Nizana and Zahra go to Italy!
As written by Nizana

Nizana and Zahra of Desert Silk Dance Company of Spokane decided to take a vacation in May ’09 that was supposed to be 10 full nights, but due to Nizana’s work commitments, ended up being 7 full nights.  But what a fabulous week! We were asked before we went if we were going to find belly dancing, and of course, I’m always on the lookout, but didn’t expect to find it on the Italian Riviera. I know dancers come through Milan, where we stayed our first and last nights, but Milan (Milano to the Italians) was more of a stopover to and from the airport for us.

However, before we caught the scenic three-hour train ride to the Ligurian Sea area of the Riviera, we did spend time at the area referred to as the Duomo in Milan. Wow. The architecture is stunningly beautiful. It literally takes your breath when you climb the stairs up from the metro (subway) and it’s all there displayed in all its glory. What a great area to wander around and marvel at the frescoes and the detailed art carvings at the Cathedral and the surrounding buildings. (“Cathedral and surrounding buildings” is SO not how I should describe this area… I’m at a loss for the right words.)  Suffice it to say seeing the blend of the very old and the very new was incredible, and we took lots of pictures. There was even a McDonald’s in amongst the Gucci and Prada shops!!

So a long but scenic train ride took us to the town where we’d base the rest of our time at. We had planned to go to Nice, France, but the French trains went on strike when we’d planned to go. Then we learned that the Cinque Terre area was further than we thought (4 ½ hr train ride each way) so we gave up on that idea, too. However, our days and nights were fun-filled, and the sightseeing and food were fabulous.  Took a scenic bus ride to another town, Andora (which we were headed for Cervo, but got off one stop too late.) We walked a lot and the weather was perfect the whole time.

The hotel was very centrally located to just about everything, and a nice property to boot. As we walked around the small streets, shop walkways and the waterfront, we’d continue to find something new to explore. We checked out both the “rocky beach” and the “sandy beach” (water was warm enough to play in, and we did!) We speak like next to no Italian, but I did take a year of Spanish in college and am half Italian and we got by well with gestures and patience and smiles in shops, the Olive Oil Museum and restaurants (oh!!! The shopping! Can you say embroidered hip scarf for eight euros??? And the “proscuitto y fungi” pizza was to die for at this one place!!!!)

So we’re walking along one day and I see this little flyer taped to a wall and it says “Danza del Ventre” and had a picture of a belly dancer!! We got so excited! We asked the front desk about the Boxing Center, the only English words on the flyer, but they didn’t know anything about it. Well, as much as we walked around, we never found the flyer again. With only a couple nights left, on yet another unexplored route, I spotted another one of the flyers! This time I wrote everything down and took it to the front desk and they researched it on the net and called and found out for us that it was not a show, but a lesson that night!  Wow! Then the venue called back and said no, it was actually the next night, which still worked for us, and at 9 pm. So we found out it was in walking distance and checked it out that day in preparation for coming back the next night.

First challenge, we get there early, address and directions matched, but nothing, no one. We looked around, checked it out, waited…nothing. At around 9:10 we were about to leave and Zahra catches a lady walking at the end of the street out the corner of her eye. So we follow where she went, and on the next street over (same street name/number!!) is the Boxing Center. Sure enough, there was the dance class going on! They waved us in, we each paid the very reasonable fee, and someone led us to a place to change.  Great dance studio with mirrors running the whole length of the room, and Natasha Atlas on the stereo!!! Oh, yes.

Second challenge, we don’t recommend you eat an Italian dinner with wine and a luscious cannoli for dessert and then go to dance class a couple hours later after walking around in the heat all day.  Having said that, we are thrilled we went. We joined the small group and Santina proceeded to whip us in to a workout that combined belly dance, Pilates and yoga.  Mamma Mia that was a workout. But what a blast!!! The group was so fun, and Santina and one of her students spoke a little English, but most of the class was in Italian and by demonstration.  Santina was an excellent instructor. She was doing and saying all the right things in relation to posture and dancing to the music and which body parts to isolate the movements with.  She was attentive to each of her students and what they needed to work on or do differently. Santina had a great sense of humor and we were so glad we joined the class! Did I say we had so much fun? We worked off the cannoli! We learned a couple of new compound moves that we can use, and I showed them something new to them, too!

At the very end of the hour and a half long class, we did something very unique that I had not experienced in all the classes and workshops I have taken, and I found it to be a very positive and uplifting way to end the class.  Santina had us join hands in a circle then step back apart and sit down in a circle. The music was changed to a slower melodic piece. Each dancer was welcome to take a turn in the center and brieflly dance their feelings and emotions to the group as experienced by our dancing and what dance means to us. There was rapt attention paid by all the others as each dancer danced a few movements and acknowledged each of the group, ending with the biggest acknowledgement for the teacher.  This was interspersed with laughter and clapping and chatter in broken English and Italian and true support of one another.  How cool was that?

As we were packing up, we chatted back and forth and found out Santina was planning to take classes with Suhaila Salimpour in Milan in the near future (I would not be surprised if she’d already studied with Suhaila! Santina is a lovely and disciplined dancer.) We exchanged information and air kisses and calls of “Ciao! Ciao!” as we left happily into the warm Italian night.