Belly Dance and Birth.

Historically, belly dance has been the birth dance in many cultures. The movements reflect the bodies' urges during the stages of labor. The movements relax, strengthen, and bring awareness to the muscles used during labor and birth. This dance has been done in community with women in supportive relationship to each other. We hope to bring this alternative form of support to the midwifery movement and to add it to women's birth choices one undulation at a time.

In August of 1993, we met a pregnant woman named Clare. We were teaching "Belly Dance as Sacred Dance" at a two week dance camp in Maine. Clare fell in love with the dance. She took all the classes we offered at camp and was a natural at it. She said she felt as if she had been doing the dance her entire life.

This was early in Clare's pregnancy. She was in her third or fourth month and extremely happy about the coming of her child. We talked a lot at camp about the origins of belly dance. When we parted we wished her much love and luck with the birth of her third son.

It was three or four months later, in the dead of winter, when Clare contacted us again. She called to ask if we would come and dance at her birth. She knew it would be kind of tricky, as she lived in upstate New York and we lived in Massachusetts, but she felt she had to ask anyway. She spoke about the awakening the dance had brought to her. "The movements," she explained, "felt whole and complete" and would provide the right kind of support for her birth. We said yes without hesitation, because somehow we also knew that this birth was the right place for us to be.

As the time for the birth grew near, we were in more frequent contact. Clare called a few days before the birth to say that she was experiencing strong "lioness" energy, which was a sign for her that birth was imminent.

Birth Day

At 2:00 A.M. Clare called to say that she had been in early labor for several hours and would be heading to the birthing center soon. We hopped into Lorraine's van and drove the five or six hours to the birthing center. It was early morning when we arrived. We changed into flowing skirts and short tops that exposed our bellies. Clare, who had been having contractions all night, greeted us with a tired smile. We gave her a red skirt and she pulled up her top to expose her belly. She had her choice of music playing in the background and we began to move in large, slow hip circles.

Things progressed and Clare began to have back pain. She hung onto the bedpost for a while and then sat in the tub while her husband rubbed her back. We surrounded her with flowing movements, using hip circles, single hip circles, and figure eight movements. We sent calm and grounded thoughts to her. Her other two children were in and around, playing in the next room with a family friend.

Clare threw up and this signaled a transition. We stood near and began to undulate, flutter, and gently shimmy our hips. Clare began to rock and move with us. She said things like, "I can't remember how to do this" and "I can't do this." We continued to stay near her, flowing the whole time.

Then suddenly, we knew it was time for us to move into extended shimmy movements. As Clare was watching and imitating us gently rocking her hips in a shimmy, the baby began to come down. She was standing and then moved to the bed, where she leaned against her husband as she pushed. Adam was born a few minutes later.

We learned from Clare that during that moment when that "I can't do this" feeling came over her, our physical presence provided her with affirmation and support for her internal process. She saw us, our bellies imitating contractions and the movements of the baby with our undulations. She felt reassured that her body knew what to do and that everything would be okay. Through our movements, we were able to tap into the connective lineage of birthing women and share Clare's journey. She knew she was loved and she was not alone.

Anita-Cristina Calcaterra: I have danced since I was a child with my belly and grew up loving the movements and the women who taught them to me. Belly dance had changed my life and has been with me through every major transition in my life.

Lorraine Lafata: I came to the dance as a result of a miscarriage. I had suffered an early miscarriage, which brought about a resurgence of an old, chronic pain condition. I saw an advertisement for a class on belly dance and women's spirituality, took the class, and the pain began to lift within a couple of weeks. I've been dancing ever since.

Anita-Cristina has an M.ED and presently works as an elementary school teacher. Lorraine has an MSW, LICSW, and works as a feminist therapist in her private practice. Both are founding members of The Goddess Dancing, a dance collective that has been teaching and performing belly dance as sacred dance in the Boston area since 1991.