Went to see a belly dancing performance at the American Club in Tokyo recently. One of my friends knew someone who knew a belly dancer and we all got invited to their inaugural performance in Japan.
Apparenty, the audience consisted mostly of Japanese belly dancers--people who take classes for fun just like paupau), and boy were they flamboyantly-dressed. Even my Japanese friends commented that the crowd was "different". Should have taken some pictures of the audience...
But when it came to rushing to the buffet table, everyone became obaa-sans. You'd be surprised how fast those ladies can move on high-heels yet maintain their poise. I thought the buffet was free-flow so I stupidly waited for the crowd to disperse before I went. Man, by then the food was almost gone, and little remained of the most popular dishes.
But, back to belly dancing; paupau gave me some ideas of how complicated it was and how many different muscles one had to use. To my layman's eyes, it was amazing how the dancers could move their bodies in those ways. It must be tiring, having to quiver and wiggle the right portions of one's body. For maximum effect, a dancer told me, one has to sit at most a few steps away from the performers. Too bad in our case they were all far away on the ballroom stage.
The star of the show, a professional dancer from Cairo did something amazing (sadly not captured on film)--somehow her stomach muscles were so well-controlled that she could place a walking cane horizontally across her hips and grip it in place with her belly!
Amazing, but a little long. Most of us were quite sleepy when it ended.
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