Belt Coins

Belt Coins

I'm a pregnant bellydancer, and my friends think I look great, I don't, why?

I think people see me as a fat person, cause I don't think I look pregnant, I think I just look fat. All my friends say I am a great dancer. But I feel their just saying that. My husband says it too. But I'm not falling for it. My confidence in my apperance has gone down since I started showing more with my pregnancy. I still wear my bellydance choli's. (Midriff showing dance tops.) And I wear my bellydance belt pinned to the bottom of my choli to make my tummy look prettier with shiny coins and bells, but I'm still not feeling it. But when I dance, I feel people still look at me and think fat. I know I can dance with confidence. But the back of my mind feels the people I dance for staring at me and asking why do I bother! I need some advice. Not cruelty.

Having had two children while bellydancing I can certainly sympathize with you. Most women have body image problems as they continue to grow. I carried my children very compactly so I didn't show much until 6 months and even then it did not look like pregnancy fat to me. To everyone else they said I looked great and even strangers could still tell it was pregnancy not just fat. Yet, I always had in the back of my mind that people though I was fat. However, I've also had the benefit of having seen pregnant dancers as well as being a pregnant dancer. I know that when I've watched pregnant dancers I never have thought "man she's fat." What I do think is how beautifully she dances and what a great thing it is that she can still continue to dance that well being pregnant. Even non dancers who are pregnant frequently feel that people are looking at them thinking they are fat, especially when you are just starting to show and then during your last few months when you're large as a house. It's just a part of pregnancy especially since your hormones are changing and you can't controll the weightgain much. It may help you to read some of Morocco's articles about bellydance as a childbirth ritual. Delilah also has some articles and links on her website that talk about bellydance and pregnancy. Reading about other peoples experiences with being pregnant while dancing may help you to work through your self confidence issues about your appearance. For the most part though it does not matter what you look like if you dance with passion and show you love of dance people will notice that not your weight and your performances will always be spectacular.