Belly Dancing | Imamother

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Forum -> Health & Wellness -> Healthy Lifestyle/ Weight Loss/ Exercise

Belly Dancing

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View latest: 24h 48h 72h

Would you belly dance alone or in an all female class?

yes

92%

[ 23 ]

[ 2 ]

Total Votes : 25

Tamiri

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 9:51 am

Anyhooooooo, the music is usually just the standard Arab crooning/love ballads. Not religious in nature, unless I am very mistaken. The exercise is fun. You have to hold in your belly muscles and shimmer and shake. Thrust your hips right and left. Move your rib cage side to side. Delicately move your arms, hands and feet. Shake your booty. It takes a lot of control You can work up quite a sweat. If you add a jingly skirt to it, it makes it even more fun! I say go for it.

SouthernShalom

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 9:54 am

You are right. This has gone off topic. I guess that maybe it isn't considered idolatry by most (apparently from what I have read the moon worship thing isn't true). I just don't know that I could ever feel comfortable listing to the music with references to allah. I am choosy about the lyrics in secular songs too. I guess I have learned something today that I never really thought to ask about. Very interesting!

louche

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 10:16 am

Bely dancing isn't a religion--it's a performance art form. It's so not Islam that Islamic women aren't allowed to do it in front of men and the Moslem countries import dancers from exotic countries like the US, Canada, and England. It's fantastic exercise, and many of the movements are also found in other dance genres. They don't use religious music, and the music can be from other countries like Greece. If you're creeped out by the idea of listening to Arab music, play something else. One of the belly dance records I threw out because it was so ugly included an arrangement of Hava Nagila and another classic Israeli song. It's the beat and the instrumentation, not the melody, that makes it sound Arabic. A skilled musician can take music from any country or genre and rearrange it to sound like any other.

Oh, yeah, some of the movements are the same ones you practice in childbirth classes.

Tamiri

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 10:20 am

louche wrote:

It's so not Islam that Islamic women aren't allowed to do it in front of men and the Moslem countries import dancers from exotic countries like the US, Canada, and England.

So, where do you think they were importing the dancers from in the early centuries?
Louche, unless you have some inside knowledge about a place in particular, this generalization does not apply.
The dance itself applies to the words being sung: about a long lost loved one, a cheating spouse and blah blah blah. It's fun.

Beauty and the Beast

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 10:33 am

I belly dance the whole day. I put on Israeli music, and wiggle and shimmy away.
I used to take classes with a friend, but life got so hectic that I do it alone at home. The instructor used Temani music and we put on shawls with bells on our waists...
I love it, and my son joins in the excersize!
you have to know what you are doing in order for you to not put your back out, and twist your neck... Have fun!!

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