how have you been inspired?

[miss_shimmy]

what and who inspired you to dance?

 

[janaki]

Who inspires me to dance???
My heart and soul and all other great egyptian dancers

What inspires me to do dance???
My inner need.

 

[miss_shimmy]

one day,I was feeling low,as I always wanted to be a dancer...I was feeling sad that the dream for me hadn't come true...yet!!I decided there and then that I would be a dancer.this was about a year and a half ago.
so I went to the library to look for ideas.I came away with ballet which was great.then the next week I found a vid by jaqueline chapman,then another by hilary thacker.this was enough to get me started!!!

when I saw Rachel dance...thats when my chin hit the floor (not too hard)thats when I knew I had to dance every day to become so free to dance as Rachel

 

[Maria_Aya]

Call me crazy, i feel dance is my destiny

Whom I'm inspired from?
The best old time egyptian dancers, the kids at the Cairo roads that play tabla with empty cans and dance, my students.

Maria Aya

 

[Aisha Azar]

Inspiration

Dear Maria,
I first saw belly dance at Renaissance Faires in Northern and Southern California. I would have to say that Diane Weber is the first person who really inspired me to become a belly dancer. I never met her or spoke with her, but on stage there was something about her that was so very captivating. Since then I have been inspired by countless other dancers. I never got to take classes with her, but Diane was the very beginning of my dance process.
Regards,
A'isha

 

[Yasmine Bint Al Nubia]

Wow great question Miss Shimmy, I've always danced socially and enjoyed the driving rythms of percussion and the soft melodies of jazz. My body would begin to move and I would feel joy. So in this case music inspires me to dance. As for who inspires to me dance, well that's hard to say because it can anybody at anytime.
Yasmine

 

[Suheir]

What? Arabic music.

Who? The dancers whose enthusiasm and joy is infectious, such as Khaled Mahmoud and Lubna Emam.

 

[KuteNurse]

I just wanted to try something different in the form of exercise to de-stress myself from a hectic and busy life I lead as a nurse. Right now my instructor is inspiring me. She has such a positive and nice way to teach dancing. It is super fun and I look forward to practicing and going to classes every week. I also have to add that my husband and son are very supportive to me. They have both encouraged me trying something new. Great question!

 

[TinaL]

I've always loved music of all kinds, and love to dance. Never had the first formal lesson in any kind of dance until I started bellydance lessons last year. I've loved to read since I was very small, and especially about other lands and cultures. Some book I read years ago had something in it about bellydancing; it stuck in my mind that I really wanted to learn this! Finally, I told myself last year to get up and actually DO some of the things I had on my "to-do" list, and started lessons. I love it, and wish I'd had the guts to start years ago.

Music inspires me to dance. My teacher, who is an incredible lady, inspires me to bellydance.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I hope my reply doesn't sound ridiculous. My husband is actually the person who inspired me to start bellydancing. It started back in October of 2001, when we were shopping at a large sporting goods store. He came up to me, smiling, and held out a bellydance video tape by Neena and Veena Badasha, and said he thought I might be interested in it, since I was always trying new forms of exercise (but I think he might have had an ulterior motive, too! :lol: ). I started with that one video tape, then it grew to two, then my husband and I started buying DVD's, and I found some books on the subject. My love of bellydance grew, but I felt that I was getting nowhere by myself (which was very discouraging). Then a dance studio in my home town finally offered bellydance lessons, and I pounced on the opportunity like a tiger!

It's kind of strange, but I think my fascination with bellydance started when I was 4 or 5; I can remember trying to do head slides, shimmies, and snake arms way back then, but you can imagine how well I didn't do! :lol: As a teen and young woman, I developed a love for ancient history, especially Middle Eastern history, and my studies have greatly helped me as a Sunday School teacher in my church. I love studying about different cultures, how the people live, what they eat, what they wear, their histories, etc. I think it helps people to understand one another. As I'm learning to dance, I feel closer to the culture of the Middle East, and it's something I want to do for the rest of my life.

Thank you, Terry, for helping me to start on my journey; I love you so very much.

 

[Miranda Phoenix]

Music inspires me! Ever since I was little, I've been wiggling to the beat. :lol: I'm 42 now and just the other day, I did a little shimmy/step to a happy tune at the mall (to my daughter's usual embarrassment *grin*).

There's a quote floating around the net that describes exactly how I feel, "While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. That is why I dance."

- - - - - - - - - - -

Dancers who are able to share their passion with their audience also inspire me. I just love it when you can tell they're dancing for the sheer joy of it. :dance:

 

[Lydia]

Who realy inspired me at first??the dancers in the place where i was working in Iraq a zillion years ago i was there with a ballet,the bellydancers overthere just catch my heart every single evening ,and i was hooked.....Today and every day i geuss my students do that to me....2 day,s ago 1 of my students last her husband in a car accident,it was terrible she is only 34 and has 2 children...when i went to see her on the first evening she was kind of in shock laying on the sofa and she just cry,d and she told me all kind of things,1 of the things she said to me ,,i just wanna come back to class it will take some of the pain away,, so you see i get inspired by my students this day,s that are so hooked already to this art that even in their most terrible moments think about this art as a healer.....Lydia

 

[Amulya]

I got inspired by the first belly dancer I saw. I remember being amazed at what she could do. I imediately wanted to learn it.

Now I mostly get inspired by music and other dancers.

 

[adiemus]

I first saw bellydancers practice on the floor below the dojo where my son was learning karate. I loved the music and the moves. Then when my partner decided he couldn't carry on with salsa and lambada I looked for something else that I could do rather than go to the gym for exercise!! And there it was! now I'm hooked on the benefits of better posture, getting definition on my abs (yes baby!!!), a bit of fitness - oh and that lovely costuming!
Overall it's the music that inspires me, I can't listen to it without something moving!!!

 

[adiemus]

I'm 42 now and just the other day, I did a little shimmy/step to a happy tune at the mall (to my daughter's usual embarrassment *grin*).

:dance::clap::lol: my daughter does the same when I do that!!!

 

[Kharmine]

When I was a tiny child I fell in love with ballet. I told God then I wanted to be a ballet dancer.

Must have been that lisp I had...

 

[nefetari]

re

I saw this beautiful arab girl performing in a restaurant.I couldnt stop watching.I wase sow amazed how she moved her body.It was sow elegant..It was like art to mee.After that i started to look for classes.And started to eat more..!

 

[sstacy123]

Bellydance has helped filled an emptiness- a need in me...and I do find the music quite inspiring...you hear it in your head and you want to dance...doesn't matter where you are...

A few different people have inspired me...I go around feeling obsessed about the dance and then the obsession starts to lessen...but then I see something that gets me excited all over again...

 

[fadua21]

Now that I think about it, I guessed the passion for Arabic music, has always been inside me... I always wanted to learn this dance form, always... I am sure! As for who inspired me...mmm... lately, I have seen youtube's of Namia Akif, I absolutely love her style, and also an american dancer Tamra Henna.

 

[Yshka]

I'd always thought bellydance to be beautiful, thinking never I'd become a dancer myself someday. It got closer when I was in highschool. A bellydance performance was shown at our school's annual multicultural festivities. I was taken by it and somehow started to wonder what that would be like. I'd secretly dream of dancing like that one day but (being a big, shy and self-conscious girl) never dared to think it would happen.

Then a year later my teacher came by while sitting in the hallway asking me if I wanted to bellydance. I asked: with MY belly??? She answered: what's wrong with it? And I started taking her classes. About a year later it WAS me on that stage in my first student performance. Did it again and after graduation started to take classes for real with the same teacher.

I am immensely attracted to Arabic (mostly Egyptian) music and dance, and the Egyptian greats inspire me very much. Also, the dancers who really get to me are the ones showing their immense passion and love for the dance in their dancing. When a dancer has amazing presence and energy, I'm moved and inspired. My teacher is still my biggest inspiration though.