Yesterday I went to try a belly dancing class at the gym.
Belly dancing is one of those 'things' that during the last 1.5 years or so have ballooned into popularity in China (at least in the Shanghai area). When I lived in Shanghai I used to dance at a professional club and there was always a fierce competition between the belly ladies about who was going to get the spots closest to the mirror… Anyways, since the dance is so popular many of the Shanghai gyms have also started offering the class to their members. Dancing at a professional belly dance club is kinda expensive so I thought this was a great idea, until I went…
A quick summary of how it went:
Music: a mix between techno (!) and hiphop. (Where are the Arabic/ Turkish tunes that are fun to swing your hips to?!)
Clothing: The belly dance teacher was dancing in…. a bra. And fuffy flower-power pants.
Class tempo: Kind of high. We tried to do everything at once, or so it seemed.
Big downside with doing the class at the gym: the large group of cheering Chinese men outside the glass-walled room. (Can’t they just go and lift weights or something?!)
Quality of teaching: Well, I left 45 minutes into the class when the teacher started teaching us a sexy version of ‘the robot.’
I guess now I know why the real belly dance clubs’ membership is so pricy. They have real teachers.
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