Mommy & Me bellydancing.

Once upon a time there was a misfit mama who was looking for a fun & different PLAYout to do with her girl.

The aforementioned Tornado of a Girl had a babysitter who was a belly dancer & she found the whole concept (& name) gigglyamusing.

Many were the afternoons spent with her tee shirt yanked up through the neck–belly exposed–and dancing.

(Note: her mama was far too mature to ever participate in this action. no matter what the neighbors say)

And a misfit idea was born.

And, after a few bazillion searches on Google, reservations were made at a Mommy & Me Belly dancing class.

Before class began the Girl was quite intrigued by the various & sundry accessories belly dancing used.  The pleading for a scarf & castanets immediately began.

Being highly aware of the ephemeral nature of her Girl’s love Mama (ever resistant to the child’s pleaseplease countenance) said no.

Thankfully class began soon thereafter and sound makers & scarves were passed out for all to enjoy.

And enjoy she did.

(if youre checking in through a reader theres a video-snippet of said enjoyment below)

What did I learn from this Mommy & Me abwriggling extravaganza?

I need to teach the child to use my video camera. I rocked the belly dancing and, alas, you shall just have to take my word for it.I was reminded of the LACK of inhibitions of the littlelittles & the emerging inhibitions of the slightly-olders. Yes I was cognizant of this fact before, but nothing highlighted it more than watching my 5 year old dance with wild abandon & seeing the 7 and 8 year olds shimmy kinda shyly.  Here’s where you mothers to the olders hit me up in the comments below with your tips for preserving the comfortablity in her own skin.  Thank you.Belly dancing works your core & balance. I was quite sore in the core the next day and  the Tornado was not. I like to pretend this is NOT indicative of the fact her core kicks my core’s…glutes, but that I focused & worked the core more intensely.  In addition many of the moves had me teetering thisclose to toppling (which further worked the Tornado’s core as she laughed. Hard).Belly dancing isnt too sexualized for young girls. I will admit that this was a concern for me.  I had no idea what to expect & the dances we learned were no more ‘seductive’ than the Tornado’s more traditional creative movement classes.Belly Dancing encourages body love. Next to my experience in a NIA class the class was the most Ive ever been surrounded by women of all shapes & sizes who clearly adored & treasured their bodies.  That fact alone ensured we’d return.  If it takes a village—-these are the villagerwomen I want surrounding my daughter.

I’ll admit I went into this experience having zero plans to blog about it.

I anticipated it would be a bit to touchyfeelyOUTTHERE & not something easily related to by moms & non-moms alike.

I was wrong.

It was a great workout (& I can see how the more you do the dances, and they become second nature, the better the workouts would be as well) and more than that it was 60 minutes spent focusing on how amazing our bodies are and what wonderful wiggly things they can do.

No matter their size shape color or lack of core strength (*raises hand*).

We will definitely be back and, for you Austinites, Ill keep you posted on our recital debut.

This post is brought to you by the fit-minded, no idea if they’ve ever belly danced, healthy-living Peeps at Sears Fit Club.

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