a string on a musical instrument can start to resonate sympathetically when a note is played that is of a frequency that is the same or related to its own. music can similarly cause sympathetic resonance in the listener, and dancing is a way of physically connecting with this. many of the shapes we make with our bodies in belly dancing reflect patterns and movements in nature -- circles, undulations, shimmies; the figure 8 is like the mathematical symbol for infinity. I like to think that dancing is a form of vibrating sympathetically with the world around us.