I perform, teach and study bellydance (or as it is also called; oriental dance, raqs sharki, and many other colourful names).

I took my first bellydance lessons back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth (1996) and I was only 16. My teacher was a wonderful woman whose name I have, sadly, completely forgotten now. What I do remember was that she lovely, full of energy and pregnant at the time, quite heavily so towards the middle of the block of lessons.

She took, at most, 2 weeks off to have her baby then returned to teach us. I thought that was pretty amazing and remember that the other women in the class who had gone through birth thought that it was really amazing.

She gave a performance to 'Mysterious Ways' by U2, which happened to be the song that made me want to learn bellydancing (on the Zoo TV tour, U2 had a dancer on stage with them during that song who bellydanced - my first experience of ever seeing the dance - here's a link to it). I was hooked.

I've since been taught by Hilary Thacker in Edinburgh (http://www.hilarysbazaar.com), Jillanna in Chattanooga, USA (http://www.merrybellies.com), several members of staff at Zanzibar in Chattanooga, USA (http://www.zanzibarstudio.com), Petite Jamilla, spinning wonder of the Bellydance Super Stars (http://www.bohemianmarket.com for PJ herself and http://www.bellydancesuperstars.com for the BDSS), the lovely (if internet shy) Rajaa Ben (ha! found a link with her in it: http://www.lucyinthesky.it/body_teachers_Raja%20Ben.html) from Italy and Germany's Leyla Jouvana, shimmy queen ( http://www.leyla-jouvana.de/v2e/). I've recently enjoyed learning Sha'abi folk dancing with Juliana Brustik (http://www.julianabrustik.com/) , a wonderfully elegant, graceful dancer. I've also had the great fortune to take workshops with one of the original Bellydance Super Stars, Ansuya (http://www.ansuya.com)

I've also learned alot from the other students in my classes - including the wonderful shimmying Zoë, sensuous Jane and the slinky Lisa, as well as many others.

I've performed at La Fête de la Musique with Dunya Ensemble in Edinburgh, on stage in Tennessee at the Merrybellies Summer Oasis and at a variety of private events in Scotland.

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