What Does a Belly Dancer Look Like?

Dilara has a great blog on "what an American looks like". I'd like to expand that further and talk about... what does a belly dancer look like?
I test drove some cars this past weekend while I debated taking my current vehicle off life support (it made it through the night and should live to see a few more thousand miles).

When I told the car salesman I worked for HipMix.net, he said, "Oh I sold a car to a belly dancer a few weeks ago. But she wasn't what I expected a belly dancer to look like."

Before you started belly dancing, what did you think a belly dancer should look like?

What is your opinion now?

Capture the Details: Still-Life Photography and Belly Dance

Oh hi, did you forget about me?

It's been a bit of a delay since I posted last. With holidays, and shopping, and trying to get a load of work done before my week-long holiday (woohoo!), I haven't had a lot of time to chronicle my journey into belly dance.

So instead, I thought I'd do one of those fun photo posts where I tell a bit of a story. Mostly I want to tell you 4 things I learned during my attempts at being a still life photographer for HipMix.

Belly Dance Has Changed My World

Last night, at a belly dance workshop, I had a surreal moment. I gave a 15 minute pitch for the clothes and services the company I work for, HipMix.net, offers. After the talk, the dancers had only a few minutes to ask questions before the workshop began, and one dancer came over and asked me:

"How do I do, what you do?"

It was one of those moments where, as an outsider to this belly dance world, I felt confused. What did I do? I stood and awkwardly talked about clothes I happened to be wearing (and liked). I was concise, personable (hah, one of my few personable moments. I've found anyone can stomach me for at least 15 minutes, I think or hope). But what did I really do?

And then I realized, this is a passion of hers. A hobby. How many of us desperately want to be able to make our hobbies our living? It wasn't that I gave a great pitch (well, I mean I DID but that's not the point). She wanted to be able to have belly dance be a part of her career.

Then I felt really blessed. Here I was, a stumbler into the world of belly dance, and I have yet to see how large and wild it all is. I've been lucky to fall into a career that makes the best of my strengths. And more than that, I work in female-dominated environment that celebrates all types and sizes and strengths of women.

So despite the fact I was wearing a choli top and harem pants in low 40 degree weather, I felt warm inside. Belly dance has changed my world, like so many others.

How has it changed yours? Share your story at HipMix.net/share.