Madison Fleming loves to dance. In fact, some may even say it’s in her blood. Her great-grandmother was a dancer, and Madison has used her natural talent to explore different styles of dance over the years.
Though she focused on taking ballet lessons for three years, she always wanted to learn how to belly dance. For Madison, the moves looked challenging but fun, and she says she was drawn to the beautiful costumes: “[They] make everything look bigger. If you look at yourself and you’re not doing the moves right, when you have the costume on you think, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m awesome at this!'”
Madison began taking lessons nearly a year ago and has already moved up to level four. Her goal is to work her way up to the troupe level, which is made up of senior dancers who can be hired to perform. “I’d like to someday maybe do it as a profession,” she shared with a smile.
During the month of February, Madison hosted five belly dancing workshops at the DDRC because she wanted to share her knowledge with other clients and staff. “It was a lot easier because I know everybody and [they] caught on really well,” Madison said. “I also have a really good instructor who explains it to me really well, so I was able to explain it to them.”
Though she enjoyed passing on her skills during the workshops, Madison would ultimately prefer to create her own set of instructional DVDs rather than become a teacher. She loves talking to the camera and describing the different moves. “Not a lot of people know what belly dance is,” she explained. “They just see it and [think] it looks difficult. But the moves become very fun and easy once you get it.”
One of her favourite parts about her classes is that she also learns about the history of belly dancing. Her instructor often has the students watch old Egyptian and Arabic films on YouTube, so Madison is discovering more about the culture in these countries.
Madison highly recommends that people try belly dancing for themselves to discover how unique and fun it can be. “What I like about belly dance – and dance [in general] – is how you can express yourself,” she shared. “It’s a really good stress reliever!”