written by
"Kisa Cordelia"

"A wise person once said that bellydancers work just as hard as policemen, always alert, always tense, but see, policemen don't have to be beautiful at the same time."

My first encounter with bellydancing began 3 years ago. I was wondering around aimlessly through the halls between classes, when all of a sudden, a black and white flyer with a pencil-sketched bellydancer on it grabbed my attention. Lured to it like a bug to a light, I read what it said: "Want to learn how to bellydance? Come try this exotic art! Call for more information." After not breathing for a few seconds, I took a deep breath and realized that yes, I too, can learn how to bellydance. Since I had grown up listening to Shakira and her part Columbian, part Lebanese style of music, that was the only middle eastern influenced songs I knew of, but I wanted to be able to bellydance like her. I tore the number off the flyer and shoved it in my backpack for safekeeping, but by the time I got back to my place after my classes were done for the day, I had forgotten about it.

A few days passed and as I was searching for something in my backpack, I found the number and so I called. This young sounding girl answered the phone and so I told her why I was calling and she got very excited. She told me a little bit about bellydancing and the club she was wanting to put together to teach everyone how to bellydance. She told me that she was going to have a little meeting to set up officers for the club within the next week, so if I wanted to try for an officer position, I could go.

The next week I went to the meeting and there was a wide variety of girls there that were all very interested in learning this new dance form. I decided to try for an officer position and by the end of the meeting, I was the secretary for the club. I'd been in college for 2 years already and had yet to hold an officer position in any of the clubs I had been in, so I was elated. Little did I know how deciding to join this club would change my life over the next few months.

We started having practices three times a week, sometimes in small rooms without air condition around campus, but most times we practiced in our instructors extremely hot garage. The only good thing about practicing there was that we had the ability to see ourselves doing the moves in the tall mirrors that were hanging up on one side of the garage. That was definitely a plus. Our instructor showed us many basic bellydancing movements and taught us several different styles of bellydancing, such as American gypsy style and American tribal style. We even learned a few Indian movements because one of the girls in the club had found a DVD with some intricate choreographed music videos from India.

We practiced long and hard every week and after a few months, all of us were improving very quickly. We had improved so much that we were now performing publicly throughout the community. We had even been asked to be the half-time show entertainment for one of the Texas A&M - Corpus Christi Islanders basketball games. Several months later we were asked by a professional bellydancer that goes by the name Thia, to perform in Salt Lake City, Utah for her 1^st Annual Spring Fest. We had several fundraisers and got a few sponsors to fund our trip and after many weeks of excitement, our dream had finally become a reality. We immersed ourselves in the art of bellydancing and for an entire day, from morning until night, we watched many different bellydancing troupes from all over the nation bellydance and show off their unique styles and gorgeous costumes.

I performed my first solo ever in Utah and it was almost traumatizing. I felt so intimidated by all these bellydancers that had been bellydancing for many, many years, and especially with the fact that they had on beautiful professional costumes. Throughout my performance, my zills flew out of my hands, I had stepped on my costume, and I completely forgot the intricate surprise moves I had been working so hard on for that song. It was almost a nightmare, but throughout my performance, I had kept smiling and that's what ultimately saved me from utter disaster. Everyone applauded my performance and I was so relieved to have performed my first ever solo in Utah. The entire experience of bellydancing in Utah with all those professional bellydancers is one that I will never forget.

Since my first solo in Utah, I've performed all over the community of Corpus Christi and even been asked to perform down in the Rio Grande Valley several times. Aside from this, I've been to many bellydancing workshops and learned a great deal of history and many different styles of middle eastern dancing. I have learned from several professional instructors that have studied and performed all over the world and they have taught me many things about bellydancing, but most important thing is that they have taught me how bellydancing teaches you a lot more about yourself than you may realize. I have grown stronger mentally and physically and even though I made mistakes and things didn't go as I had planned in Utah, I learned from the experience. I have become a lot more confident in myself in everything that I do and I'm also a lot more comfortable with my body. I have even come to the realization that even if I make mistakes, I should always tell myself "I meant to do that."

Bellydancing has impacted my life in so many ways. I can only begin to give you a glimpse through written words of just how meaningful it is to me. You'll just have to watch me bellydance live in order for you to even begin to feel the happiness that I feel while I'm bellydancing. I, KisaCordelia, invite you to enter the exotic world of bellydancing.