1 day, 8 hours, 6 dances, sore feet!

Yesterday I went to DANCEmania:

The idea behind DANCEmania was to have one day where women could have a go at as many different styles of dance as possible.  Mad Camel Belly Dance has been able to organise the 11th of April 2010 to run DANCEmania with 6 styles of dance spread over 8 hours. With one ticket getting you entry into Belly dance, Bollywood, Samba, Cabaret, Burlesque and Lap dancing you will get to have a go at all 6 styles. 

The day is intended to be fun and laughter for women of all ages and skill levels so don't worry if you have never lapdanced before; there is a first time for everything!

I dragged a friend along and we had a great day!

It started with Cabaret, learning a dance (complete with feather boas) to "Hey Big Spender", then moving swiftly on to Samba. I'd never danced the Samba before, but I loved it! We learnt the basic foot move then worked it into a basic dance (the teacher showed us what you could do with it and we were all very glad to stick to the basics!) then did a funky party carnival style jump around. Great cardio!

After lunch came Bollywood. It was more bollywood fusion (so not to far removed from bellydance) which was a shame, because I'd have loved to have done some propper, snappy, more angular indian dance. 

Then came the most fun one: Lap dancing :D Around an empty chair. I loved it. Once you forget of the sleazy side, its actually a lot of fun. Free your inhibitions and try it some time! Simple moves if you know a bit of dancing, and much slower so there is time to put your own thing in too.

Hmm, what was next? Burlesque. Now, this one wasn't all I'd expected, but I think its more because of the teacher who made it very regimented and repetitive and not much fun. Cabaret was much more fun, even though they're a very similar style.

And very tired, at 5pm, we started on BellyDance. Now, the day was organised by a belly dance troupe, so most of us had some previous experience and so this way more of a fun shake down at the end of the day. The best bit? dancing to Tarkans "Simarik", a turkish song we used to love at high school.

The Boy picked us up and ferried us home for a carb-fest of baked potatoes to replenish some of that expended energy. Tired and a bit stiff, and with very sore feet (dancing in heels?! if you'd seen me tottering around in Melbourne a few weeks ago you'd never believe it!) but happy.