Hip Expressions Co-Founder Discusses the Power of Belly Dancing and Her Own Struggles With Breast Cancer

ST. PETERSBURG – Hip Expressions was just three years old, and not even established in its current home, when co-founder, director and instructor Johanna Xenobia Krynytzky was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“As a performance artist, I did not have health care,” she explains.

Karen Sun Ray, the other co-founder of Hip Expressions, rallied the belly dancing community of greater Central Florida community to raise funds for Krynytzky.

“That’s when I realized the power of community,” she explained. “[Karen] pulled it together, and help raise $20,000 for my treatment.”

A sense for community involvement and participation has been a driving force of Hip Expressions ever since.

The dance studio, located at 1108 62^nd Ave., employs a cadre of experienced dancers to teach belly dancing to the St. Pete public. The studio, anchored by a full-length wall mirror, is located in a strip shopping center, near a pool store and nail salon.

People of all ages are welcomed to attend a class, and Krynytzky recommends the free Friday class as a good introduction to the studio. It fills quickly. Women of shapes and sizes attend.

“If you can walk you can dance,” she said.

Hip Expressions also puts on events throughout the greater St. Petersburg area. One such event, entitled Arabian Night, is akin to a more structured open mic night, with professional area dancers showing off their skills.

Krynytzky recently sat down with Patch to discuss how she become involved with belly dancing and why she made it her career.

Q. How did you get involved in belly dancing?

A. I saw my first belly dancing show in Turkey. There was this woman dancing around with a bikini and a little piece of fabric, and I’m sitting there saying, “Oh my god, am I supposed to be watching this?” And I’m with my Grandma. But my family is European and she said this is what you do, you watch the belly dancer.

So I’m watching this woman, and she was not thin. She was amply endowed in all respects. And she was beautiful, just in the way she was in control of her body, and she was sharing this with the audience. I thought it was amazing.

Then I went out to the Turkish nightclubs: not with Grandma. And I was doing my little white girl shuffle, but [the Turkish] women were so loose and free, and there are were in the air, and they were shaking their shoulders, and I said, “I don’t know what that is, but I want to do that.”

Q. Have you found the local community receptive to belly dancing?

A. Definitely, people have always been interested in it. Now that we have a place, we can offer so much more. Workshops. Classes. Retail clothing.

Q. What is the vibe of Hip Expressions?

A. We strive for professionalism, creativity, community and education. The history of belly dancing (involves) the things that it can do for women, empowering women, giving them a sense of femininity.  It is amazing when college students come to class, they come in very timid, but they come out in power of their body. And it does not matter what their bodies look like.