I have said it many times, but I will say it again. The art of dance has been lost.

What people do is that they learn creative dance in a very uncreative way, from a very uncreative force; the physical mind. To change this, requires one to let go of what they have learned, and to just discover…movement. Let it come, when it is time. By doing this, the complexities borne of the freedom of this path, are exquisite, and far too much for the mind to put together on its own…and why bother when it is so easy just to do it in natural form.

Someone understood the process of discovery in movement, so everyone took up the craze, plastering their studio door with the word ‘movement’ something. They felt that they, of course, had a brilliant idea due to their hard done studies in something the new age movement would go dizzy over. They would lead people to free themselves, or discover different forms of movement. But what they did not do, was teach people the process. Why? Because they didn’t understand it, from other than a mental construct. A lot of weird trying went on though…retired accountants breaking free…or at least trying…and just being weird.

Lives wasted in this war on our minds. This war to keep us from finding out what is actually going on.

Bellydance is fascinating to me because, what is left of it, is a blueprint of fabulous moves that can come from the body, mind and soul…at its best. When we look at the definition of blueprint, ‘a design plan or other technical drawing.’, we can equate it more directly, as an inanimate occurrence. Indeed this is the case. When I see a bellydance routine, I see someone putting together a series of techniques done precisely or…way off the mark.

I am so sorry to say this because I know the bellydance community. Those girls work super hard, and they have a very good mind and patience to memorize. They research the history of bellydance, and they love everything about it so much that they even make their own costumes. They want to be the best they can be, and just even going up there in front of an audience, even if you aren’t looking your best, is a hats off moment for me!!!

Women take-up bellydancing for a number of reasons, but I think that some have an inkling in them of something magical to attain…but many never achieve it. It is like the disappointment that we encounter in relationships. We see some great things about ta person, and we just assume the fundamentals are all in place…and then there is the shocker…they aren’t.

We don’t get shocked when we take up bellydancing, when we find that it isn’t as magical as we thought it could be. We don’t even notice that what we thought we would attain, has no directions. We look at the bellydance teacher as giving us the treasure map, but sometimes it looks like they don’t have it either. What happens, is that magical element, perhaps a type of holy grail, sinks back into the recesses of our brain. Soon we forget about it as we try to master the techniques and the routines…just like when we take a type of Yoga that has a huge number of asanas. Soon, in this desert landscape, our bar of attainment sits where the group is, which is not where that inkling can be followed. Sure, some of us want to do solo’s that we create, but if we don’t know how to be truly creative it won’t happen to as large a degree. It is actually like night and day…and if you knew just how good it felt when you attain it, you would make it a priority to get there. All of us have the capacity within us to shine this way. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a world that is all lite up with people who radiate light?!!!!!

You must be ready to clobber me, and fling nasty words my way. Please just show some respect. I am not being hateful ok. I am merely making a personal observation, not to be mean, but to inform. The reason that you are angry with me, is because you believed so strongly that all your hard work was making you very excellent at what you were doing. Your ego became invested. You know the thing about relearning. I know how hard it is too. We are only human on a very difficult planet. Please!...I am merely the messenger.

Listen…I really admire you girls. You are doing your part in this cosmic drama here on earth. You were the ones who brought this gorgeous, ancient, cultural dance form along so that we could know it. You are like the keepers of the knowledge. Some might call you the historians.

Historians, aren’t usually entertainers. An entertainer has that connection to the creative force in the universe…that is, if they do. There are lots of bellydancers out there performing, but are they that creative??? There are so many examples of this. For example, I am a visual artist, but I am not like my friend, Bruce St Clair, whose paintings are master works. I was a professional artist, but the process of painting that I used was somewhat creative, of course, but not full blown.

It requires an interest, an aptitude, and time to work on it. I am very diversified so the only one I am best at is dance. But then, my work is art, and I have my own school of healing because I have taught myself; and succeeded to be acclaimed for excellence by those who have come to me. As well, I teach a spiritual level of yoga…which is about explaining how to tap into the creative process.

Why does this elude us? Why does the bible not tell us anything about how Jesus became so enlightened, so we could be too? Why is it, that so many talented musicians die penniless, and are never known beyond the reaches of a scummy bar, or their living room. Yet some, become famous and make lots of money? Why is it that football, baseball, and hockey…is held in gigantic stadiums so that the owners can buy a country? The sports industry is fueled by this because little athletes want to become athletic stars, only to be physically damaged by doing so, before they leave high school. They then, as damaged goods, fuel the medical and health industry.

They don’t want to teach you…because it is bad for business.

You know why bellydance got watered down? People were curious about it, but when it came onto our Christian moralistic soil, we were aghast!!!! We thought that it was disgusting, and fully questionable. So, to control this issue, belly dancers were supposed to do the moves in only one way, and to not look like they were too into it. This fueled another industry…and everyone was happy.

Be happy. Don’t worry.

So…the creative aspect of bellydancing was taken right out, and so was the quality. There have been some bellydancers along the way, who went their own way, however, and were beacons of light in this age of bellydance darkness.

Sorry

…but this is true.

I sensed it when I first got into bellydance, and shortly after, I realized what the problem was. The thing is too, is that the more we try to emulate the standard, the more rigid we become in it. It therefore becomes harder to break free of it.

But how do you teach the inner workings of creativity when you just think that your spiritual studies are over there, and you as a bellydance teacher are over on the other side. It just won’t happen…unless the person…does their own inner work. But if they merely just reiterate what it was that they learned in class, or from a book, then they will not get it. It requires going DEEP within.

One of the problems in learning the spiritual aspect that makes bellydancing great is that people learn with a furrowed brow. You can’t understand spirituality by learning it from the intellect. You will only have a shallow understanding of what the ‘lost in translation’ ancient scriptures were saying. And this is exactly what the problem is. We try to learn the esoteric with an inferior instrument.

How the heck do you do a dance performance, and not make a fool of yourself, by being creative? It is terrifying to the uninitiated…even if they have been doing bellydance for 40 years. All those years wasted, in a way. A template of moves and dances, was carried from the past so that was good, but if you knew there was something more, you would be deeply disappointed.

I was at a pagan gathering in the countryside many years ago. I was new to them. There was a bellydance instructor there and she said that she was still looking to find that thing about bellydancing that she felt was missing. I began to dance again. She danced too, but then she noticed how I was dancing and it looked like she was having an epiphany. It stopped her in her dance steps. She didn’t know my history as a bellydancer, so she assumed that I had never danced before. She did not need go to Egypt to learn the missing link, because, they too, got in on the ‘stamp of approval’ to keep the American bucks rolling in. All she needed, was to realize that the lady dancing next to her held the secret. Sometimes all it takes is for someone just to observe someone shining. It is called getting shined on.

What is a natural form of dance? I mentioned earlier that it was better to just dance in natural form than to memorize a routine of techniques. Well, what did you interpret it as? What I meant, is something that hasn’t often been explained properly. Does this mean that we should abandon the templates that have been passed on, and just create our own dance? It is easy to do, if you are just freestyling it, but what about being creative within a template such as bellydancing? What about your own interpretation of the moves? What about your own rhythm and flow to the music? What about letting interesting moves surface on their own. What about losing your balance, and no one noticed because you were so artful?

This is called showmanship. When I was twelve, I was in a fashion show. I dropped my glove, and smoothly bent my knees, and with refinement and a confident smile, I picked it up and made it part of the show. My modeling teacher was impressed.

It is also called acting fast on your feet. Or pulling ideas out of the air. It is a connection to a mind and source of creativity that is larger than that obtained from the physical experience.

There are many courses popping-up here and there, trying to help us to get there through dance, but sometimes they bring us farther away from the light, only because we are all learning from the limitations of merely using the physical mind.

It isn’t that hard though really.