I am in love with belly dance! Wanna know why? Here are ten different reasons why I think you should start belly dancing too!

1. Tone your muscles. Belly dance can be a great alternative to a boring abs exercises, especially if you are not particularly into getting hardcore 6-pack belly, but just want to have a toned and feminine belly. All major movements of this dance style have stretching element in them, plus there is a whole series of moves directly involving belly muscles. As a result of regular practice you can activate, stretch and tone you belly muscles all at the same time!

2. Use as a workout routine. Depending on the intensity of your training, you can use belly dance as an alternative to cardio workout. Together with a balanced nutrition it can assist in such goals as getting more fit, and losing extra kilos!

3. Achieve graceful and fluid body coordination. Belly dance improves your posture, flexibly in your spine, and even changes how you walk. Also, as almost no other activity, it often requires you to coordinate different parts of your body in various manners, speed and kind of movements. For instance, you may move your hips in a circular motion while doing sharp accents with your chest, and all put together with steps and arm movements.

4. Connect to your feminine energy. There are lots of discussions whether or not belly dance originated from ancient sacred dances, but one thing is for sure: this dance style combines movements that are described as feminine all across cultures, and similarities can be found in different traditions. Like no other dance form, belly dance embraces them all. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why women all around the world fall in love with this dance regardless of their nationalities.

5. Boost self-confidence. The beauty of belly dance is that it’s open to any ages, body types and even genders. Along with the multiple physical benefits described above, it also teaches to fully accept yourself, appreciate your body’s abilities and celebrate the power of your mind. Every little achievement, like mastering that new move to getting enough courage to perform at a students gala, brings you one step closer to building solid self-confidence and believing in your potential far beyond the dance classroom.

6. Widen your horizons. They say the more languages you know, the more personalities you have. I believe it spreads to dance styles too. Belly dance is like learning a language: you don’t limit it with just words, but also dig into culture and history. This broadens your vision, challenges your current beliefs, teaches to accept and celebrate different traditions and lifestyles, as well as builds understanding and respect to other cultures.

7. Find new friends. Regardless if you are studding at your local dance studio, or via an online course, you’ll be surprised how active the belly dance community is. You can easily find like-minded and supportive people at various events, as well as hundreds of online platforms such as forums, FB groups, Insta pages, and the Iana Dance Club community… Our belly dance tribe is surprisingly big, and absolutely awesome!

8. Life changing adventure. Who knows… When I came to my first belly dance class I had no idea that it would become my future profession, and for the majority of professionals it was the same story! Maybe you are not looking right now for life changing events, but never forget that we don’t know what the future prepares for us. The more we explore, the closer to our purposes we get!

9. Take a break. Belly dance is obviously not something that most of people do in their day-to-day life. For most it’s a break from their daily routines. You can take that hour of practice and dedicate it to yourself! What an amazing way to take care of your body, mind and soul. And afterwards you will definitely come back refreshed and energized, and able to show up as a better version of yourself to those who surround you.

10. Find your creative outlet. Belly dance is so much more than just a shimmy and “Shakira move”. A general audience may not even realize how many styles and variations exist within this dance form: classical, modern, folklore… Turkish, Egyptian, Lebanese, Moroccan… dancing with veil, sword, wings, candles… fusing with Bollywood, tango, flamenco, hip hop… Also, as a performing art it opens possibilities of exploring the actor inside you in order to create a new character in every dance: are you an elegant oriental sultana, or a sassy village dancer? Of course, there are boundaries and absolute necessity to respect the original culture, but still, so much space for your creativity and imagination! Possibilities are endless.

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Author: Iana Komarnytska
Photographer: Pedro Bonatto