Ableism and the belly dance community: Reflections on Massive 2023

Before accepting that I was disabled, I didn’t pay attention to a lot of the toxic ableist nonsense that permeates the belly dance community. And to be fair, this isn’t unique to us—I spent several years living in gym culture as a personal trainer and lifting weights, and much of this rhetoric exists there as well. And if you have any significant experience with belly dance communities, you know it shares a lot of connective tissue with other various alternative/holistic/etc “wellness” communities where this ableist rhetoric is embraced.