to help others get in touch with their feelings and past
traumatic experiences so we can forgive and be set free of
any pain we carry.
“I can’t be in touch with someone’s sadness and hold
space for it if first I am not in touch with my own sadness
and not run away from it, can I? I would say both worlds —
belly dance and work as a therapist — benefit immensely
from each other’s influence.”
For Silvia, belly dance in itself is a form of therapy. In
fact, she said, “I would say that the way we practice belly
dance in the U.S.A. and Europe seems to be a form of
feminism, where we reclaim our bodies, particularly the
parts that either carry shame or that seem to need to be sold
to conform to a standard. The belly dance studio is, for me,
sacred soil. There, you are safe to explore all parts of you, as
we inquire with love and reverence.”
But belly dance doesn’t just help dancers heal. It helps
them discover and explore their own identity, Silvia said, in
ways that other forms of dance don’t.
“In order to have a healthy self-
esteem, you have to connect with
what it is to be loved and to know
that you are lovable,” she explained.
“In our culture we don’t get either
of those things unless we please,
perform and perfect. For women,
image is a constant trigger of shame
and self-hate.
“But I find, in the immense
majority of times, when a woman
steps into a belly dance class, the
instructor is welcoming, embracing,
kind,” she continued. “In many ways,
by following many paths, the teacher
is already perceiving her students as
lovable. I use the word ‘goddess’ [to
describe teachers] since it resonates
in our collective unconscious with a
force that we revere, that we know is
so good that we can only feel grace
in her presence.
“So with no more than first looks
and first words, we are given in the
dance studio a place to stop having to
try to conform to a standard, and we
can begin to exist as we are, opening
our hearts to ourselves,” Silvia said.
“We have the space and the time to
stop covering what we believe are
our imperfections and start getting
closer to our true selves — amazing
beings full of light and love.”
There are, of course, more
practical
considerations,
too.
“Many other modalities of dance
demand your body to negate pain