In Training: Belly Dancing

As a group we take our training program for our >cancer challenge very seriously. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Therefore, when one of our members suggested a series of six belly dancing classes, most of us jumped at the chance!

We were all vaguely familiar with images of beautiful curvaceous women from far flung lands, where the climate is hot and the dancing even hotter, undulating in glittering costumes and seductive veils to Middle Eastern rhythms in Bedouin tents. Sort of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ meets ‘Sex and the City 2’ – we were excited!!!

Surely after six weeks this is what we would look like?

Hmmmm... If I quote Albert Einstein at this point maybe it will set the scene for what actually took place, “Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”

This is what we actually looked like:

Eight of us started classes on April 10 – sadly not in a Bedouin tent in the Middle East, but in the gym at Rogers’s Middle School. Not too different, except instead of sand on our bare feet we picked up the remnants of 6th, 7th & 8th grade lunch. And instead of an audience of attractive Maharajas, there were a couple of workmen in overalls who seemed to pass the open door more frequently than their work necessitated. Nevertheless they seemed appreciative of our efforts.

Our teacher, glamorous and flexible and patient, did her best to evoke the atmosphere required for authentic belly dancing. However, by the sixth lesson our numbers were down a little due to injury, prior commitments and travel plans. Despite this, those that managed to hip thrust, chest pop and shimmy their way to the finish line did a sterling job and made the whole group extremely proud.

Watch their final performance here!