Dancing In My Car

The music comes on and I start to dance.  I’m by myself, so there’s no one for me to follow.

I have to decide which move I’ll do when.  I start out with the taxeem because it’s the  Bellydancing move I’m most comfortable with.  I try to make my moves match the music.  I try to keep time.  I move through all the slow moves I can think of, hip circle, stalk walk, body wave.  I repeat a few then panic and turn in a stalk walk, hoping to hand over the lead.

But there’s no one else there and actually, I’m not even really dancing.  I’m driving home from Bellydancing, listening to the playlist  from the class, imagining it all.

I read somewhere that when you sing a song in your head, your brain is doing the same thing as if you’re singing out loud.

So if I’m imagining that I’m dancing, am I, in a way, practicing?

It feels like it to me.  Not physically, but in remembering and understanding the different moves and how they work with the music.

This has been happening to me for a while.  It’s not something I consciously think about doing.  Now when I hear music that I’m familiar with from my bellydancing class, I just start dancing in my mind.  Or if I’m in my studio, I actually dance.

I see this as me embodying Bellydancing.  Not just taking lessons or learning, but beginning to know and experience it in a way I haven’t before.

I’ve never done anything like Bellydancing in my life.  It all new to my brain and body.  And I’m grateful that it’s come to me at this point in my life. It makes me trust that, if I’m open to it,  there will always be something new for my body and mind to experience, now matter how old I am or what my life situation is.