Anita Lalwani

 

Growing up in a Fairview Park, Ohio, Anita Lalwani was a bookworm.  While she dabbled in athletics (tennis, skiiing, and even synchronized swimming!), it was not until she moved to San Francisco and met Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman that she fell in love with one activity– American Tribal Style® (ATS®) bellydance!  Her devotion to the ATS® dance form became so strong that Anita extracted herself from her administrative office job to embrace the art of movement and physical fitness full time.  She became a certified yoga teacher in 2005 and a personal fitness trainer in 2008.  These skills have enhanced her teaching of bellydance and helped her to develop a popular Dance Conditioning class that blends yoga, dance drills, and strength training for the ATS® belly dancer.  Anita has been  dancing with FatChanceBellyDance® and instructing classes for over a decade.  In her workshops and classes, Anita shares with her students her passion and belief in the transformative power of music and dance.

 

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Interview by Emy Shamanka ReshamKa

When and How have you discovered ATS ?

 

Here is an article that I wrote a few months

ago for a book about belly dance.

 

This is the story of why I dance.

I belly dance because once upon a time, I

was trying to get over the doldrums that

accompany a bitter break up.

Yes, there was a lover! He was a sweet boy, but we broke each others' hearts and I had to find a way to move, and I mean literally *move*, out of my depression. An exercise class seemed like a good idea, and since I didn't have a car, location was key. Just down the street, there was a belly dance class that sounded like it could be interesting. I was a weekly regular at Cheb I Sabbah's gigs around town-- sweating it out till the wee hours at Nikki's BBQ on Tuesday nights, or chillin' at the DNA Lounge on Sundays, but I had never taken a dance class. Lucky for me, that class I walked into turned out to be a FatChanceBellyDance® class with Rina Rall.

I had no intention of becoming a dancer, a performer, a teacher. All I wanted was to move. Move my body through the dark space that I was in, and get back into the light.

Little did I know that bellydance would end up transforming me, and that the transformation continues to this day. The transformation turned me from a wayward 'yes' girl (someone who would say yes to everything), to someone singleminded and passionate about something. Someone who has found her voice, her niche, her path.

Through dance, I developed my spiritual process, the yogic practice of starting with the gross layers of the body to get to the subtle essences of the spirit. Belly dance class was the first place where I took a good look at my body in the mirror, saw my slumping posture with my own two eyes, and made changes that would inform my whole state of being. My friend Phil Ruise calls it 'inner intelligence'. By improving my posture through movement and dance, I channel the best qualities in me. I honor the inner goddess of love and light, compassion and generosity, patience and peacefulness. As Carolena says, the goddess only visits if the elbows are lifted!

Through dance, I developed an interest in a whole new type of music, music that opened me up to the cultures of

indigenous peoples around the world. 

At first, these sounds frustrated me. I didn't understand the phrasing and found the rhythms confounding, but after

some study, these sounds now delight and amaze. And through dance, I actually learned to play an instrument in

an organic way, no uncomfortable music lessons in front of a stern teacher, no sheet music. Just the necessity of

accompanying oneself on the downbeat, the need to emphasize the earthiness of the hips.

Through dance, I realized that I could not, would not continue to spend the best parts of my day with my earthy

hips planted behind a desk. Because of bellydance, I became a personal fitness trainer, where I get to stand,

squat, stretch, and move. I embody the loving coach. I encourage folks to make the journey within. I help people

learn what really ails them-- whether its a joint problem, an eating disorder, or a lack of connecting with

themselves through the body. I promote optimum movement patterns and muscle balance in the body. I help

people feel good!

And finally, the universe gave me Jim. Yes, there is a lover! Carolena introduced me to him, through her vegan

listserv, Carolena's Little Vegan World (like 1 in 8 couples these days, I too met my beloved online). Now, I have no

doldrums, I have a sweetiepie, a life partner, a humsafar. My infinite shepherd has eyes of blue and a heart of

gold, a personality like a saint, and a great sense of humor. Did I mention his ability to help me keep everything in

perspective?

I bellydance because through dance, I have been given the opportunities and challenges that have shaped me to

this day. On this path I have met so many beautiful and amazing people, danced with so many sisters and brothers,

studied with so many students and teachers. After fifteen years on this path, I have the honor of being a teacher, a

teacher fortunate enough to travel the world, sharing my love and knowledge with other dancers hungry to find

their voices, hungry to polish their ATS® technique, or like me many years ago, just plain hungry to move.

 

 

 

Retrouvez Anita sur Facebook ainsi que sur le site des FCBD.

© 2014 - Emy Shamanka ReshamKa