I can even go so far as to say that the dance exists apart from music, because movement in silence is also beautiful. And, in a very esoteric way, I can step further back and say that it exists apart from the body. The natural pathways of movement exist as geometry exists apart from building materials. As we learn to dance, we synchronize with these natural pathways. We plug into natural laws; we remove clumsy blocks in our bodies.

Here is a translation of a poem that I wrote in Spanish while riding the ferry across the English Channel:

They each follow the laws of the wind and of God,
And they have well studied them, practiced, and adored them.

That is the natural "belly dance". We are the birds, the music is the wind, and the laws of God are the laws of nature.

If the music is modern Egyptian, we respond to look like Nagwa or Soheir. If the music is "primitive", we may look Nubian or "tribal". If it is pharaonic, we may look like the temple paintings. If it is Spanish or Indian we may use our hands and feet more. If it is silence, we may move imperceptibly or we may be statues in magnificent poses. "Belly dance gives birth to all dance: it comes from the source of life, it demonstrates the creation of life, it is an embodiment of the soul."