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Megan and I went to our first Hafla yesterday. There was lots of good food, which I didn't fully appreciate until later on in the afternoon because who can eat when you're about to dance in front of a group of people, most of whom you don't know? So, yeah, I got up and danced two dances, not alone because that would have been insane and I'm not that talented or confident, but with some of the women who are in the belly dance classes I've been taking. We did two dances, one slow number that we learned over the course of the last month and a half, and another faster (and my personal favorite) dance we learned last September/October.

The other dancers were incredibly inspiring, both for their talent and for their obvious enjoyment of belly dance. It inspired me to really try and learn how to dance, maybe even become half-way decent at it. I'm thinking about talking to my teacher about signing up for a second class so I can go two nights a week instead of one.

The other thing the Hafla inspired me to do was to get over my self-consciousness and think about investing in some sort of costuming other than my hip scarf, which is losing coins and looks sad in general. I don't want anything crazy, just something pretty I can feel comfortable in while practicing and which I can dress up with accessories for the next Hafla. I'm thinking something along the lines of this (because I can wear the skirt separately to practice in but then can pair it with the top for more of a costume) or the one I really want, which is this one, because it comes in the color I really want (maroon) and because every girl should have a coin bra in their wardrobe.