Street Bellydance

It’s a balmy Saturday nite in mid-town Sacramento. I’ve been invited to a performance at the Hot Pot Studio, home of modern bellydance and improvisational tribal dance.

Now, I don’t know much about bellydancing, modern or otherwise, and what little I do know comes from old cheesy movies. But April, the manager of my Halloween stores, is a member of the studio and has invited me to see their free street performance. So, I'm there!

How would I describe the bellydance experience? Exotic, of course. Also graceful and expressive. And, strangely beautiful. Why strangely? Because these were not empty-headed TV bodies. Or Cosmo bodies. They were confident dancers with real bodies. Real scars, real stretch marks, real cellulite, real tattoos, etc. No airbrushed fantasies here.

The dancers were beautiful BECAUSE they were real. Real people communicating thru dance. I was completely entertained. And moved. There was a beautiful energy on K Street that night. I hope my camera caught that.

Thanks April. And to the Hot Pot bellydancers - BRAVO!

"Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself."
~ Havelock Ellis