Shimmy into shape

Summer is fast approaching, and as it does, so do our womanly worries of putting on the dreaded bikini again. All of the sudden, we find ourselves promising to diet, to wake up early for an am workout or stay up late for an evening jog. That's not so bad, right?

Well, luckily, I've found a fun way to dance your way into shape: belly dancing. This workout may not give the results of a cardio-core bootcamp, but it also doesn't feel like one.

"It's something fun to do that's kind of crazy," says 46-year-old Debbie Holt, who is now on her second session of the class.

"It's a little bit out of the normal, and it's great exercise."

I've always been curious about belly dancing, and I've also always thought that these club-hopping hips of mine could undertake this quest of learning to belly dance with ease. Nothing to it - or so I thought.

The dance turned out to be as difficult, as I was cocky.

The sounds of jingling coins dominated the space when I entered for the first time. Barefooted students warm up, awaiting the teachers entrance. The students surrounding me watched themselves in the mirror as they practiced their moves, and watching them only enforced my belief that this was going to be a breeze.

One move in belly dancing that god blessed me with the ability to do naturally is the belly roll. This move consists of moving three seperate abdominal muscles. The way my teacher taught us it to suck my belly in and then suck in the top a little more. Next, I slowly begin to relax my stomach muscles, pushing out the bottom first. This must be done very slowly, which can be quite hard - as I'm sure the majority of women out there, like me, are used to sucking it in. Doing crunches can add to success in this area. Once perfected, it should look like a wave going through your belly.

The trouble began for me, when shimmying came in. Basically, it is a shake of your hips. A very controlled, small, deliberate motion that looks effortless, but is nothing of the sort. I move my right hip bone forward, then my left, and I bend my knees as if I am walking. Repeat. Then, once comfortable, I speed it up. Remember that feeling when you're young, and a friend asks you to pat your head, and rub your belly? Well trying to shimmy, plus keep my top half isolated just wasn't happening and that feeling of attempting to pat and rub at the same time began flowing back to me.

"You just think you're getting good and knowing what your doing, and then all of the sudden everything is backwards," says 45-year-old Carol Daugherty, a fellow new-comer to the world of bellydancing.

"All of the sudden, you realize you're sticking your bum out when you should be sticking your bum in," she adds chuckling.

I'm not quite at the point where I'm chuckling about it. I'm still embarrassed and frustrated, but I'll get there.

Next on the line up, is the figure eight, which continued my frustrations. It involves two seperate isolations. The hip slide, which is moving my hips from side to side, left to right. Then, the twist, which is a twisting isolation, backward and forward, instead of side to side. Now, to put them together. I start by twisting my right hip backwards, then slide out and scoop it forward. My right hip is now at the front right corner. Sliding left, I bring the left hip to the back left corner, and I scoop through to bring my left hip to the left front corner. Great. Did you get all that?

This move really gets my leg muscles going. Daugherty agrees that this move is hard on the thighs and butt; she can clearly see my pain as she says this.

While this move gets my legs working, the hip drop gets my abs cramping. The hip drop consists of using the obliques to lift and drop one side of your hip. To do a right hip drop, all of my weight is on my left foot and my knees are loose. I pull my hip upwards, towards my body and hold, then drop into a normal position. Then, as with many moves in belly dancing - I speed it up. This move wasn't particularly hard for me, but after a couple of minutes doing this, I felt a cramp that I hadn't felt since my track and field days back in elementary school.

"Hip drops and shimmies are quite a work out," says Marilee Nugent, a belly dance instructor at Venus Belly Dancing Studio, who has taught for 16 years and counting.

"If you do that for 20 minutes, you will definitely feel it."

"While all hip work is great for the abs, the best move for your stomach is the camel," she adds.

The camel is sometimes confused with the belly roll, as it looks sort of similar. It consists of two movements. First, I stick my chest out, and roll it out to my bottom. Now, I incorporate moving my legs. I take a step and as I do I take my chest up, and roll it out as I take the step with my other foot. My weight is on the foot of the direction my roll is pointing, and ends with my weight on the opposite one. This challenged me mentally as well as physically. I was running for my water bottle at this point - not only for a drink, but also for an excuse to take a break for a moment.

"Overall, your strengthening and toning muscles," says Nugent, of belly dancing.

"It's a great component of a good fitness routine. For people who don't like to exercise at the gym, it's great," she adds.

"It's all about motivation. You have to find something that you are interested in, in order to see a long term commitment. Bellydancing is something that does that for a lot of people."

So, your friends may be joining a boot camp, or slaving away at the gym, but don't feel guilty. Belly dancing is a sure way to get into shape, have fun and embrace your body.





Belly dancing is a great work out, but going to class once a week is probably not going to be enough to see results in the shape of your body. Here are some tips for belly dancing outside of class, to allow a better work out and to pick up the moves at a faster rate.
- Practise on your own. It can definitely help to purchase a video, to keep you on track.
-Practise with your belt on, tummy showing, music playing and in front of a mirror. Make sure to watch yourself and to move around at different angles.
-Remember to practise reversing the moves. Many of my classmates only practised one, and were stumped when asked to reverse them.
-When you feel you've mastered a move, try to combine it with others. Not only does it allow you to advance quicker, you are working more muscles than by practicing only one of the moves at a time.

-Close your eyes and imagine you are under water. Then move as if you are. This will help with the fluidity of your movement.

-For belly success, find a string of beads and put them around your tummy. Practice in front of a mirror. Watching yourself will encourage exaggeration of movements to see results.