For the past month, I've gotten into belly dancing. One of my co-workers taught belly dancing when she lived in Florida and found a studio to teach it for fun. I've yet to miss a belly dancing lesson. It's kind of addicting now.
I could go on about how it's more in your thighs than anything, and about muscle isolation, but that's not the biggest lesson that I'm learning from this. Actually, what I'm slowly learning, accepting and using to better myself is simply this. It's okay to jiggle. Repeat. It's okay to jiggle.
I'm not a small person. I've never been small and cute, and I never will be. I've got all three features that make it difficult to find clothes in China. Tall, fat, and big feet. If I'm having a really ugly day and not watching my posture, my belly is sometimes bigger than my boobs. Growing up, I'm taught that I have to hide my body cause no one wants to see the extra body. Especially if there's any chance of it shaking. So, if you don't have what the people want to see, hide.
One of the first things we were taught was to shimmy. Shake our bodies just right. In this class, I'm usually the biggest of the learners, but even the tiny ones were hesitating. My co-worker noticed this, and she said simply, "Trust me, when you got it, you got it. Everyone wants to see this." It took a little time, but we started getting used to it.
Like any dance studio, there's a wall of mirrors where you can watch yourself move. Standing in front of the mirror and watching things jiggle is probably one of the hardest things I'd done, surprisingly. The first couple times I did it I felt like a She-Hulk trying too hard to be dainty. Now I'm at a point where I'm like, "This jiggle is a good sign."
At this point, I'm realizing the lesson. I know what the purpose is, and while I can't say that I've learned it and mastered it, I can say I'm trying.
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