Sandi Steuer Quotations

It's a form of self-expression. It's not really a dance of the stomach. It has to do with every part of the body. Very feminine. Very sensual. This is a way of feeling very womanly.

It's not a dance for men, which most people don't understand. It's for women, with women. It's like a rite of childbirth. The basic movement of the woman is the swaying of the hips. It was built around the natural movement of the woman.

This is a great class. I am a widow; many are widows who have gone through cancer. It restores confidence in your body. It's more than a dance. It's a way, for senior women particularly, to regain a lot of the feeling of womanhood they have lost. Women become invisible after a certain age. We say that to each other. There is an age after menopause -- you just become invisible. And this is a way of feeling very womanly and a way of breaking free of the stereotype of the older woman. I like to call it sensual, not sexual. What you see onstage is vaudeville. We are not talking about sex. There is a way to do it tastefully and a way to do it not tastefully.

It started in the Middle East. It was born from all the Middle Eastern countries, with input from the Gypsies. It's a very old dance form, but not specifically from one place.