Hi, i just joined this tribe!

I hope to learn more about the holistic, mind/body/spirit approach to bellydance here. I love yoga and try to practice it every day, and I definitely get the integration of mind, body, and spirit in that discipline. I have had practices where I cried after doing heart openers (holding negative issues back, and suddenly letting them out). I have been bellydancing for 2 years now and it has mainly been been mind/body focused. Some practices I would really connect with the music and the mood in a particular movement (usually some form of hip figure eight) and I would get a touch of the spirit connection and just feel so blissful and wonderful. I love those experiences.

I want to learn to cultivate positive energy and love through my dance, rather than just letting it happen. I am of the opinion now that technique is secondary to emotion in dance, whether bellydance or any other kind. I recently read a book by the ethnic dance artist/scholar La Meri, "Total Education in Ethnic Dance" and she repeatedly wrote about the importance of a dancer showing honest emotion, not just having skillful technique. I think a holistic approach to bellydance is just what this means... developing emotion in our dance through practice engaging mind, body, and spirit.

I tend to get the jitters very badly in a performance situation and it nearly scared me off completely from performing at all. I think focusing on that aspect of creating and cultivating positive energy and love in my dancing will help with my awful jitters.

So, I hope to learn much by consciously developing a fully integrated holistic approach to my bellydancing. It's a constant learning experience, for me at least.

Jenni