Saturday March 21: Luscious Belly Dancing

10am

There is nothing luscious about doing this routine for the first time. But it's fun, frustrating and liberating all at the same time.

Even if you consider yourself reasonably good at keeping pace with an audible beat (not just the beats in your head) this may prove difficult at first. It will take some intense effort and encouraged muscle memory to help me get through this entire session gracefully. I'm certain that practice will make a world of difference, but I'm not yet certain that I will ever look as graceful and sensual as the dancers on screen. I suppose that's why I'm on this viewing end and not the performing end.

As my first session, I decided to go through the entire routine once to gage my level of expertise. I didn't want to waist time on the tutorial if I were already able to do the steps, or learn them quickly. I don't regret this decision. Even though I fumbled through most of the routine, I did my very best to keep up- and when I couldn't keep up I did simple hip circles until I could join in again. I didn't sweat a lot, but I'm sure I raised my body temperature.

After the 50 minute routine, I spent about 15 minutes with the tutorial trying to perfect a couple moves. The hip circle and hip drops are giving me a little trouble. There are a lot of complimentary movements involved that are difficult to do at the same time-- (snake arms and infinity loops at the same time. I also need to work on following completely through each movement. My waves are always a bit awkward because I stop short the fluidity of the entire movement-- like reach the end of a bungee rope and being snapped back.

These moves aren't easy, but they are fun even when you get them wrong. My abs have a certain tingle deep inside where I've never really felt this sensation before. The work-out pain is not on the surface where it usually is, but deep in the core of the muscles. I prefer this. It has lasted much longer- in a good way. My abs "spasmed" once or twice when I was consignment shopping today-- it was a pleasant (although weird) surprise.