It’s cold!
When I was a kid living in Arizona, we had ‘Snow Birds.’ Snow Birds were grey-haired retirees who wintered in Arizona. I didn’t get it.
Now I get it.
For most of my life I’ve been too hot. My thyroid didn’t work right so my internal thermostat was off. I absolutely couldn’t tolerate hot weather so Oregon was the perfect place for me where the weather rarely gets over 90.
After releasing a bunch of weight, a side effect was my thyroid started working better. What a wonderful thing when it comes to energy, but now I understand the Snow Birds! I am cold, I tell you.
The other day, I sat on my couch next to the heater with long johns, pants, sweatshirt and coat under a blanket and still couldn’t get warm. My thoughts turned to Arizona and Hawaii, and warmth.
My dance studio is a remodeled shop/garage on my property with high ceilings and is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. So in the summer we work a lot on slow dance moves and in the winter it’s all about shimmies and other heart-pumping movements. It’s amazing how quickly it warms up when a room full of women dances together!
The holiday season can be a stressful time so it’s a good time to gather and dance together. I always have a show called ‘Winter Oasis,’ and we have a lot of fun dancing to Christmas music. We also wear green and red which makes it fun to come up with creative costuming. One dancer even wears battery powered lights on her costume!
Another thing we do each year is modify one of our class dances and use Christmas music instead of traditional Middle Eastern music. This is really fun! Last year we danced to ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ and wore antlers and red light noses that we found at the dollar store. One of our dancers had a broken leg and was in a wheelchair so she was the sleigh and we ended our dance leading her out of the room. This year we’re planning on doing our cane dance to ‘Sleigh Bells.’
Dancing can be great fun and stress-relief during this season. Holiday parties can be a great performance opportunity and nursing homes or retirement communities always love to have their season spiced up with a bit of belly dancing. Add some flavor by mixing in Christmas music and creativity abounds!
On another note, I have some costumes for sale for the voluptuous dancer and here are the links. These costumes are gorgeous and I hate to see them go, but they can’t be altered to my new size due to the exquisite beading. They would make great gifts for someone.
Happy Holidays,
Mezdulene
P.S. This is the time of year we think of giving but we often forget to give to ourselves. Please take care of you by giving yourself plenty of time to rest and regenerate when you need it. It will help you stay healthy so you can enjoy the season
