LS investigates belly dancing soc

Who knew that Leeds University had a belly-dancing society? We certainly didn’t until we went along to give it a go.

We stood in the beginners’ class practising our hand-eye coordination, when we were told to go to a big box and take out a coin belt. For those of you who, like us, had no idea what this item was – it is a belt with coins sewn in. Pretty self-explanatory, but it makes a wonderful jangling noise when you shake your hips.

We were terrified that we might have to wear a sparkly bra or something similar, but the belt was the only costume needed. The class started slowly, because it was for beginners, with a warm up and stretch. This made us think we were going to be doing hardcore exercise, but actually the lesson was fun, informal, and definitely something we would do again.

The Belly Dancing Society President is Mel Hayirlioğlu, and she also took the class. After finishing her degree, she still runs the society while doing her masters, and she was more than willing to answer all our questions during and after our practice.

The society has been through its ups and downs, having been in debt just a few years ago. Mel managed to turn this bad luck around though and the society is now one of the most improved in the Union. Membership has increased this year so they now they have four classes every week for people of varying abilities.              

We asked Mel what kind of people do belly dancing, and she told us that it can be sexy, but it isn’t overtly so.  It’s about women using what mamma gave ‘em – hips, chest, and waist. It can be sensual, it can be fun, but more importantly all ages, all sizes and all shapes can enjoy it.

Something we were not expecting was how tricky shaking your hips really can be! We had to have good posture – making sure your tailbone is pointing to the floor instead of out and making sure your tummy is pulled in instead of stuck out. For those of you with poor posture – this can hurt a little (trust us, we know first hand!) but once you get this right, it’s easy. We felt uncomfortable at first trying desperately to get our belts to jangle as loudly as the others, but once that happened, we were well underway!

We can now proudly do figures of eight, camel rolls, hip circles, hip drops, hip raises, chest rolls and shoulder flicks. Surely a class is worth taking just so you can brag about these! The class was a lot of fun even for us, and if you couldn’t get your belt to jangle, a quick shimmy did the trick!             

If you want to see what the society has to offer, a date for your diary is the Dance show, running from March 17 to March 20. 

If you cannot wait until then, another performance on March 11 at ‘DISKO PARTISANI.’ Entry is £4 to those in costume and members, and £5 for everyone else. Surely a costume is worth the pound off though, so get into the spirit!

All in all, the dance class was fantastic, and we would recommend giving belly dancing a go. Get your belly out, and start dancing.  

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