The first group of new beginners for 2014 |
As the beginners left the class, one of the new students asked me how long I've been dancing. It surprised me that it has been more than two years since I set foot into Jacqui's first class back in March 2012.She also asked whether they would ever get it right. I clearly recognise their slightly bewildered looks and nervous giggles as the same experience I went through so long ago. That first class was intimidating! For someone who had always loved watching someone else dance, it was suddenly terrifying to literally have the shoe on the other foot! I remember looking at Jacqui and seeing this tiny graceful woman who clearly had a background in classical dance forms (I guessed right, she was a ballet teacher before!) and thinking that I had made the biggest mistake of my life! It was challenging and it was scary, but somehow we made it through that first class. That night I drove away and thought to myself that I was probably not going to go back. . . and then I did.
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| One of our first classes in 2012 |
Through the next couple of weeks, my fellow students and I were continually challenging ourselves. We slowly but surely figured out the basic moves and actually saw an improvement in our dancing. This boosted our confidence immensely. It also helped that our classes have always been filled with wisecracks, laughs and flops. Jacqui will be the first to tell you that moving her body to one side is a dream, but as soon as she has to do it to the other side, everything just. . . um. . . yeah. . . Not so good!
Once we had the dancing under our belts, Jacqui came with a new challenge: live performances. It was a scary thought for most of us, we believed that we were nowhere near ready to showcase our dancing skills on a stage in front of strangers! But we did it, taking part in The Way Dance School's annual dance show and later also joining Belly Buttons Harties in their Desert Feast show. The first time on a stage was intimidating, but the adrenaline rush is addictive and the mutual feeling after the first show is always "When can we do that again?!"
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| After our first public performance in 2012 |
Now it's two years later and our school has classes for the new beginners, the advanced beginners and my intermediate group. I always pitch up early for our intermediate classes and love seeing the progression in the advanced beginners as they further their studies. Do I recognise myself in the newbies? Oh yes!
That first class is always the most difficult and I want to make sure our new students understand and believe this. You will not "get it" in the first hour - not even if you have years of experience in other dance forms. You may not even get it in the first four classes. . . and then, suddenly. . . Magic will happen and suddenly your body will move in a surprising new way. A new pathway would have formed in your brain and something that tripped you up for weeks, will suddenly be like second nature. Will you find that new moves completely scramble every brain cell? Definitely! I still struggle with what side is left and what side is right and Jade, my fellow intermediate student will tell you that she hates shimmy walks. Everyone of us have something that we don't like or can't do.
I believe that every dancer will tell you that you never "become a Belly Dancer" as if it is some destination to arrive at after X amount of years of training. Every dancer is an eternal student of the dance form and we will always have new challenges to face, new choreography to master and new crowds to wow.
Is the journey difficult? The question should not be is it difficult, it should be "Is it worth it?" And to that, the answer is always YES.
I welcome you lovely ladies into our sisterhood and family at Rusty Belly Dance and I hope you will give me the pleasure of watching you on this magical journey that we call Belly Dance as a way of being.
Happy Shimmy-ing!
XxX
Marina
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