Shake that thing
This little lady and I, she of the newly single and wanting to keep busy and me of the newly unemployed and too much time on my hands, decided to learn how to bellydance. Our first class was last night.
I wish I could say that I picked it up right away. That I was a sexy, sultry natural. As it turns out, the shimmy, it is not natural. It takes work. My partner in crime got the shimmy down fairly quickly, but my partner in crime also has a huge rack. I think that helps.
Early on, we had to pair off and dance the entire length of the room. Two girls were asked to lead, because they were regular attendees and knew what they were doing. The remaining four of us stood behind them. The music started. Our leaders started moving. We followed.
It was then that I realized my partner in crime and I were being yelled at by the teacher. And that neither of us understood what we were being yelled at for. Then, finally, we got it. We were supposed to stand still and let the other two girls go first. First class and we're already getting in trouble. Awesome.
I wasn't so concerned about getting the arms or the shimmy down as I was about getting the feet right. I figured everything else would follow after that. At one point, our teacher singled me out to ask if I was enjoying myself. I assured her I was and she noted I wasn't smiling. I told her it was because I was concentrating really, really hard and she told me in no uncertain terms to knock it off. So I relaxed. And I got better.
I also got some fresh perspective on my arms. I've been living under the delusion that my arms are fat. While I was watching myself wave them around in the mirror, however, I arrived at the conclusion that they aren't fat at all. Gotta love that distorted body image.
One thing she tried to teach us last night that I couldn't get was the fast butt shimmy. You know, like the girls in the rap videos do? She said it's hard and takes awhile, but once I master it, at least I'll have a fun party trick. It might even replace the butt dance.
