Do a Belly Dance

“My teacher organized a hafla in a local restaurant, so I was dancing for other belly dancers and some friends and family. I was so nervous, and the actual performance was kind of a blur. The other dancers were lovely and made sure to give each newbie specific compliments, which I still remember all these years later. A mistake I made was in thinking that belly dancing jewellery just means wearing every shiny bangle I could find and then not practicing with them. My neck and arms were kind of a jumbled mess! One of my necklaces got tangled in my hair, so I finished my dance with my head cocked to the side a bit because my hair was tied down!”

“I was sooooo nervous I was front row in a group of 13, I felt numb the first 1/3 of it then once I felt like I was fully present it was over! Looking back at the video I am proud of my performance but when I got off stage my teacher had to give me a pep talk cause I had clocked every. Single. Thing. I did wrong lol but I'm really happy for the experience.”

“My first performance was as friends and family hafla/recital for the various bellydance troupes and dancers in my city. Around 35-40 audience members and. It was great! I was really nervous but then I was dancing! It was a really encouraging environment.”