Personal Observations and
Experiences of working with Belly Dancing The Sacred Shapes with The
Goddess Dancing
By Lalli Meera, 2004.
Working with The Goddess dancing’s new
videotape, Belly Dancing The Sacred Shapes with The Goddess Dancing,
has been an enjoyable and meaningful experience for me.
Led by the members of The Goddess
Dancing, Anita-Cristina Calcaterra, Cathy Moore and Karen Uminski, the program
pursues an easy to follow format. Throughout the video, the teachers give clear
instructions, as well as gentle proper alignment reminders.
Following a warm up, the three teachers
take us through dance movements divided into five segments, each born from what
the describe as The Sacred Shapes: the circle, the crescent, the
figure eight, the shimmy, and the undulation. They do each shape in a variety
of ways, one by one, with the hips, the heart, and the head. The shapes are
described in relationship to both our bodies and the physical world. The
teachers use poetic and scientific imagery to help the viewer to experience and
draw the shapes with her body. With some of the moves, they explain which
muscles are being used, which I found helpful. Here is a portion of the
instruction given in the circle segment:
| “Control you pelvis by imagining your hips are a shallow
bowl filled with your essence. You are swirling your essence around in this
bowl. Try not to spill a drop!… In order to keep level all the way
around, the diaphragm works as a counterbalance for the hips. In the front the
lower abdomen is expanded; on the sides the obliques around your waist are
activated to pull the hipbone down, keeping the hips on a horizontal plane; in
the back the lower back stretches down, rather than swinging out.” |
The tape ends with The Creation
Dance; danced to a poem written by Anita-Cristina, which allows the
viewer to incorporate all the shapes she has just learned.
The relaxed and heartfelt flow between
and emanating from the three teachers, as well as the attractive set and
beautiful music, create a mellow and uplifting mood.
Belly Dancing The Sacred Shapes
with The Goddess Dancing gave me a fresh perspective and positively
affected my belly dancing experience. In the past year and a half I have had
the good fortune to take numerous classes and workshops with a variety of
wonderfully skilled and talented Oriental dance teachers. I have also used
several belly dance videotapes. Yet, the more techniques and moves I learned,
the more frustrated I became. Not a frustration that practice and perseverance
could remedy. I felt a disconnect within. My body wanted to move; it craved to
be an instrument of the rhythm. Yet, something was keeping me from connecting
to my inner dance. The Goddess Dancing’s video was the breakthrough I needed.
Awakening the shapes within my body realigned me with the natural energies that
already live within and without. Some of the shapes that were so challenging
before, particularly the undulation began to flow through me. My body breathed
a sigh of relief. Now it could express itself from the inside out, rather than
unsuccessfully struggling to do so from the outside in.
With this newly awakened inner resource,
I believe that I will also be able to internalize and manifest many of the dance
moves I have previously learned. For now, though, when I hear the music and my
body wants to move, I simply remember the shapes and let the shapes moves me.
Feels so good, so natural...
Reviewed by Lalli Meera who is a
former student of The Goddess
Dancing™
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