Rachel Boyd wears a satin bra with sleeves and a split skirt that reveals the entire length of her leg as she lunges on the ground. Her eyes are swept in dark makeup‚ and on her lips sits a seductive smile. The Rachel during the day is decidedly non-exotic‚ wearing glasses‚ a sweatshirt‚ and two layers of workout pants. She scowls when a young man accidentally walks in to the just ending belly dance class. “I don’t like to have men in here at all‚” she says. This statement spoken from a woman who spends her evenings shaking her hips at restaurant patrons.
Although she doesn’t like men ogling her classes‚ Rachel does not shy away from the sensual aspects of her dance. In fact‚ that’s what attracted her to belly dancing as a teenager. “I really liked the sensuality of the dance and even the blatant sexuality‚” she says. She had been taking traditional dance classes in Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a performer but thought belly dance seemed more interesting than the styles she was learning. She finally switched to belly dance after injuring herself in a ballet class. The accident convinced her that ballet is unnatural: “It distorts the body and torments it. That is still my feeling on ballet-it’s
helping others free up their bodies as well. For her‚ dance is about enjoying her body and expressing her
out and start performing.” Of her own first performance she simply says‚ “it was bad.” Her teacher pushed
top. Besides‚ she says‚ “in belly dancing‚ there is no top.”
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