As I begin a new term of classes, I've been thinking about what I promise to you as your teacher if you ever come to a bellydance class with me - beyond the obvious one, that I will teach you to dance to the best of my ability! These are a few of them: I …
Dance Infinities and the Secret to Seamless Transitions
Since I decided to call my new workshop series "Raqs to Infinity", I wanted to elaborate on some of the concepts from the first workshop, and talk more about the concept of infinity and why it's relevant to dance. The chances are, when I say "infinity" you think of something huge. Infinite distance. The vast …
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Bellydance and cultural ‘appreciation’
The great thing about learning an art form from another culture is that it can be a gateway to appreciating a culture other than your own. It can help you to see the world from other perspectives, and learn to see people from that culture as three-dimensional individuals, instead of through the stereotypes we grew …
Bellydance classes and self-esteem
How often have you seen dance and fitness classes advertised as 'empowering' for women? It's one of the biggest clichés of modern marketing - since the 'girl power' era of the 1990s, the idea of female empowerment has been used to sell just about every product imaginable, until it's become almost meaningless... But as dance …
A bellydancer’s best week of the year: JWAAD Summer School 2013
I'm aware that I've been a bit quiet for a while - sorry! I tend to have grandiose ideas for blog posts that end up more like massive essays, and then feel bad about posting anything else until I finish them. I'm still working on part 2 of my rather epic article on bellydance and …
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Bellydance vs. Ballet: Comparing Apples to Anteaters
Ballet. It's a comparison that inevitably comes up when discussing any issue in the bellydance world. For a lot of people in the West, "dance" is ballet, and it's the standard against which all other dances get compared. Unfortunately, in discussions on bellydance, I don't believe that this comparison is very useful, because the two …
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Habits and posture – more bellydance musings
I'm reasonably sure that one of the secrets of being a great dancer (or for that matter, a great musician, artist, writer, or just about anything) is having good habits. When something becomes a habit, you don't have to think about it or make an effort anymore, it just happens. It's the path of least …
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Stealth Bellydance Practise – Part 1: Public Transport
As we (hopefully!) all know, the only way to become a better bellydancer is through regular, focused practise. But this can be a daunting prospect! When you have lots of time commitments already - work, study, family, and even just keeping yourself fed and clothed - it's hard to set aside a big chunk of …
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Musings on dance and the brain
I'm still (slowly) working on a post about Bellydance Trophies, but in the mean time, here are some thoughts which perhaps you will find interesting... One of the first skills we begin to develop as dancers is called proprioception. This basically means knowing the position of your body, without having to look. This sounds like …
Dance: my journey so far
A few weeks ago, I did a bellydance party in Bristol for the hen night of an old school friend. We had a wonderful time - everyone from the bride's little sister to her grandmother joined in, and I was amazed by how quickly the assorted friends and relatives forgot their awkwardness and began smiling …
Bellydance by Rachael 
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