The World of Belly dance

If you are new to belly dance, the best thing is to find a teacher in your area and attend classes. Only in this way you will learn properly ,as a good teacher will be able to correct your movements and give you adequate feedback.

You can find belly dance classes advertised on local papers, through posters and leaflet in dance centres or community centres or in Arabic restaurants (as many of them have belly dancers performing there, who often also teach).
Another good way to find a class in by searching online, through Google. There are also several online directories that list belly dance teachers.

Once you have found a good teacher, you can complement your learning process by reading books on belly dance or better still practise using DVDs. Most belly dance DVDs can be bought on Amazon. My favourite belly dance instructional DVDs are from dancers such as Michelle Joyce, Jenna, Suhaila Salimpour, Neon, Blanca and Sarah Skinner. There are all sort of instructional bellydance DVDs , teaching beginners, intermediate and advanced dancers, as well as props like zills, veils, sword etc.

When you are learning belly dance all you will need is:
- a comfortable top with good support, preferably short, showing the midriff so that your teacher can check the movements of your hips and waist.
- a pair of sretch jazz trousers or a long and wide skirt
- you will not need any shoes, as belly dance is danced barefooted; however, if you are cold, you can wear a pair of soft ballet shoes or non slippery socks
- finally, but very important, you will need to tie a scarf around your hips. This is very useful to emphasise the hips movements and also to check you are doing them correctly. You can wear any type of light scarf, but the ideal type are purposely made belly dance hip scarves, which have either coins, beads or fringes that move while you dance.

Now you are ready to start belly dancing and have fun!