LadyLoba
New member
Hello everyone. I am not new...I was on this board a while ago. But I kind of went back and forth with participating and back and forth with wanting to bellydance..and kind of drifted off..then I forgot my login information. But a lot of people here now probably don't know me..so I'll reintroduce myself.
I'm not in love with my name on here: It's a combination of a nickname from a former friend who turned out to be really really bad news....and a non-ME pop song (Loba by Shakira) I like. I sent an email to Salome...if it's okay with her I'm going to have my name changed to Sierra Shukarni. It's what I'd pick if I were going to use a belly dance stage name. "Sierra" is a common name for things where I'm from (Nevada) and "Shukarni" is the word for a beautiful woman in the Romany language. I thought the "label" would be nice for me since I have struggled with appearance and body image issues my whole life. So if you start seeing "Sierra Shukarni" on here that's me.
Since I've been gone: I am doing a lot better with actually dancing instead of just drilling. I used to have a bad habit of drilling constantly, but not dancing enough. I still have many weak areas though. I can only improv. I need to learn at least the basics of choreography. And my stationery arm positions are horrible.
I'm still self taught. I keep hearing rumors of belly dance classes that never seem to be there, and right now there is no belly dance in my hometown. The next nearest place is 165 miles away...so self taught it is for a while.
I hope everyone is well. I have two part time jobs now...both writing ones...and Ive made some good friends in town, and started going to church...and taking walks for exercise...so I might not be here a lot except on weekends...but I hope to participate in the forum regularly...and hope I can offer some help to someone as well as get advice.
I'm not in love with my name on here: It's a combination of a nickname from a former friend who turned out to be really really bad news....and a non-ME pop song (Loba by Shakira) I like. I sent an email to Salome...if it's okay with her I'm going to have my name changed to Sierra Shukarni. It's what I'd pick if I were going to use a belly dance stage name. "Sierra" is a common name for things where I'm from (Nevada) and "Shukarni" is the word for a beautiful woman in the Romany language. I thought the "label" would be nice for me since I have struggled with appearance and body image issues my whole life. So if you start seeing "Sierra Shukarni" on here that's me.
Since I've been gone: I am doing a lot better with actually dancing instead of just drilling. I used to have a bad habit of drilling constantly, but not dancing enough. I still have many weak areas though. I can only improv. I need to learn at least the basics of choreography. And my stationery arm positions are horrible.
I'm still self taught. I keep hearing rumors of belly dance classes that never seem to be there, and right now there is no belly dance in my hometown. The next nearest place is 165 miles away...so self taught it is for a while.
I hope everyone is well. I have two part time jobs now...both writing ones...and Ive made some good friends in town, and started going to church...and taking walks for exercise...so I might not be here a lot except on weekends...but I hope to participate in the forum regularly...and hope I can offer some help to someone as well as get advice.
Yes, it is quite a long way. I've put together a pretty good lesson plan on my own..but it took a ton of studying before I got it right. In terms of the best way to learn...I would say..lessons or classes are the best...and a very focused, mixed method (online teachers, DVDs, online video dictionaries plus a ton of research into the dance) is next.
