15 and Flourishing! Growing Up in Bellydance at a Young Age.

By Hayley of BellyUp 
When I walked into BellyUp for the first time, I just wanted to try a fun new thing. For me, as a history buff, bellydancing was this very exotic and very foreign dance form where girls danced with camels and pyramids in the background, like mostly everyone else believes. I was fifteen years old and it was nearing the end of summer, the start of yet another school year. The colours of studio hit me as soon as I walked in: vibrant pillows and Sari drapes, peacock feathers in metallic urns nearly the size of me, the intense reflectiveness of the coin belts by the sunny window, and the beautiful breezes wafting through the studio from the hot August air.  I felt a surge of excitement and, though quite nervous, I couldn’t wait to get into the class.

Well, I can tell you that this “fun new thing” has changed by life. If you had told me five years ago that I’d be dancing professionally, performing for the likes of Mahmoud Reda or Aida Nour or celebrating my 18th birthday when we travelled to Egypt with Joharah for the Nile Group Festival, I’d have thought that was pretty awesome, but unlikely; but you truly never know where life will take you. I jumped on that wave and have kept on riding it ever since, and the impact it has made on me has been phenomenal. Having been in plays since a very young age, beginning this dance form was not a total leap-out-of-my-comfort-box task; but what it did do was work on me from the inside. I cannot thank myself enough for starting at as young an age as 15 (or for Joharah for welcoming me into the community), when girls are so impressionable. Everything is changing, and everything around you is telling you to change; but bellydancing teaches you to love yourself unconditionally. Change is great, but you don’t have to change for anyone. It provides a community of people that will support you in everything, and where everyone is beautiful regardless of age or size. BellyUp and Joharah provided me with a safe haven to grow and nurture my growing appreciation and love for who I am, and most importantly, a safe place where a 15 year-old can be uncertain of herself, but be encouraged rather than discouraged, and instead, grow in certainty.

Hayley is our youngest member of Bellyup's dance ensemble Ala Nar. She is a constant inspiration to our younger students and is one of BellyUp's rising bellydance stars!