I
don't remember the first time
I heard of, or saw, bellydancing. I have vague memories of seeing
record covers in stores with cabaret dancers depicted on them, and I
remember asking my mother if I could buy the records. I must have been
around eleven years old, and I was intrigued because I wanted to know
what kind of music someone would dance to if they were dressed like
that. I knew what kind of music we used in ballet class, and I knew
that ballet costumes were designed to allow maximum freedom of
movement, but these clothes were different.
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One album cover had a photo of a woman with red hair, in heavy makeup, wearing a bra and harem pants made of silver coins and filmy gauze. She had lots of jewelry, high heels and a transparent veil. I couldn't imagine being able to dance dressed that way. I put no sexual content into my interpretation of what I was looking at, but I did wonder how she got the diamond to stay in her navel. Mom said no.
The
first time I remember actually bellydancing was at the dance
studio I owned at the time in Pennsylvania. At this point I had been through years of rigorous
training in ballet, jazz and Spanish dancing, and had also studied tap,
African, Yoga, character dancing and Eastern European folk dancing. I
was ready for anything new. A woman came to give belly dance lessons
and I took them along with the paying students. I learned from her how
to wear a veil Iranian style, and basic moves - not very different from
jazz, I thought. That was in 1979.
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click on photo to to see larger picture of Ashtar
In 1982 I got into the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and that was
when I really started bellydancing. I took my old costume from the
Arabian Dance from the Nutcracker Ballet and added to it. The original
costume was a bra and harem pants in pink, with pearls (see photo to the right). It was modeled
after a costume for the original production of Scheherezade, which was
presented by the Ballet Russe in 1910 (see photo to left). Over this costume I put a skirt
and fancy decorative trim with embroidery on it in dark red. I thought
it looked terribly ethnic and authentic.
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After
that, I bellydanced once in a while, mostly in the SCA. I bought a coin
belt or costume piece every so often and picked up dance steps from the
other dancers. I also taught a few classes to some women in a coffee
house that I frequented in Ocean Grove, NJ. Classes were Wednesday
nights after the coffee house closed. We would pull down the shades,
lock the door, put on a strong pot of coffee and just dance a lot. That
was in 1994.
click on photo to to see larger picture
The
big moment came when I attended an SCA/RenFaire event in September
2001. I noticed a number of people in Middle Eastern garb dancing,
drumming and just having a really good time, so I decided to go back
the next day in my old bellydance outfit. There, I met Charlene
Roberts, who graciously invited me into her tent and shared her dancing
rug with me and the other dancers. It was Charlene who introduced me to
American Tribal Style. Also, on that day I met Sharon and Tisa. Along
with Doreen, Sue and several other women we started the Monday Night
Ladies Belly Dance Class.
click on photo to to see larger picture of Ashtar
Since
then, I’ve pulled together the skills I’ve acquired over the years and
melded them into a body of knowledge, ever evolving and expanding,
which has allowed me to apply all my dance know-how and my thirty years
of teaching experience to bellydance. I can also use my skill as a
trained NLP counselor to help my students excel by using accelerated
learning techniques and advanced teaching strategies. There is no place
to go now but up, down and around...
If you want to learn more about NLP counseling try the following resources:
Ashtar's Certification: The International Association for Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Newsgroup: Alt.Psychology.NLP
Yahoo Directory: NLP Training
A Good Generalized Site: NLP World
