Hams are ruining belly dance..I think I might have stepped into fat acceptance territory. I recently started belly dancing again after months of looking for a studio that specializes. I moved across the state back home about a year ago leaving the group of girls, instructor, and belly dance scene I had grown to know and love behind. I finally found a studio after nitpicking all of these different places. The instructors either weren't as experienced as I would have liked or the studio itself really only had "sessions". This studio is small but owned by a pretty good dancer who has 35 years under her belt. They do sessions, classes (for the more serious students), and have performances. I think it's pretty predictable how this plays out but let me give you a little background on the girls I danced with. We are all physically active (I say are because even though it's been a year since I've seen or danced with them, I know they still look fabulous...mainly because we all have some fucking self respect and discipline ). Not one of us is overweight which allowed us to wear amazing costumes, clothing that reveals our stomachs, finish a demanding routine and not be horribly out of breath, and goddamn it we're fucking BELLY DANCERS. No one wants to see a stuffed sausage shimmying or undulating on stage with tribal makeup turning into a 3 year-old's finger painting. I never understood being a fat dancer. How do they have mobility? Good flexibility? The cardio???THE CORE STABILITY????!!! YOU DON'T...and I figured that out last night. After I had arrived at the studio, I took off my shoes and put my coin skirt on. The instructor seemed nice enough, older than I thought but a good dancer and no...not a ham (phew!). After meeting her and warming up a little bit...I saw it. It had to be at least 500 lb and 5'5 maybe 5'6. Dear god dear god dear god I'd never seen anything like it. It's stomach was so round AND EXPOSED. It had flared sweat pants on and for fuck sake...what was practically a bra but I think it was a shirt that only fit over its boobs. It read "The Shimmy is Strong in This One." In other words, it was the fattest thing I had ever seen in my life that was still barely walking. Anyway, the rest of the class walked in and I swear to fucking god I got so mad I almost walked out. They were the frumpiest bitches I had ever seen in my life with THANK GOD the exception of two others who were normal human sized. I almost cried when the teacher said "This is a no judgement zone".  We started dancing doing 3/4 shimmies, some zill work, a bunch of shimmies, and ran through the routine a couple times (just a couple like 4 or 5). These bitches were out of breath by the second go. The whole routine is like...2 1/2 maybe 3 minutes long. They were like literally gasping for air bending over. This makes a dancer tired? I ran 3 miles and did an hour and a half of yoga before I came to class. Sure I felt the physicality of the routine as it is fast but damn I wasn't hyperventilating or breathing heavy. Hell, I wanted to keep going through again and again so I could get better at the parts I fucked up. They all wanted to stop. I should have just told them to move aside because they were blocking me behind their fat bodies in the mirror anyway. Anyway, at the end of the night I left disappointed. I was hoping to meet people that were good looking and serious about their art form. I felt like the only one in there, besides the instructor, who took pride in their looks and the way they presented their dancing. When you're a belly dancer, accentuating the hips is very important as most of it is core stability and hip work. When you're as fat as that girl or pretty much 3/4's of them, it's just jello having a seizure. For fuck sake we did a suspended leg lift and not one of them could hold out their legs straight and came too far off the ground. I could and of course I got dirty looks. What really made me mad was that their arm game was weak. If you know anything about belly dance, you'll know how arms and hands should look. The arm work was sloppy and their hands looked a mess. The Egyptians would cry.  AS I WAS LEAVING. The girl who I mentioned in the beginning. That gargantuan thing. I go a glimpse of her ankles while she was sitting down. Holy shit...I never saw this before. It was horrifying. We were doing relevé after a three point turn but she didn't do them because she "has bad ankles" so of course fatty found a way that looks sloppy to finish the move. ANYWAY here are what her ankles looked like horrifying! DUH FUCK!? TL;DR I fear what dance is becoming. I fear that the physical standards are declining and it is becoming a safe haven for the morbidly obese. I'm not just speaking for other frustrated belly dancers. I'm speaking for ballerinas, tap dancers, lyrical dancers, hip hop, jazz, whatever! Oh and that thing with the cankles or what ever those are..fucking lipedema, SHE'S THE TEACHERS ASSISTANT.