Read How I Got Started With Belly Dance... ...

For a few years I had been searching for a workout that I could enjoy.  I’ve tried a variety of workouts for example, the treadmill, walking indoors and out doors, kick boxing, free weight lifting, biking, skating, etc…  Although I love to bike and I do enjoy skating I still wanted to find something that I love more than both of those exercises.  I first wanted to get involved with Afro Brazilian dance back in 2003, but I had a hard time finding a place where this dance was being taught.  I then learned and stumbled upon belly dance.  I took the class at Waldorf Gymnastics Recreational facility in Waldorf for about three months with an instructor name, Raquel and I found myself enjoying it.  Raquel left the area to get married and moved away to another location.  So there I was without belly dance.  I reverted to belly dance tapes until I found an area that taught belly dance again; although, to me you get a better workout under instruction than you do with tapes – but there’s nothing wrong with tapes or belly dance DVDs.  After about six months, I learned of belly dancing being in two locations - Dancer’s Studio and Colony South Hotel both in Clinton Maryland.  I took classes at Dancer’s Studio taught by Verna Thompson for a couple of months and enjoyed it.  Verna is a very sweet lady, and I admire her with her strength, age, and grace to keep teaching this dance as she does.  Mrs. Verna is seventy something' years old, she’s been teaching belly dance for 40 years, and I admire her energy to still be teaching this dance.  She’s an inspiration to me in hopes that I can live to be that age or older and still have the strength and energy to teach this dance.  After I took a few classes with Verna, I tried belly dance at the Colony South Hotel taught by Yucy El Banan a (Egyptian born native) belly dance instructor in the Clinton area.  Once I took lessons with Yucy I was totally hooked!  When I first went to Yucy’s class I examined her class for about thirty minutes, and I noticed the ladies were really getting a good workout.  After about thirty minutes of watching Yucy's class I went to the front desk and registered for the class.  After taking about thirty minutes of Yucy’s class I felt like I had worked out for one full hour instead of thirty minutes that was left of the class!  It was a great workout, and I knew from that moment I loved belly dance.  This dance had captured me and I was hooked!  Yucy became my instructor and I am honored to have learned from Yucy who is a born native Egyptian instructor from Cairo Egypt, and she’s highly knowledgeable in her culture of dance & its rich history.  Yucy is great with her choreographies; she’s great with adding expressions & feelings to the music.  I also joined her professional troupe called 'Dokki Ya MaZika' from 2003 to about 2005 or if not longer.  The term ‘Dokki Ya MaZika’ stands for “Let the drums roll, here comes the belly dancers!” for those of you wondering what Dokki Ya MaZika stands for.  I had a chance to study with the talented Lotus Naraja from Baltimore Maryland. Lotus is very knowledgeable in Middle Eastern dance, the music, and its history.  She inspired me, and she represents the Baltimore area magnificently!  She rocks when she performs, and she’s great with her upper and body sharp crisp movements along with expressing herself by feeling the music when she performs or teach.  One other instructor I took lessons from was Nadirah Nasreen from Rockville MD, who is also a talented instructor.  Nadirah is also knowledgeable in Middle Eastern dance and the music, and she’s great with upper & lower body isolations and sharp movements.  Belly dance is about expressing the art of the dance through traditional or classical Arabic music, modern style Pop Arabic music, as well as American R&B music.  American R&B music is a new innovation along with belly dance hip-hop. There are a variety of movements that can be taught and performed, and expression is a huge part of the dance.  You should learn to express yourself in your dance and feel the music while you put your entire soul in to the dance.  But you must have knowledge of the music and know what to do and what not to do.  I attended a variety of workshops that I enjoyed going to and learning.  To name a few I attended Yucy’s workshops (Egyptian dance – born native), Lotus (Lebanese & Egyptian dance), Nadirah (Egyptian & Turkish dance), Faten Salama (Egyptian dance – born native), Karima Alize (Egyptian & Tribal dance), Ava Fleming (Egyptian & Tribal dance), Raqia Hanson (Egyptian dance – born native), Sultana (Egyptian dance), etc… I’m sure it’s others I could name.  All were wonderful instructors & knowledgeable, and as we move forward in the future I look forward to attending more workshops with those highly knowledgeable in Middle Eastern dance.  I believe you should never ever stop learning as an instructor or student if you love this dance, there is so much to learn, and you can never stop learning.  So I encourage you to get involved with one of the most wonderful and eccentric dance arts like I did.  You'll get a great workout and you'll have fun doing it!