It's amazing how dance comes back to us. For my mom's 80th birthday, I bought her belly dancing lessons. She hadn't done belly dancing for about 40 years, but the introductory course was too low level for her. I don't remember if she switched to intermediate, but I definitely encouraged her to.
Oh my goodness, I love this! Just such a beautiful reminder that dance never really leaves you. Our muscles have incredible memory. Cheering for your mom and her rediscovery of belly dancing!
My dance teacher was named miss Janice snd she was def not as cruel as miss Hester.
Wish I could relate to the psrt sboit being able to reclaim in adulthood but tjsts hard to do when your vessels due to microclots or dussitnomis won’t pump blood the wsy s body needs to move.
I move vicariously through you hahaha.
I must point out how this too is sn example of eugenics touching everybody.
in this case all too literally.
Ableism hits and seeps into all bodies snd bodyminds.
thanks for mentioning this. and you're right. ableism hits hard here when your body simply cannot do what you wish to reclaim. i didn't consider that and i really appreciate you saying it.
Ohhh I could relate to this so much! I’m also short, thin by real world standards but “too much” by dance standards…will never forget my ballet teacher in high school complimenting the one prepubescent girl in the room on “how straight her back is” (read: straight line from neck to butt) while the rest of us, with our typical teenage girl curves, thought “well, yeah…she’s a string bean 10 year old 🙄”. I got many comments on “not having a dancer body”, both from that teacher and others, and also ended up focusing on fitness (I teach pilates). But just this year, I started dancing again (modern and social dance/hip hop), and it’s been so freeing to just enjoy it and not worry about my body. I’m happy that you’ve come back to it too ☺️
It's amazing how dance comes back to us. For my mom's 80th birthday, I bought her belly dancing lessons. She hadn't done belly dancing for about 40 years, but the introductory course was too low level for her. I don't remember if she switched to intermediate, but I definitely encouraged her to.
😂 love this
Oh my goodness, I love this! Just such a beautiful reminder that dance never really leaves you. Our muscles have incredible memory. Cheering for your mom and her rediscovery of belly dancing!
This is awesome and it makes me so happy to read! I also loved dance, including tap dance, as a kid. This is a beautiful essay.
Thanks, Kim. I'm so glad it landed for you. Especially since reclaiming happiness and joy in my body was the impact I wanted to share so badly.
Ooph hard relate on this one
My dance teacher was named miss Janice snd she was def not as cruel as miss Hester.
Wish I could relate to the psrt sboit being able to reclaim in adulthood but tjsts hard to do when your vessels due to microclots or dussitnomis won’t pump blood the wsy s body needs to move.
I move vicariously through you hahaha.
I must point out how this too is sn example of eugenics touching everybody.
in this case all too literally.
Ableism hits and seeps into all bodies snd bodyminds.
thanks for mentioning this. and you're right. ableism hits hard here when your body simply cannot do what you wish to reclaim. i didn't consider that and i really appreciate you saying it.
Dys autonomía rather
Get it Naomi 😉
Bet you looked as amazing as you felt 🫶🏼
honestly, dancing has always made me feel like a million bucks (whatever that looks like…totally relative for sure) ☺️
Thought you'd appreciate this article that appeared in Sojourners weekly enews
https://sojo.net/articles/reconstruct/god-loves-fat-people-they-are-can-we
I found it helpful in addressing some of my own biases that I actively try to overcome
Thanks, Ruth. This is an interesting article. I appreciate you sharing it with me.
Ohhh I could relate to this so much! I’m also short, thin by real world standards but “too much” by dance standards…will never forget my ballet teacher in high school complimenting the one prepubescent girl in the room on “how straight her back is” (read: straight line from neck to butt) while the rest of us, with our typical teenage girl curves, thought “well, yeah…she’s a string bean 10 year old 🙄”. I got many comments on “not having a dancer body”, both from that teacher and others, and also ended up focusing on fitness (I teach pilates). But just this year, I started dancing again (modern and social dance/hip hop), and it’s been so freeing to just enjoy it and not worry about my body. I’m happy that you’ve come back to it too ☺️