There are some of us who believe that belly dance was the first prepared childbirth exercise. I am one of the proponents of this concept, even though there is relatively little historical documentation for this...Let me tell you why...
My belief stems from my personal experiences of attending hundreds of births(possibly over a thousand, combining my nursing experience and my midwifery experience - I have stopped counting...), combined with my experience of learning and becoming a belly dancer. You can read my article, where I describe my research into, and my personal thoughts and experiences which lead me to this conclusion, at my website, (follow the links to the Birth pages).
Recently, ePregnancy Magazine published an article on Belly Dancing During Pregnancy in which I was interviewed as the "expert". The author, Barbara Atkinson, who stuided belly dance with my troupe, did a nice job of capturing the elements that I, as a birth professional, felt were important.
One of the most often referenced writers on this topic is Morrocco, a NYC based dancer, anthropologist, and all around smart person on the topic of belly dance. Her series of articles tells about her experience of witnessing a traditional birth ritual in the Middle East. Click here to read one of the several related articles she has written.
On my website, I have compiled a resource list of articles and links addressing the topics of belly dance, pregnancy and birth. If you are interested in this subject matter you must check it out! I believe mine is the most comprehensive list on the WWW, and I am always updating and adding new things as I find them. I invite you to let me know if you find an article or reference that I should consider for this list - you can send me an e-mail through my website addressed to "Attn: WebGoddess".
Cathy Moore, CNM
The Goddess Dancing
Belly Dance for Body, Mind and Spirit
www.thegoddessdancing.com
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
MotherBirth
In my last post, I promised to tell you about another dance related to the Maiden/Mother/Crone trilogy that my troupe conceived of and created. We are calling this dance MotherBirth.
I was the lead choreographer on this one. I had already developed a solo dance depicting my interpretation of the Birth story, informed by my work as a Midwife. This troupe dance grew out of that one, and added in the Maiden/Mother/Crone mythology.
The dance opens with the Crone, danced by Karen. She is coming to the end of her life and must pass on her wisdom attained through the years. She dances with two veils - one black and one white. In the second part of the dance, the Maiden enters and she and the Crone dance together. The Crone is transmitting her wisdom and leaves the Maiden with the white veil.
I danced the role of the Maiden (who is also the midwife), and I used the archetype of the Goddess Artemis as my inspiration. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Her mother Leto gave birth to her first, but then had a prolonged labor with Apollo. Artemis midwifed Leto during this difficult labor.
In my Maiden dance, I begin with innocence and joy, I remember what grandmother Crone taught me, and I soon realize that I must prepare myself for my adult role as the midwife.
The Mother dances next. It is a dance of abundance and anticipation of meeting her child. Anita-Cristina is costumed all in red and draped in three red veils. As she dances, she removes the veils, and leaves them scattered on the stage.
The Crone and the Maiden dance again together to prepare for the birth. We push away the darkness, we ready the cradle, we boil some water, we prepare the depression in the earth to receive the baby... When all is ready, the Mother enters as her labor begins. The labor builds in intensity until the birth - and this is where the dance ends.
We got some excellent photos taken by Allison Perkel, and you can see them here at our website (Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the photos).
I was the lead choreographer on this one. I had already developed a solo dance depicting my interpretation of the Birth story, informed by my work as a Midwife. This troupe dance grew out of that one, and added in the Maiden/Mother/Crone mythology.
The dance opens with the Crone, danced by Karen. She is coming to the end of her life and must pass on her wisdom attained through the years. She dances with two veils - one black and one white. In the second part of the dance, the Maiden enters and she and the Crone dance together. The Crone is transmitting her wisdom and leaves the Maiden with the white veil.
I danced the role of the Maiden (who is also the midwife), and I used the archetype of the Goddess Artemis as my inspiration. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Her mother Leto gave birth to her first, but then had a prolonged labor with Apollo. Artemis midwifed Leto during this difficult labor.
In my Maiden dance, I begin with innocence and joy, I remember what grandmother Crone taught me, and I soon realize that I must prepare myself for my adult role as the midwife.
The Mother dances next. It is a dance of abundance and anticipation of meeting her child. Anita-Cristina is costumed all in red and draped in three red veils. As she dances, she removes the veils, and leaves them scattered on the stage.
The Crone and the Maiden dance again together to prepare for the birth. We push away the darkness, we ready the cradle, we boil some water, we prepare the depression in the earth to receive the baby... When all is ready, the Mother enters as her labor begins. The labor builds in intensity until the birth - and this is where the dance ends.
We got some excellent photos taken by Allison Perkel, and you can see them here at our website (Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the photos).
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The Crone's Cauldron
I was rehearsing with my troupe last night. We are creating a new dance based on the archetype of The Crone. It will be one of a trilogy of dances depicting the goddess archetypes of the maiden, the mother and the crone. Anita-Cristina is the lead choreographer for this project. It is turning out to be a very cool dance - we are using some dark, eerie music for the opening. But, I don't want to give away anymore...
We will be presenting the dance at our year end show in June. If you live in the Boston area, you might want to check our website www.thegoddessdancing.com for information on the show...
As a troupe, we have been working with the Maiden/Mother/Crone archetypes in our dances over the past couple of years.
This began when we designed and performed a dance that was an adaptation of a dance play created by playwrite and scholar, Jeffrey Fiske, called Eve and The Serpent.
The characters are Eve - maiden, The Serpent - crone, and The Tree of Knowledge - mother. The dance re-tells The Garden of Eden story and focuses on the experiences - initiation, loss of innocence, coming of age- of the maiden. You can see photos of this dance at our website. You can learn more about Jeffrey Fiske's dance plays at Yasmina's Joy of Belly Dancing site.
The following year, we created a dance based on The Mother archetype, called "MotherBirth". I'll tell you more about this dance in my next posting...
Cathy Moore
The Goddess Dancing
Belly Dance: Body, Mind and Spirit
www.thegoddessdancing.com
We will be presenting the dance at our year end show in June. If you live in the Boston area, you might want to check our website www.thegoddessdancing.com for information on the show...
As a troupe, we have been working with the Maiden/Mother/Crone archetypes in our dances over the past couple of years.
This began when we designed and performed a dance that was an adaptation of a dance play created by playwrite and scholar, Jeffrey Fiske, called Eve and The Serpent.
The characters are Eve - maiden, The Serpent - crone, and The Tree of Knowledge - mother. The dance re-tells The Garden of Eden story and focuses on the experiences - initiation, loss of innocence, coming of age- of the maiden. You can see photos of this dance at our website. You can learn more about Jeffrey Fiske's dance plays at Yasmina's Joy of Belly Dancing site.
The following year, we created a dance based on The Mother archetype, called "MotherBirth". I'll tell you more about this dance in my next posting...
Cathy Moore
The Goddess Dancing
Belly Dance: Body, Mind and Spirit
www.thegoddessdancing.com
Monday, February 21, 2005
Belly Dancing during pregnancy
This is my first posting...
I was interviewed for an article about belly dancing during pregnancy about 6 months ago by Barbara Atkinson, a free lance journalist who was at the time taking belly dance classes from my group. The article was recently published in ePregnancy Magazine. In the print copy of the magazine, the article was given a front page blurb that stated "What's the sexiest way to prepare for labor? Belly Dancing?" OK, so it was the February issue featuring lots of references to love, sex and Valentine's day... and the cover model wearing sexy lingerie...
The article itself, is well done, and actually reflects my thoughts about belly dance as a prenatal exercise and as preparation for labor. Barbara did an excellent job with the material I gave her. You can read the article here.
And if you would like to learn more about belly dance for pregnancy and birth, visit my website www.thegoddessdancing.com and click on the links to my resource page.
Cathy Moore, Certified Nurse Midwife and belly dancer
The Goddess Dancing: Belly Dance for Body, Mind & Spirit
www.thegoddessdancing.com
I was interviewed for an article about belly dancing during pregnancy about 6 months ago by Barbara Atkinson, a free lance journalist who was at the time taking belly dance classes from my group. The article was recently published in ePregnancy Magazine. In the print copy of the magazine, the article was given a front page blurb that stated "What's the sexiest way to prepare for labor? Belly Dancing?" OK, so it was the February issue featuring lots of references to love, sex and Valentine's day... and the cover model wearing sexy lingerie...
The article itself, is well done, and actually reflects my thoughts about belly dance as a prenatal exercise and as preparation for labor. Barbara did an excellent job with the material I gave her. You can read the article here.
And if you would like to learn more about belly dance for pregnancy and birth, visit my website www.thegoddessdancing.com and click on the links to my resource page.
Cathy Moore, Certified Nurse Midwife and belly dancer
The Goddess Dancing: Belly Dance for Body, Mind & Spirit
www.thegoddessdancing.com
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