Why I make Belly Dance Art

The following blog was originally posted on the Belly Motions blog (check it out, wonderful posts by beautiful people!)

Nagwa Fouad, 2013

Someone once told me that I’d have to choose between Belly Dance and the visual arts to properly fulfill my career path. I was dissatisfied and felt like I was getting cheated from being myself. I believed my identity was a mixture of many creative avenues, not just one. So I trusted my instinct, emerged my two passions and created my dream career against all doubts!

I graduated in 2012 with a BFA from F.I.U. double majoring in Fine Art and Art History, and went on to completely immerse myself into the career of my dreams – becoming a full-time artist and a professional Belly Dancer…and merging the two!

As I reflect on a full year of work, I experienced that the magic of becoming you comes from the process of fulfilling your dreams . I won’t lie that in doing what you love comes tons of work that might not have been expected, even with creative careers! I’ve found that working consistently is the key to staying inspired and learning more!  In my experience I have come across three ways to fuel my passion for visual art and Belly Dance…and I hope these can be an inspiration to YOU too!

1. It’s a personal journey. The arts are wonderful avenues to discover the person that you are. Letting me be discovered by me has truly helped in the development of my work. I am an adventurous person who loves to travel and loves surprises. I like people, tea, conversation, etc… and I give in to it! What I like become statements of who I am which are eventually reflected in the art work.

2. It’s about and for the community. Whether it’s teaching dance and art or working on a one-on-one collaboration with a client (a.k.a. commission), I make sure my work and it’s messages circle in a figure eight – what goes around, comes around! In other words, what I learn I will always give back whether through dance, paintings or teaching.

3. Belief that art is life. I like to think that art and life go hand-in-hand as they are both surprising and like to sneak up on you, even in the tiniest of places. The most important thing I’ve learned and that keeps me inspired is that art is a “connector” between people! For example, dance, what I like to describe as “one of the oldest forms of communication” before verbal language, is as much a part of me as it is to my students and audiences. It can bridge people despite their differences and I’ve felt that magic happen! Effectively, I incorporate those experiences into my art work.

So if you gravitate towards one creative avenue, whether it’s cooking, crocheting, inventing, painting, dancing, or writing… make sure to continue! There’s growth, learning fun, new things and you’ll most likely meet someone that will share that similar passion! I believe we are all creative and we’ve all been there even in the smallest way! Make it simple, just do.

Stop by Belly Motions and visit out our gallery where you can view a few of my paintings!  You can also find more information on my visual art at www.Alexandra-Molina.com