Drinking the Koolaid

So, for a few months now I've been meaning to "get back" to belly dance class.

Ok in the spirit of honesty, I have only taken a few classes.

Ah! I know! I know, I work for HipMix and I've taken one class. I'm a horrible person. Somehow, between watching belly dance, reading about belly dance, and interacting with belly dancers, I thought I was one. Not true. I feel like a band groupie. I'm in with the crowd, but I can't really relate, you know?

They talk about shimmies, hip drops, performances, and the troubles of breaking the stereotype. I'm the eager puppy, nodding my head and pretending to understand. They just sort of smile and pat me on the shoulder. "As if you know..."

But belly dancers are a lot nicer than that. They've been very helpful. And what have I done? I'm mixing the koolaid but I don't drink it*.

Well, I am finally giving back to the community. Not only am I FINALLY taking a belly dance class tomorrow, I've recruited two partners in crime: my coworkers Kaitlyn and Haley!

Plus by putting this in writing, they can't back out. Hear that? YOU CAN'T BACK OUT!

More details coming soon!

*no belly dancers were poisoned in the making of this blog post

A HipMix.net Life: The Sitcom Begins

I have a bad habit of wanting to explain everything.

I don't know where this idea embedded in my brain that anyone might actually care, but I can't help myself. If you meet me out, I'll probably tell you my life story, embarrassing details & all, in about 5 minutes.

In the spirit of telling more than is natural, I'd like to start a series on "Life at HipMix.net" to show what's it's like working in a small office full of people passionate about Belly Dance. I'm gonna write it like a sitcom because, well, I want to.

Meet the Characters:

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?

The Boyfriend and the Belly Dancer

Saturday night, I begged and begged my boyfriend to take me to the local hookah bar and watch some belly dancers. After all, I've only taken one class, and I haven't seen any belly dancers live since that time an Australian belly dancer showed me a hole in her shoes (interesting night).

So we finally went. I bought us hookah and paid the cover charge (my bribe for getting him to get outside his comfort zone). We settled down and waited.

I'm not sure when the dancing was scheduled to begin, but we apparently got there too early. As such, we got to watch the hookah bar slowly fill up. Having been to the bar on non-belly dance nights, it was incredible to see how much traffic the belly dancing brought to the business.

In fact, the bar was so crowded we were asked to share our large couch area with a group of strangers. They were very nice, so I didn't mind.

Then the dancing began.

It was really interesting to see the moves I could put names to, as well as the moves I couldn't. It made me feel like I still had a lot to learn (after one lesson? wow!). My boyfriend loved, I mean LOVED, the music. He thinks that because we have Rock Band, he can drum. But it was pretty adorable to watch him play the music on his leg.

While surrounded by newcomers to belly dance, I was heartened to see their response. Many of the girls were impressed, "I could never do that!" I wanted to tell them they could.

Only one guy near me made leering remarks. "Bow chicka wow wow," he kept saying.

After all was said and done, I felt very impressed by the caliber, diversity, and enthusiasm of the dancers. Some of them looked so happy, I wanted to join. I could see people around me dancing in their seats. The last belly dancer even brought people out of the audience to dance!

Somewhere near the end of the show, my boyfriend put his arm around me and said, "Best $5 you've ever spent on me."

Another person converted to the love of belly dance!