Alter Egos
Belly Dancing Mom
By Megan Malugani
Ehling started belly dancing after the birth of her third child about four years ago. “I started taking it for exercise, not knowing that I would someday own several sparkly bras,” she says. “It started as exercise and now it’s more of an art.” These days, Ehling performs several times a year with Julianna and the Blue Lotus Middle Eastern Dancers and teaches introductory belly dancing classes.
Day Job: Stay-at-home mom to Emma, 9, Fiona, 7, and Audrey, 5. Formerly a seventh grade English teacher.
Alter Ego: Belly dancer and belly dancing instructor.
It Ain’t Easy: To be a good belly dancer, it helps to be curvy and have a sense of rhythm, Ehling says. Still, it can be tricky for beginners. “My sister and I took our first class together and we screamed with laughter,” she says.
De-Stigmatizing Belly Dancing: The undeserved bad reputation that belly dancing suffers is slowly improving as more people—men and women—are exposed to it, Ehling says. Some acquaintances are still shocked when they find out Ehling is a belly dancer, however. An acquaintance from a PAIIR (Parents are Important in Rochester) class thought only men attended performances, for example. And some of the Ehlings’ college-aged neighbors’ jaws dropped open a bit when Laura was hanging out her rhinestone-studded costumes to dry one day. “People are finally realizing, ‘Oh, it isn’t a strip tease,’” she says.
Belly Dancing History: In fact, belly dancing is one of the oldest art forms, according to Ehling. In the Middle East before the rise of Christianity, “the women’s community danced for each other and to get the stomach muscles ready for childbirth and to get in shape after childbirth,” she says.
Why She Loves It: “Because I can’t draw, it’s my way of being creative,” Ehling says. She notes that she has always been a musician; she played violin in high school and sings. “Belly dancing is another way of working with music. You’re being a musician with your body,” she says. “Arabic music is so different than Western music; it’s syncopated and rhythmic and uses melodic drums. I just love it.”
Another Reason She Loves It: Belly dancing has made Ehling “much more comfortable with my body. It’s improved my posture and made me proud of my body … I think, ‘Hey, I’ve got curvy hips, but I can move them in ways that are beautiful.’”
Belly Dancing 101: Belly dancing entails isolating one part of your body at a time, Ehling says. “You can be moving just your pelvis or just one shoulder, then you add the other shoulder and then your chest with it, too. It’s taking one thing and then layering it on top of other things.”
Giggle-Worthy Gaffe: Ehling generally loves performing and exudes confidence on stage, but mishaps do occur. One such mishap involved a dance with a cane. The cane got tangled in Ehling’s skirt and she had to untangle it while dancing. She handled the gaffe with a mid-dance laugh. “What are you gonna do?” she says.
Creative Outlet: Belly dancing is omnipresent in the Ehling house: Her two older daughters have taken belly dancing classes and all three kids play with her less expensive costumes and props. (Some costumes can cost upward of $500, used, and those get stored out of the girls’ reach.) “I don’t hide the fact that I’m a belly dancer at all,” she says. “But this is something I do for me … It’s me still being young and not about being a mom.”