Belly-dancing lessons at West Palm Beach library?

Dawn Rhys shows students the basic of belly dancing.

Music playing and people dancing inside a library?

If it's the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach, librarians want to lure residents up to the third floor with offerings of dance and fitness lessons. Then these curators hope the class-takers will stay and pick up a book or two.

The latest offerings include free Belly-Dancing Lessons on Monday afternoons with local instructor, Dawn Rhys.




In eight weeks, Rhys will take her students through the basics of belly dancing.

Barbie hands

The first session, Rhys brought a basket of hip scarves with jangling coins for her students to borrow. The coins add a swishing noise when the hips are swinging. She taught her students how to hold their hands in the Barbie-hands style with middle fingers bending down to almost touch the thumbs.

Next she taught the crowd of females, from toddlers to seniors, to hold their arms gracefully and move them like snakes.

The students practice moving their arms gracefully. 

Swirling and pivoting

Rhys gave the instructions needed to turn successfully by explaining the supporting leg should be bent at the knee.

Lone man

Belly dancing appeals to women because it was designed by women for women, Rhys said. She likes the music, which features a driving rhythm on the bottom with a sensual melody on the top. Men, she said prior to the class, are more interested in Middle-Eastern folk dancing. 

Still, this man showed up in a room packed with women of all ages. Maybe he accompanied his wife or girlfriend?

To accommodate this man, Rhys instructed the class to use their
Barbie or Ken hands.

Hip extensions

She showed the students how to swing their hips to the music. Soon, the whole class was swaying to the hypnotic music.

Swish-swish, the swaying hips added to the music.

Real workout

Belly dancing is an overall workout for the body, Rhys said. It works the arms, core, abs, thighs and the buttocks. But when moving to the music, the students didn't realize they were exercising.

The classes are free because the library used its regular programming money to pay for Rhys to teach the 8-week session, said Annya Rizzo, a reference librarian. 

Rhys also dances Friday and Saturday nights at the nearby Leila Restaurant. Her dance company goes out to the Hippocrates Health Institute near Florida's Turnpike every three weeks. And in the fall, they dance at the West Palm Beach GreenMarket.

Here's a video of Rhys dancing:

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, when I walked:

Steps: 10,872

Miles: 5.4