Lim Conny, Penang, Malaysia

How did you hear about World Belly Dance and what inspired you to participate?

One of my dancers found the World Belly Dance Day website and told me about your mission on promoting belly dance worldwide and having a special day on every 2nd Saturday of May to celebrate the art together. I was fascinated by the idea since I am working towards promoting the art in my hometown, Penang, as well. This will give me a reason to organize something as part of the celebration and join the worldwide belly dance community to create something meaningful for belly dance.

What does Belly Dance mean for you?

Belly dance awakens the feminine side of me which I had once forgotten when I was too deep into fitness. Belly dance saved me by pulling me back into who I truly am and I felt beautiful being a woman. I start to appreciate my body and bring balance back into my life. I believe that belly dance is a dance or a tool for woman to get in touch with their femininity and at the same time, maintain good health by dancing, the sensual way.

What message about Belly Dance would you like to send to those that have not started dancing yet?

Belly dance is a dance for everyone. No matter what body shape you’re in or how old you are or what post you hold in the community, you are welcomed to dance. It is a dance of the people for the people. You do not need to have a dance background; you do not need to hold a degree in cultural art; you even can have two-left feet! All you need is to appreciate the beauty of the art by getting to know your own body and what they can do. Discover how they can move and let them communicate to you. Belly dance is the dance that will let you learn more about yourself, it is a dance where you can dance throughout your life. So, why not give it a try?!

Lim Conny is the principal of The Zero Fitness Dance Studio in Penang, Malaysia.

She has started to learn Chinese Cultural Dance from the tender age of 6 and her enthusiasm and talent in dancing has continued to grow and developed further into her teenage years.

In her early twenties, she was trained as a Fitness Instructor, and later created her name in the Aerobics Dance industry. Eventually, Conny found her interest in Latin dance, Indian dance, Ballet, Hip Hop, as well as Yoga.

Since the first quarter of year 2005, Conny has been putting in a lot of time and effort in drilling into the Middle Eastern Cultural Dance ~ Belly Dancing. Through her knowledge and experience, coupled with the flair of picking-up new genre of cultural dance, she acquired a few Certificates of Attendance from International Gurus by being trained in the respective professional workshops that were held in Singapore, Egypt and Australia.

Back on her home ground, Conny has been actively promoting traditional Belly Dancing by conducting group classes and personal lessons at her Studio, as well as performing at public and private functions with her dancers called the Zero Belly Dancers. Conny is a Sagittarius , she loves traveling and could never stopped traveling in her life, she is a lady who loves to make friends from different countries and she just loves to experience different cultures. Also, she loves and appreciate nature , and always giving full support to environmentalists.

Besides, she loves reading and music, she plays ‘Gu Zheng’ the Chinese Instrument and she is practicing tabla now.