Learn to Belly Dance at Home

Belly dancing is a good choice if you want to learn dancing at home. It's gentle on the body so you're not likely to injure yourself even if you don't get it right (unlike some other, more technical dance styles). It doesn't need a lot of flexibility or strength, so you're not going to be struggling to achieve the moves either.

Also, you'll see results quickly, because you need only a few basic steps to put a simple dance together. That’s important when you’re learning alone, because it can be harder to stay motivated without a teacher or fellow students to keep you going.

It's almost impossible to learn any style of dance from books. The movements in bellydance are too subtle to follow from still pictures or written explanations.

Luckily there's a wide range of DVD's on bellydancing. It's worth taking the time to research DVD's on Amazon - even if you eventually buy your DVD in a bookstore or eBay. The quality of the teaching on bellydance DVD's varies enormously, and you can easily waste your money if you buy the wrong one.

Some have very little explanation and are useless to learn from (I suspect some were made to attract guys who want to perve rather than serious students!). At the other extreme, there are DVD's that do an excellent job of breaking down the moves, but don't ever run the moves together into a class, or teach you any choreography.

What you want, especially for your first bellydance instruction, is a DVD that offers two versions of the class - one a detailed breakdown with full explanations, and the other a straight run-through of all the exercises without a break. That way, once you know what you're doing, you can get a good workout. The final element should be a short choreographed routine, so you can learn how to put all the steps together to make a dance.

Indian twins Veena and Neena have a good series of DVD's in this format, including some that are a combination of belly dancing and workout.

If you want to take it more seriously, Jillina's bellydance series is excellent.

The important question, though, is why do you want to learn belly dance at home? If it's because there are no belly dancing classes in your locality, try Googling first - you may be surprised to find there are classes around, that you didn't know about!

But if it's because you're too self-conscious to go to class because of your size or your age, please don't be! Belly dancing is, without doubt, the most accepting of all dance forms. At a typical adult belly dance class you'll see women of all ages from 20 to 60, and all shapes and sizes. There's no need to have a bare belly, either - the only compulsory piece of equipment is a scarf tied around your hips. Most beginners wear a long t-shirt and a pair of baggy pants or a gypsy skirt (buy a larger size with an elasticized waist, so you can wear it low on the hips).

Why not give it a try?

To find a belly dance teacher in Australia, visit Belly Dance Oz

All text and photo copyright Marisa Wright.