Preggo Bellydancing



photographed by Craig Lovell, available for purchase at inmagine.com

It has been my experience, for some reason that a lot of cabaret bellydancers either have one child or no children, and in the Tribal set ( which I had some brief involvement in), the procreation was a little more pronounced, but not by much. This is not a judgement, having children is not for everyone, I am just not sure how many of you will resonate or identify with this post. Either way kids or no kids whether by plan or nature, bellydancing while preggers ROCKS!
     I am sure Aunty Rocky, a walking wealth of knowledge, would have a lot to say on the subject but here are my own reasons that bellydancing for two is the neatest thing ever.

    When a Solo dance becomes a Tango

1. You really feel that life inside you. You know that person on some level, and it is the epitome of "two heads are better than one", only internalized. You are dancing a solo dance, with two people. It is really really cool.

2. As Tempest mentioned in her last post those times as artists when we wait for inspiration can be terrible. I have been accurately described by those who know me as "Fire or Ice", which means that I fluctuate from bursts of passion and inspiration to almost a cold comatose non-emotional state. During the non-emotional state inspiration never ever comes, I look at those times as my recuperation times, but they usually have me chewing my nails waiting for the next burst of inspiration.
    Being preggers there is no "ice" time for me. The inspiration is always there, the creativity is constantly within my reach. It is just like all that " being one with the earth, connected to the Mother" stuff that sounds so hokey but really means something.

3. These movements feel RIGHT on a primal level. Most of us keep dancing because moving our sacral and root chakras in a world when we have little opportunity to do so feels so good. It releases stuff. It focuses on on areas that get little attention in our upper chakras focused world ( AKA brain/throat area). Pregnancy, I guess because there is a PERSON in my sacral chakra right now, makes it a necessity to focus on those two lowest chakras. Moving them feels so amazing. Shimmies feel like a massage. Undulations feel like I am "making something", akin to painting a picture. It really is amazing.

4. Emotions are not far off. I pretty much have two switches....Cry or Kill. I either want to stab everyone, or like my experience in the grocery store an hour ago, cry when people look at me wrong. I am an emotional hot mess. But this being my third child, I have learned not to be afraid of emotions either during pregnancy or outside of it. Emotions can be a wonderful tool in dancing, and they really add fuel to our dance. I have a wealth of fuel, folks. And dancing it out keeps me from wanting to stab everyone.

5. I can tell he likes it. I knew that my first two were girls, and I am pretty sure this one is a boy. Of course I may eat crow at some point, but probably not. :)

I am sure there are a million more positives, but that is good for now. On another note, I saw his little heartbeat yesterday and it was amazing.

Lator gators, gonna go have some peaches and pepperonis. ( for real).