All Eyes on Bellydancing (Sophia Kong Bellydance Academy)
Courtesy of Sophia Kong Bellydance Academy
The Belly Goddess Festival
About two weeks ago, I was invited by a friend to come for a Bellydance Festival. She was also heavily involved with the festival, dealing closely with the organizer so I wanted to give her moral support as she would be performing for a fashion show during the festival. This being my first time at a Belly Dance Festival, I never knew what to expect from it, all I know is that I was there for entertainment and of course, to support a friend. Truth be told, I was left astounded and amazed by the performances during the festival and I wanted to know more about this beautiful art form, Bellydancing.
Throughout my years, I've heard of belly dancing on TV shows and events but I've never come close to watching one live. I was also privileged to later find out that the performances I've watched were world class standard and by world champions from all over the world. No wonder it was so good.
After being wowed by such passionate goddesses, I wrote a little personal post about how I felt about the whole thing, me and bellydancing. About a few days later, my friend who invited me to this event texted me and she told me that her teacher, the organizer of the Belly Goddess Festival loved my article. With that opportunity, I immediately jumped the wagon to ask if I could interview her personally about the belly dancing industry and to share some insights about belly dancing. And guess what.... She agreed!
Together with another amazing blogger, @notimetospace, we set up a meet with Sophia Kong, the goddess of belly dancing in Malaysia.
me, Sophia, Arina and Paige
Let's Meet Sophia Kong
Arina (@notimetospace), me and Sophia sat for a little chat in her dance studio to get some insights on the bellydance industry and her passion for this beautiful art form.
Arina: How long have you been teaching Belly dancing?
Sophia: I have been teaching belly dancing for over 7 years now and currently, I have around 40 students in my academy. Before this, I started off teaching in other dance academies before opening my own. The Sophia Kong Bellydance Academy started around April last year (2018).
Arina: Why do you choose Belly Dancing?
Sophia: Actually, I was exposed to many other dance styles before I came to know about bellydancing. Previously I was trained by a teacher who teaches fusion bellydance, something like Shakira, the celeb and all these while, I thought that THAT was what 'bellydancing' is.
Me: Eh, I also actually thought bellydancing = Shakira and Shakira = Bellydancing just because you see her on TV with that infamous song of hers during major worldwide events. So that is what I thought bellydancing actually is.
Sophia: Yes yes, me too! My teacher also sent me to various performances and she said I had a talent for this. During that time, I also learn from her various other dance such as hip hop, and freestyling. But among all the dances, I was extra passionate about bellydancing. I liked everything about it especially the music and because I had more interest in this, I went for many performances and started teaching it. I did A LOT of research on bellydancing because I wanted to understand it more to be able to teach but as I started studying about this dance, I realized all these while, the bellydance that I was taught wasn't the 'original' bellydance. The bellydance I learned was already a mixture and fusion of other dances/cultures.
Sophia: After that, I quickly searched all around Malaysia to find teachers who were teaching true bellydancing and I found a few and approached them. During that period, I took many lessons from them to train myself in the true way of bellydancing and only then, I started teaching.
Me: So when you started teaching, did you already have this studio of yours?
Sophia: Oh no no, I never thought I would get to this point in teaching bellydance because I used to teach kids at a childcare center before all this happened. So last time, I was teaching little kids. My academy slowly expanded and I went for many events and competitions to gain experience so I could share this knowledge with my students.
Me: Speaking about age... aherm... how old is your youngest and oldest student?
Sophia: Hahaha, actually my youngest student isn't that young because I don't really want to take in kids as students and honestly, during my past experiences working in a childcare center, there were many parents who pressured and pushed their children too much for competitions and at being excellent. All I want is for the children to be happy and enjoy this art but the parents always pressured them to be number 1.
Sophia: I have thought about it actually but if I were to actually start a bellydancing class for kids, I would only do it for their personal growth, passion, to develop their body healthily and not for going to competitions.
Me: Then what about your oldest student?
Sophia: My oldest student is 65 years old.
Me: Looking at the age gap, what actually were their purposes and motives behind bellydancing?
Sophia: Oh, a lot of people come for various purposes. The most common one I've heard is to lose weight and because you always bounce your belly fat, it will be firm and lose the fat there. Another reason is because of interest in finding a dance that they can enjoy so they're going out there trying every dance.
Arina: We talked about the adults and kids, if today I want to start learning bellydance, what should I expect?
Sophia: You have to prepare yourself because the first class is the hardest! You will feel very frustrated at 'why can't I control my muscles properly' because bellydancing is A LOT about the muscles on your belly and hips. So I tell everyone who comes for their first class that it is not as 'beautiful' as they think it is.
Me: Are you ready Arina?
Arina: Speechless..... I'm so dead
Me: Speaking about skills, how long do you think it takes for a student to be able to perform and go for competitions?
Sophia: For beginner level, at least one year. It's not easy and requires a lot of hard work and practice. It also depends on the person's talent because not all people are born with perfect body coordination. Some people can pick up faster, some may need to work harder because they can't coordinate their hand and leg movements properly. So every person has different progress.
Arina: Do you evaluate your students on their first day and know how fast can they pick up bellydancing?
Sophia: Most of the time, yes.
Arina: Then today, I'm counting on you to teach me the best possible! Hahaha!
Sophia: Sure!
Me: Out of curiosity, do you have male students?
Sophia: I don't have male students and I believe that this dance is best danced by a woman. If you look at bellydancing, the main parts of the body used for this dance is the chest, belly and the curvy hips. Most of the time, a man's body are not quite optimal for those moves. Though some guys can still dance if they choose to. But specifically for women, I really recommend that you consider learning bellydancing.
Sophia Kong, The Organizer of World Belly Goddess Festival
We talked a little bit about her joy and passion to bring bellydancing to the next level through her recently organized world event, World Belly Goddess Festival.
Me: Recently I went for this World Belly Goddess Festival and I was wondering how did you come up with this idea for doing an event to promote bellydancing to the world?
Sophia: Well, it started only as an idea and I've never done a festival or an event of this sort. But looking at my academy that is only 1 year old, it is growing and I think to myself, 'maybe organizing an event is something I've never tried before, I should try to do it'. It all started off as only an idea and it branched out from there. After taking that leap of faith, I realized that a lot of fresh new ideas starting pouring in. For example, a lot of festivals don't categorize their bellydance categories but if you came for my festival, you would realize that I categorized into many other sub-categories so that the competition would be fair. Bellydancing isn't only just bellydance alone, sometimes it involves accessories such as sticks(saidi), veil, oriental and many others. So it's only fair.
Me: I went to your festival for TWO DAYS and I loved every moment of it! It was my first time watching a bellydance performance and it was amazing. Now I only want to know one thing, is there going to be another World Belly Goddess Festival soon?
Sophia: Not every year!!! If it's every year, I will die!!! Hahaha, maybe twice a year because It took ONE YEAR for me to organize this festival. I started preparation for this recent festival since May 2018.
Me: Okay noted! What was one of the things that went on behind the scenes organizing such an amazing event?
Sophia: I announced the festival one year before because I needed to give ample time for the dancers from all over the world to plan their schedule to attend this festival.
Arina: Oh wow! Bellydancers from all over the world?
Sophia: Yes, they came from Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Hongkong, and many more!
Me: Also during the festival, I heard some of the bellydancers are being called 'Masters'. What is a 'Master'?
Sophia: The Master title is the highest level for bellydancing. These masters are invited to the festival to give workshops and share their knowledge and experiences. We are very privileged to have masters like Alina Malikova, who is a world champion in Russia, Egypt, and many other countries. Loretta Kleefstra from the Netherlands, Angella Kim from Korea/China and Percy Yeoh from Malaysia. The masters also performed during the festivals.
Me: Coming back to Sophia Kong Bellydance Academy, where do you see this academy heading towards in maybe 5 years?
Sophia: Honestly, I usually don't plan so far ahead. For example, I don't plan that in five years time, I must have a certain amount of students or a new academy. I have not thought about all these and mainly also because of my faith and belief. I'm a Christian, so I always believe God leads me to where He wants me to go. But if you talk about the purpose of the academy, or maybe more like my own personal purpose through teaching bellydancing, I want to educate and teach the public about what bellydancing really is because there is a lot of stigmas and people think that bellydancing is as easy like Shakira. But also because of Shakira, people have heard about bellydancing. Because of that, I want to educate and spread more awareness about bellydancing and possibly its benefits.
Arina: What are these benefits that you talked about?
Sophia: Bellydancing can actually help women release their body's chakra in a way that helps make a woman more confident. It is also good for the body. The woman will feel more confident about her body physically and mentally and it has health benefits. I mainly think that bellydancing is good for building a woman's confidence. On that note, I personally think that a lot of women tend to envy one another saying, "I want to be prettier than you" but what I would like to teach my bellydancers is to compliment one another and give positive feedback instead of condemning one another. I want my bellydance community to be a safe haven for the girls to be able to speak what they feel and to express their problems and together we can be there for one another.
Sophia: And that is the vision I want to build in my academy of bellydancers. We come from all sorts of background and I want the girls to feel safe and bond together strongly that this isn't just an ordinary dance school but a place where you can feel uplifted and safe to express your life problems, share with one another without being judged. We should succeed together and it shouldn't be a competition.
Arina: Okay one last question before we end this little session. Do we have any accessories for bellydancing?
Sophia: There are actually a lot of accessories or props that can be used for bellydancing. One of them is the veil, finger cymbals, saidi, wings and many more.
Arina: Teacher, today I don't think I want to learn dancing with accessories first, I want to learn the basic.
Sophia: Yes, you should learn the basic first before proceeding to any other more advanced moves.
Arina: Okay I'm ready! Let's do this!
Sophia: Let's do this!
And me running to grab the video recorder.
Arina First Bellydance Class
Sophia talking about a gift from her students
The awards her students have won
The Bellydance Logo
The concept of the logo: Red for heartbeat, passion, life; Blue for freedom; Yellow for hope and brightness. And I always hope that I can be a dancing angel for my GOD and have the ability to help heal people's heart and soul through dancing.
Thank you
I think it was a very productive day as I got up close and personal with Sophia Kong. It was such a privileged to be able to interview the best in Malaysia. On behalf of @notimetospace and I, I just want to say thank you Sophia Kong for taking your time off to share about your life story and your passion in this thriving bellydance world. I personally would love to go to another bellydance festival and if you guys are interested in finding out more, I would leave a few links below on where you can enquire about this amazing dance.
Facebook : Sophia Kong Bellydance Academy
Instagram : sophiakongbellydance
Also checkout my friend's blog, notimetospace, if you're into travel, lifestyle, and food blog. There will also be a video on our interview and Arina's first dance class.
Thank You
If you like what I do, check out my other posts on meetups, animation, and designs.
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Oh I really liked this, its so sat is factory for me seeing woman's spreading knowledge and making her dreams come true! I bet the festival was amazing! She sounds like a good person. I would love to learn belly dancing, but aaaahhhh I can't xD
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Haha, she is an amazing person. Ohh, how come you can't learn bellydancing?
Le'me see you bellydance, baby ;)
Hahaha, noooo not me!! The ladies
Our passion evolves to the next level when we teach what we love. She is the only Christian belly dancer that I now know about. I admire her as she follows where God leads and led to success.
That's true, I admire her for her courage being in this industry and also walking with God. It's never easy.
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I have to admit, I never knew it was taken so seriously as with the competitions! I think it is cool that someone 65 is doing it!
Yea, I see a lot of older ladies doing bellydance still. :D
I bet it was gorgeous watching them live!
It was out of this world!