Well, I made it through! Not a very good day yesterday; I was feeling sorta low/depressed all day for no apparent reason (though it could have something to do with the spiritual crisis I've been going through lately), plus the weather was gloomy but no rain. I always feel better if it at least rains, but when it's just gloomy grey and overcast it sucks.

Anyway, class was good, my thighs were burning, though I made some progress on keeping my pelvis tucked. Previously I was working really hard to tuck using my glutes, but last night it sorta "clicked" and I realized I could hold my pelvis itself tucked without having so much tension and strain in my muscles. Yay!

Everyone did really well in class, so much so that Devina said we may even advance to advanced-beginner level *before* the end of the 5-week class. Each and every goddess got the slow head slides, chest slides, and hip slides we worked on, first time, and there were hardly any glitches on the shimmies (which went on for *days*), though I myself had some trouble adjusting to the bent-knee type of shimmy Devina teaches; I'm accustomed to doing the straighter-legged Egyptian shimmy like Jillina teaches on her Instructional DVD. For me, this one feels like once I get my knees bent deeply enough and my pelvis tucked, I can no longer move my knees in the vibrational movement Devina says drives this shimmy. I'll keep practicing it, and if I don't have it by next Monday's class I'll ask for pointers. (Yes, I should've asked last night, but I was too busy thinking about it and forming my question and then we went on to something else.)

Icky part of class for *me* was the freestyle hafla-style dancing at the end---I felt like SUCH a goober!! Intellectually I know it doesn't matter what I'm doing, since Devina says we're just to let go and do whatever comes to mind, even if it's the Charleston or the funky chicken, but I felt like the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights: I froze! In the introductory class I did fine; I got out there and just moved to the music, caught up in the excitement of actually being in a bellydance class (as opposed to hiding in my living room). But this week I don't know what happened, as I suddenly felt very self-conscious and naked even though I obviously wasn't. Heck, my belly wasn't even showing!

Oh well, there's always next week.

In the meantime, I'll just keep reminding myself this is for ME---it's not a contest, it's not to compete against anyone, it's not to win some medal for Best Beginner Bellydancer, it's not even to impress Devina. This is for me and me alone, to learn bellydance because I love it.