Trish, who’s in my bellydancing class, leaned over to me in-between dance sets “Watching them all dance” she said, “makes me see just how kind they are to us in class.”
I knew just what she meant.
Jackie, Jeanne, Callie and Emily, the women in the video above, are my fellow students, in my bellydancing class. They are known as Sisters of the Shawl. Watching them Saturday night at the Spice Routes Concert, I could see what incredible dancers they are.
This isn’t something I can really see in our class. One reason is because they’re taking the beginner class with us beginners, just doing beginning moves, and I don’t get to see all that they can really do. The other reason is because we’re all dancing together and I don’t get to watch them.
When Trish called them kind she was referring to how patient they are, as we try to learn what they know so well. How generous with their knowledge, when we don’t know what we’re doing. And how full of praise (often in the form of the “Yips” you can hear in the video) when we do something better or for the first time.
Also, having taken classes for about nine months now, I can appreciate them even more than I could when I saw them dance last year and knew nothing about Bellydancing.
It was actually thrilling to watch them. Maybe partly because if I ever do learn to bellydance well enough to do it in front of an audience, I’ll be dancing with them.
For now, everyone was happy with the stage set that Trish and I came up with. And I have to admit I was checking out the stage, coming up with ideas for next year.
I’m not sure how many different professional Belly dancers were at the Concert this year.
They came from four different states and my friend Kitty (who I recently learned felting with) was the announcer. The room was packed, and we were scrounging around for more chairs, there were so many people. So it was a success for the dancers and as a fundraiser for Meals on Wheels too.
Michelle Pineau is dancing in the video below. I loved watching her so I took the video to share with all of you.
I hope you find yourselves “yipping” as you watch the videos. My throat was sore, from all the “yipping” I did, when I got home last night.
