Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Move those abs! By Jenara Regis Newman
THAT’S what you have to do if you want to follow the belly dancing lead of Ana Victoria Pasco who teaches the art at the Citigym of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.
Ana, who is from Cagayan de Oro, but who is residing here because of her husband’s job, learned belly dancing two and a half years ago on invitation of a friend. She has always loved dancing and she learned belly dancing easily enough and liked it enough to teach it to others. She has been with Citigym since it started over a year ago.
Ana says that for Egyptians: “Belly dancing is a fertility exercise. All parts of your body move, especially the belly, and it really flattens your tummy. If your body tends to be rigid, belly dancing makes it flexible. If you’re dancing, you feel very sexy; so I tell my students, ‘Don’t be shy.’ They should feel like a goddess when they dance.”
Some students have been with her since she started at Citigym.
“They like it. They dance, they perspire, their stomachs flatten, their buttocks lift up. They are now more curvaceous. It’s good for the health and it keeps you young.”
There are several accessories for belly dancers: a skirt always with bells so the hip movement shows better, a veil, a zil, a scarf, and a cane. The last is used especially when performing. There are special shoes, too, but they are “super” expensive so Ana chooses to dance barefoot. And she does dance, if asked to perform, for functions, and sometimes, she dances with another instructor (at Holiday Spa), Greg. Her students have been too shy to perform with her. In fact, some students are so shy they ask her to teach them at home, on a one-to-one basis. At Citigym, she teaches seven times a week: 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday and Friday; 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays; and 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.
Ana says belly dancing lets the inner goddess in you come out. So try it: shake, wiggle, move. Feel tinglingly alive!
