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Students of Middle Eastern dance perform Saturday at Virginia Tech
She dances with whimsy and power
A Blacksburg dance instructor/engineer is spreading her love for Middle Eastern dance, or belly dancing, through classes and performances.
By JULIANNA EDWARDS SPECIAL TO
THE ROANOKE TIMES
BLACKSBURG - Seemingly an unlikely pairing, Donna Thornberry can't imagine her life without the twin passions of chemical engineering and belly dancing.
"I like being an engineer. And I like belly dancing. I think the two help make me a balanced person," said the Blacksburg resident.
Her love for Middle Eastern dance began when she was a small child watching belly dancers in a James Bond movie with her father. "I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was dramatic yet very soft," Thornberry said.
She started dancing seven years ago when a college friend introduced her to the belly dancing community in Albuquerque, N.M. "I was suffering so much in school and I decided belly dancing would be a way to have some fun and find a release," Thornberry said.
Thornberry has been dancing ever since and in 2000 she won the Best Kept Secret award from Zaghareet, a Middle Eastern dance magazine. The award is based on the votes of dancers across the country. "She is a great performer," said editor Shari Wittenberg. "She's flirty and sensual but has a lot of integrity in her dance."
Now Thornberry is trying to create a Middle Eastern dance community in the New River Valley. Her students will perform at Virginia Tech's International Fair at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Reaves Auditorium. Dance Potpouri will also include African, samba and salsa dancers. Admission to the two-hour show is $5.
In addition to teaching belly dancing classes, Thornberry is available for performances at private celebrations, although she hasn't had many requests. Her focus is directed on her classes. "When I moved here two years ago, there wasn't any organized Middle Eastern dance population. So I called the YMCA to see if they wanted to offer classes."
Marge Bond, director of the YMCA's Open University, thought offering the classes was worth a try. "Donna's classes are extremely popular but I was surprised. I had tried to offer a belly dancing class eight to 10 years ago and it didn't seem to fly."
Angela Kessler, a student of Thornberry's, said belly dancing, "Is a lot like yoga and tai chi. It offers more than just physical benefits. It seems to really calm you down and make you feel good."
While Thornberry hasn't had any problems filling up her classes she does have to face the many misperceptions people have about belly dancers. "There is a stereotype that belly dancers are strippers and that comes from when it became popular for burlesque clubs to imitate belly dancers in shows. But real traditional belly dancing is not like that," Thornberry said. For Kessler belly dancing is a way to mix fun with exercise. "Personally I don't really like to exercise so I had to find something that was fun," she said. "It takes a lot more muscles than you would think and I'm actually toning up."
Enjoyment is also what draws Thornberry to belly dancing. "It's just fun. When I stop belly dancing, it's most likely the day I'll die. There is just something magical that happens when you're connected to music."
Moreover, people of all ages and sizes can enjoy belly dancing. "I've had women come who were in their 60s who had wanted to do it for 20 years and now that they were older and more secure they were ready to try."
While her students are diverse there are universal benefits to the dance. "I think a lot of people come to the dance to learn that they are beautiful. I was a tomboy, and learning to dance taught me how to be beautiful. But at the same time it's a powerful and empowering dance. Being feminine does not mean being weak," Thornberry said. Many dancers are drawn to the art for the whimsical costumes. "I have a little bit of princess syndrome," Thornberry admitted. "I really like the feeling of being dressed up in an elaborate costume." There is a price for feeling like a princess - Thornberry's costumes average around $1,000 each.
But the only dress code requirement for Thornberry's classes is that your clothing is comfortable.
"You don't have to expose your stomach. The basic recommendation is to wear clothes loose enough to move in but they shouldn't be so huge you can't tell you're moving," Kessler said.
Thornberry teaches two sessions of belly dancing a semester at the YMCA. The cost of the six-week class is $40. You can register online at vtymca.org or by calling 231-4208. Thornberry also teaches classes once a week at the Blacksburg Center of Dance 961-3519. The cost is $25 a calendar month.
On the Net: http://www.swvameda.com/donna.htm
This article orginially appeared in the New River Valley Current section of the Roanoke Times on Friday, April 12, 2002. Photos by Gene Dalton. Used by permission of the Roanoke Times.
