I began bellydancing in May 2004. It was a long time coming. I first became interested in Middle Eastern dance when I was a teenager, and my boyfriend at the time gave me an instructional bellydance tape, which was a rare thing in those days. I watched the tape, tried some of the moves, and pretty much gave up after one viewing. What I was seeing wasn’t reconciling with what I was trying to do, and I realized the importance of having a real, live human there in order to learn properly.

Fast-forward a decade or so. My mom had joined a health club, and one day saw a flyer for independent classes taught there. Remembering my ill-fated foray so many years ago, she asked if I was still interested in learning. I was, and although it was about half a year away, my mom paid for my first 8-week bellydance class as an early birthday present. I haven’t stopped dancing since.

I danced in my first performance as a student about 4 months after I started taking classes. Five months after that, I auditioned for, and made it into, my instructor’s dance troupe, with whom I am still dancing today.

I am by no means an excellent dancer. While I’ve been lucky enough to have the occasion to teach, I am still a student and will be for a long time. I can see how much I’ve improved over the last few years, but I can also see that I have quite a ways to go.

I don’t dance for the glamour of it, although I love the glitter and the sparkle of the cabaret costumes. I certainly don’t dance for the money, as I’ve made about $20 total in the years I’ve been dancing. I don’t dance to impress, as I know that I have far to go myself. But I do dance for the love of it, for the sheer joy of it, and for the freedom and confidence it gives me.

As I have time, I try to put down my thoughts and experiences. Some are good, some are not. There is plenty of frustration to balance the fun, and angst and doubt to balance the joy. But this is what goes on in the mind of an average woman, who has undertaken a not-so-average hobby, with some honestly extraordinary results.