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Dancing Baby Down

by Suzanne Montalalou

For centuries women in other countries have known what some modern women are just discovering for themselves: pelvic movements and exercises help our bodies relax, stretch, and open naturally during birth. This truth is the basis of the real origins of what is commonly known in the United States as "belly" dance. In reality, the term "belly" dance comes from a marketing ploy used to attract an audience at the 1893 World Fair for a performance of what is more properly called Mid Eastern or Oriental Dance.

These truths are an integral part of the life work of a woman known as Morocco--Carolina Varga Dinicu-- who discovered the dance and its origins almost by accident. Although she does not believe it was accidental, but rather something she was guided to learn and share with others. "I really feel I have a guardian angel," she says, as she explains how she discovered her love of dance, found her teachers, and later learned the authentic origins of movements so graceful and so powerful they ultimately shaped the course of her whole life.

Morocco was a student working on her Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages when she saw a young girl dancing with such joy, she felt she had to learn to dance that way herself. After asking the girl for her teacher’s name, address and phone number, she lost it on the way to her first lesson. But she picked up a Spanish language newspaper and saw an ad for another dance teacher and called her instead. After studying Flamenco for more than two years, she began to perform and as a struggling dancer who was not even paid for her rehearsal time, she was offered an opportunity to dance at night for a job that would bring her a good paycheck.

At the interview she discovered it was not a Flamenco dancer, but an Oriental dancer they were looking for. "At the time, if they could have gotten a gorilla to get into the costume they would have hired him, so I was lucky that way to get a start," Morocco laughs.

But it was her insatiable curiosity, sincerity, and talent that enabled her to grow into a dancer whose moves carry such authenticity.  She was readily accepted into the culture of people who carried the secrets to the dance’s true origins.

One night as Morocco was dancing in a Manhattan club, a woman approached her and excitedly began talking in Arabic, which Morocco, at that time, did not understand. After converting it to English, it was found that the woman was thrilled at the authenticity Morocco displayed, which she likened to some of her own people who did this dance for each other to prepare for and assist women in childbirth.

Morocco did not believe this at first, but she kept hearing this story, among others, as she frequented different ethnic clubs.  She absorbed everything she could. The regular clientele and the other dancers, many of who were from those cultures, shared a great deal with Morocco about the dance moves and their heritage.

There are in fact a number of societies where different variations of dance are practiced on an almost daily basis from a very young age, and Morocco ultimately learned that the stories she was hearing were all true, for different variations and dances in different cultures. But she had to see for herself and when she had the opportunity, she went undercover to a birth where the indigenous women were in fact dancing around a woman as she gave birth to twin boys. The effect of the women dancing around her--and her own knowledge of how to move and work with her body rather than tensing up with fear and fighting the natural process--allowed her to give birth with no more signs of discomfort than the fact that she was sweating heavily.

For Morocco the scene brought tears to her eyes. It deepened her appreciation for an understanding of an art she loves. Because of this, she has spent the last forty years as a dancer who has consistently supported and demanded respect for an art that has its roots in a deeply spiritual, as well as a practical ritual that has survived for centuries. Her purpose, as she sees it, has been to preserve and carry on the legacy of a culture that is giving way to modernization.

Morocco has a website (http://www.tiac.net/users/morocco) where she has posted numerous articles she has written over the years about her art. She still performs, teaches workshops, travels and researches. It is gratifying to her to see that more women are taking an interest in this ancient art. Whether a woman chooses to perform in public or just dances for her own personal benefit and enjoyment, it is clearly a beneficial practice on many levels.

"The Oriental Dance is based on a relaxed movement of the muscles directed from within," Morocco explains. She has friends who took Lamaze classes and they laughed about the fact that some of the same moves they have been taught in their dance were being taught in the popular childbirth preparation classes. For example, two of the exercises commonly taught in Lamaze are widely known to help prepare women for the stresses of labor. What Lamaze calls "pelvic rocking" and "deep breathing" are referred to as "bellyroll" and "flutter" in Oriental Dance instruction.

Eileen Stewart, a midwife who assists at home births in Western New York, says she has often encouraged women to explore belly dance for themselves, since she was aware that the controlled movements of the pelvis and the awareness of the muscles developed in the training would be beneficial. She only recently discovered for herself how beneficial and enjoyable the classes truly are. "I just started taking classes two weeks ago," she said, " and I can really see how it would help a woman surrender and open herself to the birth energy."

Eileen explains that in her first lesson, they were told to focus on bringing the breath into the pelvis so that they could feel the energy. "We started by putting our hands on our belly to bring our awareness there and then we were encouraged to surrender to that, in terms of the movement. Dancing in the past, for me, has been dancing for someone else, rather than getting in touch with my own energy and letting it flow. It’s about letting your own pelvis and your own movements be an expression of that energy."

Some of the cultures whose dances have roots in childbirth preparation include Hawaiian, Seneca (Native American), Tunisian, and several others throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia. Even if this practice does not originate in your cultural roots it is certainly worth investigating and learning how some forms of this ancient art may be beneficial to you. If nothing else, checking out Morocco’s website will cause you to see "belly" dancing in a whole new light.

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