Every belly dancing instructor I've seen is overweight.

Personally I'm not even going to think about complaining....

Echoing that belly dance is for celebrating the body that you have - regardless of its size or age.. It's a 3000 year old tradition passed down by the grandmothers. I don't dance just for my audience, I dance for myself and for all the women who came before me and will come after.

Aren't they kind of required to have a high body fat percentage anyway?

Doesn't that make the belly rolling easier or something?

look up Rachel Brice no body fat there and she is a knock out, and my old instructor Barb Buchannan is awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN3IyjsDAgQ she is the one dancing here

Rachel and Mardi Love were my instructors! Mardi has some serious curves, and she works them hard. Rachel is solid as a rock, in person too. She doesn't have much to shake, but it looks so fabulous seeing all the muscles move with such control and isolation.

Belly dance just looks wonderful on most women's bodies, imho. It's so very hard, too. I love it.

Y'all watch Mardi do her thing (and she has always stayed that size). Think of the muscles it takes to do these moves:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fifge62L71Y[/url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fifge62L71Y


If anyone isn't familiar with Rachel's dancing, check her out, too! It's really interesting seeing how the dances look on each body type, I think

Just an observation.

Seriously, this seems to defy odds. If they were a sample of average population, at least 1/3 of them would be normal weight.
And, it is an active job, and they work out all the time, yet, wow!

Or have your experience been different?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UveMoL-S75Q - Some people would think Sadie has a belly...but I would kill to have her abs/body. She's considered the #1 belly dancer in the world!

I guess I don't understand the purpose of bringing attention to non-perfect bodies in anything. It all just feels like body shaming to me.

I the video you posted she had just given birth, here is a more updated video and the belly is gone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf5wMRlZYnQ

I watch some on youtube they look great to me not sure what your talking about, but then never actually been to a real class. I love dancing around my living room in my belly dancing outfit. I would never do it in public though lol

I've seen quite a few overweight turbo kick instructors as well. I mean it's turbo kick for crying out loud! And in almost every single YouTube I have seen of all these different instructors, their form when teaching classes is way off. WAY off. And I am thinking, you have a library of very specifically performed movements, but woman you are half assing it. I dunno, there just don't seem to be genuine standards for this sort of thing I guess.

Rachel and Mardi Love were my instructors! Mardi has some serious curves, and she works them hard. Rachel is solid as a rock, in person too. She doesn't have much to shake, but it looks so fabulous seeing all the muscles move with such control and isolation.

Belly dance just looks wonderful on most women's bodies, imho. It's so very hard, too. I love it.

Y'all watch Mardi do her thing (and she has always stayed that size). Think of the muscles it takes to do these moves:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fifge62L71Y[/url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fifge62L71Y


If anyone isn't familiar with Rachel's dancing, check her out, too! It's really interesting seeing how the dances look on each body type, I think

Ahhh, Mardi is amaaaazingggg. So excited she's teaching at TribalCon this year! I've taken workshops with Rachel and Zoe but not her... yet...

To the original topic: we have some teachers around here who are a bit heavier. We have some that are quite slender. We have some that are in between. All of them are very talented and have some serious core strength. The dance looks different (but just as good) on all of them. Everyone has different metabolisms and diets and lifestyles. *shrugs* I've been studying bellydance for 3 years and have managed to gain weight in that time... now, I'm studying *and* practicing hard, drilling tough moves and keeping up a sweat for an hour or so multiple days a week and the weight is coming back off. Intake vs. output. I'd imagine it's the same for instructors, as they're also human beings. Simple enough!

Just an observation.

Seriously, this seems to defy odds. If they were a sample of average population, at least 1/3 of them would be normal weight.
And, it is an active job, and they work out all the time, yet, wow!

Or have your experience been different?

Yes, and I was once told "that's what makes it a belly dance"... But I admit, I don't like it if that's what I'm going to end up looking like lol.

You did not read this thread before posting, lol.

I laughed when she first posted it, thanks for the encore.

Belly dance is not the fitness industry, but an art form. I want an instructor who can teach dance.

For that matter, that goes for fitness instructors as well -- I'd rather have someone who can teach than someone who just looks good.

Every sport has different people of different sizes. I've had dance instructors that would be considered over- and underweight. In the world of belly dancing, a good instructor could do things with the muscles in their body that I still only dream of doing. I've been to a few belly dancing expos and seen it all. The good ones use their bodies to accentuate the dance. It's not the same as other dances where being a certain size is more preferential. Here, small movements, using all of the body's muscles is key.

in my mid-sized town the local 'professional' bellydance scene is miniscule and the amatuers (all 50 or less of them) are largely (no pun intended) bigger women, although there are some at all sizes. there are just not very many to begin with around here. population is low enough that bellydancers around here are pretty much all hobbyists, and the majority of those are heavy, but that's probably just because the majority of ppl in my area are heavy. the actual instructors i've seen around here have been anywhere from slender to somewhat fluffy. last festival (we have only a couple per year here) they brought in a couple of professionals and we got to see what ppl pay to see on cruise ships: those women had abs AND bellyfat.

Just like Zumba instructors (a lot of them( because Zumba doesn't make lean bodies duh!