Saturday, March 12, 2005

Belly Dance as Birth Dance

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

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).