"Dance your way to Fitness"
By: Jim Hart

Training in Belly Dancing can lead to better physical fitness, weight loss.

Sedona is not only the best belly dance artist in the U.S. this year but also her dance troupe has won international competitions.

Learning the skills in this ancient art form is available to anyone.
Sedona who says she is “powered by passion,” uses her lifetime of theatrical experience to produce dynamic and dramatic shows for any occasion.

She not only teaches sacred belly dancing to groups and individuals at studios in West Linn and Lake Oswego, but also entertains at private parties, birthdays, weddings, bat mivas, festivals, grand openings, fundraisers, corporate events and theatrical productions.

Local residents who have visited some local restaurants and taverns might have seen Sedona on stage. She performs regularly on certain nights of the week at downtown Portland venues such as the Greek Cusina, Marrakesh and Alexis.

The classes, which begin Sept 8, are 75 minutes long and beginning students and those who already have belly dancing skills are taught in separate sessions.

“I teach all of the basic belly dance isolations, movements and combinations,: she said. “I call the class sacred belly dance because at the beginning of class I do a short meditation. And I teach the history of belly dancing as well as the music and the style that I am teaching.”

The drill-oriented isolations involve moving specific parts of the body independently. Combining the typical movements and isolations, Sedona says, “feels more like dancing.”

Class members also receive a packet of information about belly dancing and Middle Eastern music.

Those who enter Sedona’s classes, she says come for a variety of reasons.

It is a great physical work-out,” she said. “you are going to sweat in my class. So there are a lot of health benefits to it. Including increasing stamina and flexibility, losing weight, developing a creative outlet, making friends and having fun.”

Since Sedona also is a certified yoga instructor, she brings some of those skills into her dancing classes.

The rumor around town is that belly dancing keeps a person young, Sedona said.

Belly dancing also has an effect on a person’s personality, according to Sedona, who has watched them change during her classes.

“I really see women grow,” she said. “ I have seen my students come in and they’re nervous and shy, but by the end (of a series of classes) they’re like ‘wow, look at these hips.’ Their confidence has really grown.”

Since this activity requires strength and flexibility, Sedona devotes some class time to toning exercises – to strengthen the parts of the body that are used in dancing.

“A strong and flexible dancer,” she said is a better dancer. We can’t ignore our bodies.”