Belly Dancing is not just about dancing and learning movements and refining the technique.  Belly Dancing is also a way to connect with yourself and to find out who you really are and how you feel about the dance.  When keeping a journal, you will find what you like about the dance, what you do not like etc….it will help you grow as a dancer and take you to the next step.  Journaling helps us to get our ideas out of our head and onto paper so that we can see what we are thinking and what is on our mind.  When we write it down it becomes clearer and will serve as a training tool.

Journaling may seem difficult at first so try not to look at it as a task something you must do, but something you want to do.  To get your started on the first page just write your name date and title it “My Belly Dance Diary “ or “ My Belly Dance Journal”.  The next step to take would be just taking a few moments and right down all the movements that come to the top of your head, without thinking.  If you find yourself thinking too hard and you stop writing; stop, even if you only have a few written down. The reason for this is a want it to be a free and natural process and these will be the movements that you are most comfortable with anyways and your core movements.  Keep the journal with you at all times so when an idea comes to mind or a movement, combination or anything else comes to mind you can write it down right away so you do not have to worry about trying to remember it.

Have a section in your journal were you write about you dance experience.  Things you can write about would be:  how you felt about class, choreography or even a performance.  These are very simple things to get you started.  It may seem difficult at first, but after a few times, you will not have a lot of difficulty and will look forward into writing in it rather than being a chore.  This will help connect with you and is a good tool in learning and expanding your belly dance dreams!