365 Days of Belly Dance-The Recap

The 365 Days of Belly Dance challenge that I started on December 14th, 2010 has officially come to an end, but I'm unofficially carrying it out until the end of this year with gentle and restorative yoga while recovering from the longest and most tenacious cold I've ever had in my entire life.

So exactly what did this commitment mean?  It meant I devoted a minimum of 30 minutes a day to improving my belly dance skills by way of well....belly dancing.  But I also included yoga, other dance forms, and exercise into the mix. 

For the past 379 days I didn't like silly little things like colds, migraines, or eye surgery keep me from my 30 minutes a day.  Right now you may be thinking,  "Wait. What?  You belly danced on the same day as eye surgery?!"  By golly, I did!  I woke up a little earlier on surgery day and did a half hours worth of drills; and with a little bit of advanced planning I was able to do some simple yoga poses and zil practice the day after, too.

Notice how I didn't say anything about boredom?  I wasn't, not once.  In addition to my regular classes and troupe practice I used yoga, Zumba, DVD's, on-line classes, workshops, and horizon expanding classes like Tribal Fusion and Tribal Skirt to keep it interesting.  On days when I was super busy, or just didn't want to practice, I broke it down into easily digestible 10 minute segments.  And there were oh so many days when I didn't want to practice.

I had some days, usually several in a row, when I would think "I just don't want to do this.  I must have been totally insane to commit to doing this every single day for one year."  For the most part I had those days in summer when doing any sort of vigorous activity in 110+ heat seemed completely stupid and pointless.  Once the temperature started dropping back down to a more reasonable 90 degrees it was easier for me to find the necessary enthusiasm to practice. 

All in all I had major fun and I'm thinking of continuing on into 2012 with this challenge.  If I do, and seeing as how I am currently troupeless, I will focus more on yoga, fitness, and more horizon expanding classes like Isis Wings and East Indian Dance, and a one-day Lebanese Belly Dance workshop.