Discovered bellydancing in the family

Duvet

Member
I recently had a conversation with my mum, and she disclosed that as a young girl she would dress up in her mother's scarves and prance around in the bedroom in front of the full length mirror pretending to be a bellydancer. :dance: This was back in the early '50s, in rural England.

Whilst current bellydancers might have had similar childhood fantasies, I was wandering if anyone has similar stories about confessions from older relatives who'd dreamt of being a bellydancer, or even done it, but which only came to light after you had started dancing. :)
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
Not a chance. They're supportive but think I'm slightly loony.

I on the other hand used to sneak out at night with a bunch of scarves and dance in a copse where no one could see me and I had never even heard of bellydancing back then. Imagine my delight when I learned about veil work. :D
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Unfortunately no secret BDers in my family - other styles non professionally yes ( my grandmother by all accounts was a fabulous Ballroom and Charleston dancer, but never had the opportunity or the money to to do anything in a professional or semi professional sense):D but my family is very supportive & love the fact that I dance.
~Mosaic
 

Sophia Maria

New member
That's fantastic! I am the first bellydancer in my family, and like Ariadne said, they're supportive enough--but they think I'm either extremely weird or just plain crazy!
 

Janene Aliza

New member
Have a home movie of my mom at age 8 (?) attempting to bellydance in her harem pant pajamas -- too cute !!!

Also on the home movie, her half sister does some bellydance moves (pretty good in my "newbie" opinion).

I will have to see if I can get it converted to DVD to preserve for posterity...
 

Amulya

Moderator
No dancers or aspiring dancers in my family. They were familiar with belly dancers (grandparents used to go to Egypt since the 50's) but never told me anything about it. My mother even thought belly dancers were kind of indecent (skimpy outfits), she had seen them, but wasn't impressed :( (just hoping she saw some terrible dancers, but guess my family has nothing with dance)
 

Duvet

Member
Been doing a bit of family history lately, and thought I would just share this discovery - since it tickled my fancy!

My great grandfather was a trawler fisherman, and when World War One started he joined the Royal Naval Division; Trawler Section. This section of the Navy used modified fishing trawlers as patrol boats, mine sweepers, blockades, etc. These modified trawlers were known as naval drifters, and I found a photo of my great grandfather from 1917 which identifies him as a 'naval drifter'.

Since my navel drifts all over the place when I bellydance, I found the pun quite amusing.
 

Zumarrad

Active member
No. But I did learn that my paternal grandmother was a very good dancer (of the old time social partner dancing type), a few years before I ever took a dance class other than ballet/contemporary/jazz/etc and during a period when I wasn't really dancing at all. I've always enjoyed dancing, but my immediate family is not really into it. Mum and Dad danced socially in the 50s of course but while Mum enjoys dancing Dad is fairly crap at it and our family social life never involved dancing or going to dances at all.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
No dancers in my family prior to my generation that I am aware of. My cousin's daughter is a talented ballerina and several of my cousins got into cowboy dancing when they were young; Texas, y'know. ;) My husband comes from a background where many of the old folks considered dancing a terrible sin on par with drinking and card playing. No doubt they would be appalled to know he married a belly dancer except we never lived near enough for them to know.
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
You know now that I think about it my parents loved to dance, that is actually how they met, so I guess I come by my love of dancing honestly. My mother told me how she used to go dancing every weekend in high school and college no matter how tired she was from working and then would dance until they closed. (She didn't really approve of belly dancing though. Oh well.)
 
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