For what it's worth, I shimmied up a storm during my first trimester, and my little girl arrived safely. Of course, you need to listen to your practitioner's advice, though.

I was actually taking Suhaila's Salimpour's classes during my first few months of pregnancy. She danced through most of her pregnancy. The only advice she gave me (besides listening to my body, of course) was to avoid a lot of intense ab work. She felt that having super-strong abs increased your risk of abdominal separation, a.k.a., diastasis recti, later on in the pregnancy.

I had just moved up a level at her studio, and decided to move back down again to stay in my comfort zone and just focus on the basics.

I hope you do continue dancing throughout your pregnancy. It's a really special thing to share with your baby.

Best wishes,
Elizabeth

Cindy,

Congrats on your pregnancy! I am a mother of 2. With permission from my physician, I belly danced (even performed) through my 7-8 month without issues. I eventually had to stop because of complications from my high risk pregnancy. From what my doc said, you can continue any activity that you had been duing prior to the pregnancy. I would follow the direction of your physician. Best of luck!

Yay! Congratulations. My baby is now 8 months and I'm back into dance and competing! You'll bounce back quickly as a dancer :)

I danced through my first trimester with little problem. In my third month my nausea got really bad, especially with the shimmies, so I moved into dancing with more "poses." At 6 months (you can see the belly on YouTube under mmihailoff or maliaraqs) I started having contractions right after performing. So I stopped. But I know many dancers that continued on without problem.

Listen to your baby and your body. If they're telling you "not a good idea" then stop. But if they're saying "yay mom! this is fun!" then enjoy! Dance is one of the three approved activities (yoga and walking are also good).