Belly Dancing Class

by Allison Grande

Tuesday March 7, 2006

"It’s an interesting alternative to all the other P.E. classes out there," said first year Natalie Mirsky.

Mirsky is referring to one of the most popular Physical Education classes of the third quarter that is bringing a little piece of the Middle East to the Sarah Lawrence campus every Wednesday night.

"I really like to think of belly dancing as separating whatever’s separatable," junior Sheila Winslow, the instructor of the class, said. "I think of my body as a chain on a bicycle. It’s fluid, but it also has this kind of popping to it because of the way your joints snap. If you think of it like that, belly dancing turns your body into a fluid yet rigid hinge-like structure."

Winslow has been exposed to belly dancing all of her life. Growing up in San Francisco, Winslow’s mother began belly dancing at the age of 17 and passed the love of the art onto her daughter.

"I’ve been belly dancing since I was in my mother’s womb," Winslow said.

Although Winslow has been taking dance lessons in other disciplines such as tap, jazz, ballet and even polka since the age of three, she didn’t begin taking formal belly dancing lessons until she was 15. In the middle of her sophomore year at Sarah Lawrence, she went out with her friends to a Hookah Bar in New York City one night and saw a belly dancer performing. She immediately asked the owner if there were any positions available, and after an audition was offered a job as a belly dancer.

Shortly after she got her first job, one of her friends suggested that she should teach a belly dancing class at Sarah Lawrence.

"At first, I was like ‘no, I can’t teach a class’ but then I thought about it and I was like ‘that would be really cool; I could definitely teach a class,’" Winslow said. "I really wanted to put my energy into something I cared about and do something beautiful and artistic."

In spring term last year Winslow offered her first belly dancing class. This semester, with 15 people consistently attending her class every week, belly dancing is still going strong.

"I really like belly dancing," said first year Jennifer Waller, who had taken some belly dancing classes before coming to Sarah Lawrence. "It’s a good challenge, and Sheila’s a good teacher."

Each class begins with a warm-up and strengthening to prepare the muscles for belly dancing. Winslow then leads students through isolations and ends the class by teaching them a dance that she has specially choreographed for the class and that she adds at least one new move to each week.

So far, the participants are pleased with the results.

"It’s a good workout, and it’s fun," Mirsky said.

Winslow hopes that each student can come away from the class feeling good about themselves and can also gain a new respect for belly dancing.

"On a personal level I would like each person to feel like they got more in touch with their physicality. At the same time, I would also like them to see that belly dance is an art and that it deserves just as much attention as any other art. There’s a huge stigma attached to [belly dancing] that I confront everyday, but I just hope that people see that it’s an art and it’s not about a gratuitousness or hyper sexuality. I just want [my class] to have fun and feel good about themselves."

It’s not too late to get involved in one of the most unique Physical Education classes on campus. Belly dancing will be offered again as a P.E. class for the fourth quarter, and sign-ups for the class will be posted in the Campbell Sports Center right after Spring Break.