Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Grandmother's Secrets
I've been reading some bellydancing books from the library. The first, called Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love by Anne Soffee, was ok. It had a sort of ironic, too-cool-for-school tone and focused way too much on the half-Lebanese author's really depressing and hopefully exaggerated attempts to win over various Arab men. The second, called Grandmother's Secrets:The Ancient Rituals and Healing Power of Belly Dancing by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi, is amazing so far. Here is a passage from the introduction...
"One might object that belly dancing originates in a culture which is foreign to the West and therefore unsuited to Western women, yet this is precisely what makes it an even more enriching experience, apart from the fact that it is perfectly suited to the female body. By experiencing unfamiliar movements, a woman can allow her body to break through cultural norms. Learning this type of dance means learning new body wisdom and rituals, so that the dancer becomes physically aware of her culturally acquired conditioning, repression, and blockages. New worlds of awareness become accessible, releasing memories stored in the body and a joyful physicality that in turns leads to a less rigid way of life. Amid the jungle of confusing women's images, belly dancing can help women in the search for their own identity, as women and as human beings. It can pave the way for a process of self-awareness that helps them acknowledge and defend their own needs and wishes, regardless of sexual determination and the allocation of roles.
As I have suggested, the story of one's life as it is written into the body can be retold and understood in the intense moment of dancing. Thus belly dancing becomes a source of inspiration, a means of collecting and strengthening oneself, and a clear and dynamic way of discovering one's wishes and understanding oneself, no matter how insecure and doubtful the future may be."
Beautiful!
"One might object that belly dancing originates in a culture which is foreign to the West and therefore unsuited to Western women, yet this is precisely what makes it an even more enriching experience, apart from the fact that it is perfectly suited to the female body. By experiencing unfamiliar movements, a woman can allow her body to break through cultural norms. Learning this type of dance means learning new body wisdom and rituals, so that the dancer becomes physically aware of her culturally acquired conditioning, repression, and blockages. New worlds of awareness become accessible, releasing memories stored in the body and a joyful physicality that in turns leads to a less rigid way of life. Amid the jungle of confusing women's images, belly dancing can help women in the search for their own identity, as women and as human beings. It can pave the way for a process of self-awareness that helps them acknowledge and defend their own needs and wishes, regardless of sexual determination and the allocation of roles.
As I have suggested, the story of one's life as it is written into the body can be retold and understood in the intense moment of dancing. Thus belly dancing becomes a source of inspiration, a means of collecting and strengthening oneself, and a clear and dynamic way of discovering one's wishes and understanding oneself, no matter how insecure and doubtful the future may be."
Beautiful!
Monday, January 18, 2010
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