The performers included four professional dancers and the rest were Coffey’s students. They mentioned personal self-exploration, the desire to de-stress, meditation or simply curiosity as the reason for starting to belly dance.Coffey, who dances under th name “Na’ila,” turned to professional dancing as a drastic career change. She moved to Fort Myers from Baltimore, Md. about 10 years ago as a metallurgical engineer. Then she took up belly dancing. “I don’t know why. It just happened,” she said. One thing that drew her was the fact that belly dancing is a great method of self-expression, she said. “We’re not cookie cutters. Every dancer is different.” Also, the dance is exotic, she said. “I love the music.”
The News-Press: EntertainmentIt's interesting to read why people choose to belly dance. Most people tell me they just love the way it looks when people belly dance and they want to be a part of it.
This article is also interesting because the instructor went from being an engineer to a professional dancer. Belly dancing is one of very few dance styles where an adult can do this and still become skilled enough to be a professional - perhaps because this has always been predominantly a dance for women not children.
Lisa x
technorati tags:belly+dancing, bellydance, belly+dance, reasons+to+belly+dance, belly+dancing+professional
