It's Only A Dance

This is a monologue I wrote in 2005 especially for my showcase at drama school based on my early experiences as a professional bellydancer, which I still happily do to this day.

It's only a dance:

I’ve just done my first professional bellydance! Absolutely incredible! The atmosphere was right, the CDs played the right tracks and I didn’t lose any of my costume! And to think I was worried over absolutely nothing! My god I was nervous though – you know me, I don’t normally get like that, but I’ve never performed solo before – only ever in a group! It’s a totally different experience. I was given a very small dressing room to change in – it was like being in a tiny broom cupboard! Anyway, I got ready and made sure everything was in place before going out front to perform. For a minute I froze! All eyes were on me – even through my veil I could see them all - the men leering at me lecherously, the women – hostile, critical. I just thought ‘What are you looking at me like that for? I’m not out to entice and lure your husband away from you! It’s just a costume! I wear a long skirt and nice top, but just because my mid-drift is exposed...a bikini is more revealing! I’m not a sexual object! I’m not a pole dancer! I am just a performer doing a dance as old as time – Biblical even!’ I also kept thinking ‘Does my stomach look big in this?!?’ Then the music started and after a slightly shaky start, I started to really get into it and enjoy myself. I did everything – starting off really mysteriously slowly raising my veil, moving into figures of eights and gradually worked myself up into a frenzy with some shoulder shimmies, hip shimmies, hip drops with a few slinky head and arm movements thrown in! At the end I was a bit daring – I enticed the audience to join me on the dance floor. ‘Please join me’ I said... ‘Come...Come...’ Phew! I was relieved when they did – didn’t think they would! They were fantastic! A perfect end to what was a beautiful evening. And to think it was originally designed for women in childbirth! Look at it now! (pause) What? It’s only a dance!