You can Learn to do it, too!

It's the Holidays!

For me, that means watching some of my most beloved movies - mostly because I know all the words by heart and I don’t have to actively watch the movie in order to enjoy it. I put the movie on so that I can quote and sing along while I decorate, write my holiday cards, and wrap gifts. Some of my traditional holiday movies include:

1. The Merry Widow - specifically the NYC Opera production from the 90s that aired on PBS.
2. White Dwarf - a 90s made-for-TV movie about life on an alien planet.
3. Monty Python’s Life of Brian - for obvious reasons.
4. Monty Python’s Holy Grail - for vague reasons.
5. Die Hard - yes, it’s a Christmas movie. Welcome to the party, pal.
6. Anastasia - the 90s cartoon… because snow, I guess?

Ok, so maybe none of these are actually holiday movies. But are you really surprised by that? Ok, yeah, I guess you might be. But just in case you read my last blog post and were like “I don't know, is Mandy REALLY a nerd?” - I present to you the above list as evidence. But I digress.

The last entry on this list is what I wanted to focus on today: Anastasia. Specifically, there is a song in the film called “Learn to Do It”.

If I can learn to do it,
You can learn to do it.
Pull yourself together,
And you’ll pull through it.
Tell yourself it’s easy, and it’s true!
You can learn to do it, too!

If you can learn to do it,
I can learn to do it.
Don’t know how you knew it.
I simply knew it.
Suddenly I feel like someone knew!

You can learn to do it, too!

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I was once an individual who thought I couldn’t dance. I never thought that “a dancer” was something I could be. Yet, here I am. Teaching belly dance since 2009. Performing on stage at festivals and for private events. If you would have told me when I was 20 years old, I would have said you were crazy!

And now I get to witness that transformation firsthand in my students. Two of my favorite things about being a dance teacher are:

1. Watching a new student on their first day find a natural feeling of comfort with a dance move that took me years to master. I have learned that everyone has certain moves that just resonate within their body and it is different from person to person. Moves that are intuitive to one person will take months for another to learn, and vice versa.
2. Seeing a someone go from quiet student in the back, to performing on stage. Even after 15+ years of teaching, this never gets old! They come to class on the first day and say, “Sure I’ll take a class, but I’ll never perform on stage.” And then within one year, they’re performing! And then they’ll say, “Ok, I’ll perform, but I’ll never show my belly on stage.” And then within 2 years, they’re performing on stage with a free belly! It’s one of my proudest moments as an instructor, and one of the most powerful transformations that a student can achieve.

You see, it seems to me that this is a universal truth. That women are told to cover up - especially our bellies. Regardless of your race, religion, or culture - our bellies are something to be ashamed of and hidden away. Even if you weren’t explicitly told it, you learned to suck in your stomach for a photo, stop wearing that shirt that was getting too short on you, and put on “body shaping” undergarments.

But, my dear students, it’s not too late learn something new:

• You can learn to love your body just the way it is.
• You can learn to respect your body and all the muscles, skin, and “extras” that come with it.
• You can learn to be so proud of the movements that have taken you months or years to master, that you want to expose your belly to the world in order to show off all your hard work.

There’s nothing to it!
Tell yourself it’s easy, and it’s true.
You can learn to do it, too!

If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it.

Suddenly you’ll feel like someone new.

You can learn to do it, too!