California Transplant Brings Her Passion for Belly Dancing to Edmonds

A couple years ago, Mariam Moghaddam moved to the Pacific Northwest from Southern California, giving up sunny skies to pursue a master’s degree in nutrition and fitness.

The 28-year-old may have moved away from her home state, but she brought with her the love for dance she discovered more than 17 years ago.

“When I was a child, I was dancing, and on a fluke my mother put me in a Persian dance class that happened to be an hour and a half away from our house,” Moghaddam recalled over Americanos at Starbucks in downtown Edmonds.

“One day there was no traffic, so we got to class super early and there was a belly-dancing class going on that I ended up trying out. I loved it.”

Moghaddam, who graduated from UC Irvine, says she was raised in a strict household where academics were paramount. She was allowed to concentrate on one extracurricular activity outside of school and, if her grades were straight A's, she could pursue it as much as she liked.

She decided to stick with belly dancing, continuing through high school and performing at various festivals and events with her troupe.

Not unexpectedly, Moghaddam chose to major in dance when entering UC Irvine in Orange County at age 17.

“While I was there, I did a project on belly dancing where I did a demo. The school decided they wanted to offer a (belly-dancing) class. (Latin pop star) Shakira had just gotten big, and the class became very popular. That opened a lot of doors for me.”

After settling in Mill Creek, Moghaddam took a job as an office manager at a Head 2 Toe Chiropractic & Sports Therapy in Edmonds, where she does informal nutritional counseling. One day, a patient who knew about her dance background suggested she teach a class at the 24 Hour Fitness gym where she was a member.

Moghaddam gave it a try, beginning in 2010 by teaching a single class. Two years later, she teaches in more than six 24 Hour Fitness locations, various dance studios and, most recently, Pilates Edmonds, which opened in October 2010.

“It doesn’t matter if you have no experience,” the dance teacher says about her belly dancing fitness classes. “The classes consist of 55 minutes of technique mixed with cardio. I try to break down three or four moves in each class, but dance through nine songs, and each time everybody feels like we’ve addressed something new.”

Moghaddam says that her classes are not zumba, the popular dance-centric workout that has swept many gyms. She makes sure to break down each movement so her students are executing them correctly; dancers become more aware of their postures, their pelvis and how they carry themselves.

The barefoot classes can be intense, working out the abs, quads and hips and strengthening ankles while raising the heart rate, which in turn burns calories. Moghaddam said students who attend her classes for an extended period have literally lost inches off their waists.

There is no one type of person that Moghaddam sees. In fact, there's a wide range.

“I have teenagers, and I have 60-year-old women of all shapes and sizes. I have people with dance background and people without it. I also have men in some of my classes.”

For Moghaddam, it’s not only about the exercise. Her parents were both born and raised in Iran, so belly dancing has deep roots in her heritage.

“It’s part of who I am,” she said with a wide smile. “I love dancing. I feel like dancing is a way to express yourself and, for me, when I’m dancing I’m a completely different person than when I am just sitting here talking. It’s a chance for me to be bold and feminine and passionate … movement just connects with my heart.”

For more information about the Urban Shimmies classes at Pilates Edmonds, visit the Web site.