BENEFITS OF BELLY DANCE Benefits of Belly Dance in Childbirth Experience Karisma Pathak University of Massachusetts May 5, 2020 Professor Aston K. McCullough Professor Mary Paterno RUNNING HEAD: BENEFITS OF BELLY DANCE 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am incredibly thankful to my advisers, friends and family for their support in completing my thesis. I am deeply grateful to my advisors Professor Aston K. McCullough and Professor Mary Paterno for their encouragement, wisdom, guidance, patience, and mentorship this past year. I would also like to thank Professor Paul Dennis and Cara Marie Manlandro for being instrumental in helping me orchestrating this thesis while it was in its initial phases. I cannot begin my thesis without thanking Ruth Manlandro for her dedicated support to me this past year. I am grateful to have someone so supportive of me in accomplishing my goals. Without the support of these advisors, I would not have been able to finish my thesis. I would like to thank my belly dance teacher Melinda Pavlata and the entire UMass Amherst Belly Dance Club for introducing me to and making me fall in love with belly dance. Also, thank you to Tara Campbell for her continued mentorship and support of my doula work in the field of childbirth. I am lucky to have friends like Saswata Mishra, Michael Zhao, Helen Chan, and Elizabeth Tripp who supported me during my thesis. I am thankful to have such positive sources of emotional support and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank my parents Anjali and Sanjeev, my sister Roma and my brother Jai for their love and support. RUNNING HEAD: BENEFITS OF BELLY DANCE 3 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 7 METHODS ................................................................................................................................... 10 Phase I ........................................................................................................................ 10 Phase II ....................................................................................................................... 10 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 11 Methods Table ........................................................................................................... 12 Methods Table ........................................................................................................... 13 Methods Table ........................................................................................................... 16 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 18 BELLY DANCE ........................................................................................................................... 18 Three Theoretical Perspectives ...................................................................................... 18 Belly dance in the United States of America: A brief historical overview ............................ 19 Who Practices Belly Dance in the United States? ............................................................ 22 The Origin of Stylistic Differences: Cultural Outgrowth ................................................... 22 Stylistic Differences in Egyptian Style Belly Dance .......................................................... 23 Belly Dance Movement Overview: Embodied Vocabularies in Belly Dance ........................ 24 Belly Dance Technique ................................................................................................. 24 Body Domains.......................................................................................................... 24 Muscle Isolations ...................................................................................................... 25 Head ....................................................................................................................... 25 Arms. ...................................................................................................................... 25 Chest. ...................................................................................................................... 26 Abdomen ................................................................................................................. 26 Pelvis ...................................................................................................................... 26 Props in Belly Dance .................................................................................................... 27 Belly Dance Costuming ................................................................................................. 27 Belly Dance Instruction ................................................................................................ 28 Nonverbal Instruction Style. ...................................................................................... 28 Emphasis on Individuality. ........................................................................................ 28 The Use of Characters ............................................................................................... 28 Belly Dance and Feminine Empowerment ....................................................................... 29 RUNNING HEAD: BENEFITS OF BELLY DANCE 4 Empowerment Within. .............................................................................................. 29 Collective Identity. ................................................................................................... 30 Access to Social Entitlements .................................................................................... 30 CHILDBIRTH .............................................................................................................................. 31 Table 2. Stages of Childbirth ...................................................................................... 31 CHILDBIRTH EXPERIENCE ..................................................................................................... 33 Physical Experience of Childbirth .................................................................................. 33 Oxytocin Levels. ...................................................................................................... 34 Pain ......................................................................................................................... 34 Low Back and Pelvic Pain. ........................................................................................ 35 Musculature ............................................................................................................. 36 Fetal Macrosomia, Shoulder Dystocia, & Prolonged Labor. .......................................... 37 Psychological Experience of childbirth ........................................................................... 38 Anxiety and Fear ...................................................................................................... 38 Depression. .............................................................................................................. 40 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. ................................................................................. 41 Postpartum Fatigue ................................................................................................... 41 Psychosocial Experiences of Childbirth .......................................................................... 42 Mother-infant relationship ......................................................................................... 43 Maternal Confidence and Transition to motherhood. .................................................... 43 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CHILDBIRTH ........................................................................ 43 Individual Preferences for the Childbirth .................................................................... 43 Individual Expectations of Childbirth ......................................................................... 45 Fearing Childbirth. ................................................................................................... 46 Childbirth Education ................................................................................................ 46 History of Sexual Trauma. ......................................................................................... 48 Relationship with Healthcare Provider. ...................................................................... 49 Medicalization of Childbirth. ..................................................................................... 50 Control. ................................................................................................................... 51 Confidence. .............................................................................................................. 53 Self-efficacy. ............................................................................................................ 55 Feeling in Tune with One’s Body. ..............................................................................