Hello. 
I've always been fascinated with the concept of belly dancing, but I didn't actively pursue learning it until about three months ago. I live in a relatively isolated area and can't afford to travel too far, so for the time being, I haven't been able to get lessons--basically, I'm a complete novice with zero experience and I probably look like a chicken when I attempt to dance.
That having been said, I'm doing my best to learn a few basic moves by watching professional raqs sharqi dancers perform routines or explain individual movements in tutorial videos. Obviously, it's difficult to know when I'm getting a move right or not, but at this point I'm just doing the best I can until I can find a way to get to a proper instructor.
I wouldn't call myself a belly dancer by any means, nor do I necessarily plan to become one (whether professional or not). I didn't expect to discover so many different styles of non-traditional dance by attempting to learn more about the classic, but that was probably a bit naive of me--at any rate, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that there are styles that mimic certain aspects of belly dance without being traditional, but which are still very beautiful in their own right and incredibly appealing to me, personally. I'm still a bit too new to know what to call them--if they even have a formalized name within the community--but perhaps once I get a bit of dancing experience and come to understand my own body within that expressive context, I'll figure it out and devote myself to something specific.
Regardless of what type of dance I end up learning, I'll be doing it simply for the love of the art form. Even if that dance doesn't turn out to be raqs sharqi, I'll still love learning about and watching others perform it.
Hope the intro wasn't too long. :redface:
I've always been fascinated with the concept of belly dancing, but I didn't actively pursue learning it until about three months ago. I live in a relatively isolated area and can't afford to travel too far, so for the time being, I haven't been able to get lessons--basically, I'm a complete novice with zero experience and I probably look like a chicken when I attempt to dance.
That having been said, I'm doing my best to learn a few basic moves by watching professional raqs sharqi dancers perform routines or explain individual movements in tutorial videos. Obviously, it's difficult to know when I'm getting a move right or not, but at this point I'm just doing the best I can until I can find a way to get to a proper instructor.
I wouldn't call myself a belly dancer by any means, nor do I necessarily plan to become one (whether professional or not). I didn't expect to discover so many different styles of non-traditional dance by attempting to learn more about the classic, but that was probably a bit naive of me--at any rate, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that there are styles that mimic certain aspects of belly dance without being traditional, but which are still very beautiful in their own right and incredibly appealing to me, personally. I'm still a bit too new to know what to call them--if they even have a formalized name within the community--but perhaps once I get a bit of dancing experience and come to understand my own body within that expressive context, I'll figure it out and devote myself to something specific.
Regardless of what type of dance I end up learning, I'll be doing it simply for the love of the art form. Even if that dance doesn't turn out to be raqs sharqi, I'll still love learning about and watching others perform it.
Hope the intro wasn't too long. :redface:
