Can you share a bit about your background?
I am Christina, a mother of a toddler, a former lawyer, and now a full-time belly dance teacher using the ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE™ method, focusing on prenatal and postnatal courses. I teach online and in my region (Mühldorf am Inn, close to Munich).

How did you come in touch with Bellydance, and what does it give you?
As a teenager, I discovered belly dancing and was immediately captivated by the joy, self-love, and amazing body awareness that this dance can convey.

During my pregnancy, I rediscovered belly dancing through the 'Prenatal Bellydance' course by Wiebke, and my old passion for this wonderfully sensual dance by women, for women was rekindled. So much so, that I decided to make dancing my profession! I completed the ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE Teacher Training by Coco Berlin to become a dance teacher, and I also specialized in belly dancing during pregnancy and postpartum recovery. Since 2022, I have been a certified prenatal belly dance teacher, and since January 2023, a postnatal belly dance teacher as well.

You have also worked as a Lawyer, how did you decide to make dance your career?
I believe it was destiny that brought this opportunity into my life at the perfect time ;-). Since becoming a mother in 2021, my priorities have shifted. While I once worked in a demanding role as a corporate lawyer, the intense workload was challenging to balance with my new life as a mom. Now I understand the importance of having a career that offers both professional satisfaction and flexibility to meet family needs. Furthermore, I experienced post-COVID challenges and had to radically slow down and change my life.

Balancing my part-time job as a lawyer, being a dance instructor, and raising a demanding toddler made it impossible to maintain a healthy family life. Now, as a dance teacher and pelvic floor coach, I can live my passion for working with women and empowering them in their everyday life. My greatest motivation is to help my dance students to discover their own strength and self-acceptance as a woman. This approach keeps women engaged in my classes, as they combine fitness and health with a sense of well-being and relaxation. It inspires me to continue growing my work with joy and dedication—and it was the best decision I ever made.

How did you start, and what were the important milestones/turning points in your career?
I started during my parental leave in 2022, when I first completed the Prenatal Bellydance certification. I was so fascinated by that topic that I wanted to teach other pregnant women in my region how to use bellydance for childbirth preparation and while giving birth.

Then, I decided that I want so much more, and completed the entire ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE Teacher Training too, which was the best decision of my life!

After my parental leave, I started part-time work as a corporate lawyer, and had my bellydance lessons too, but then COVID forced me to make a decision about how to go on in life; I was very sick with Post-COVID for months, and couldn't handle all my workload (as a mum, lawyer, dance teacher) anymore. My heart clearly said, “We won’t give up bellydance! We won’t give up teaching and empowering other women!” — and so, I decided to give up my profession as a lawyer to start a whole new journey as a full-time, passionate bellydance teacher.

You also obtained the ESSENCE Prenatal and Postnatal certificates. Can you tell us more about it?
Oh, yes! I can warmly recommend these Pre- and Postnatal Bellydance Teacher Trainings by Wiebke. She is just amazing! She gives so much more than you would expect from such trainings — you get a lot of deep knowledge, recommendations, choreographies, advice for how to start as a belly dance teacher and much more — and it is all soooo much fun! You meet other amazing women, and can even find new friends, as Wiebke has the great talent for holding space for women, empowering them to feel very comfortable, and build trusting relationships with colleagues and friends.

You joined the ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE Teacher Training in 2022, did you have doubts if it’s the right thing to do?
No, I deeply felt that I HAD to do this!

How did the training change you?
Oh, it changed me from the heart. Or better said, my ‘true self’ was coming back thanks to the ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE Teacher Training in 2022. I felt that although I may be ‘imperfect,’ I am, on the other hand, perfect just as I am. I felt more self-love, became softer with myself, and reconnected with the ‘felt sense’ in my body. I felt this ‘tingling’ in my body that it is time to change, to be more ME. And to support other women in being themselves, too. And now, I live a totally different life than I had ever expected — and I deeply love it!!!

What was the best moment in your dance life so far?
There were so many great moments, I cannot choose one. I love those incredibly happy, relaxed, thankful faces of my dance students after the lessons—when I see this, it is always a wonderful moment for me. To spread this self-love that bellydance — and especially the ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE method — can awaken in women! To lead them to ‘me time’, relaxation, and happiness in their own body. I love it when the women I am teaching are making friends, sharing their stories, supporting each other. To create a ‘safe space’ for women, where they feel comfortable, beautiful, happy, and leave their sorrows behind, to just be more themselves in these hours. Working with and for other women and creating this space is so, so amazing, and also nourishing for me, as it just makes so much sense. And I feel that more and more women need this in their life, so it is a great time to start your career as ESSENCE OF BELLYDANCE teacher! This needs to be spread in the world!

Is there something you regret? 
No. Nothing.

What 3 tips would you like to share with women who want to pursue a similar dream?
1: Believe in yourself.
2: Be yourself! (and do not try to play a ‘role’ as a teacher or fulfill everybody’s wishes, because you will find the right women to learn from you, just by being yourself and trusting in the process!)
3: Go for it!!! If you feel this tingling in your body, if you feel the ‘call’ to go your own way or to change your life, than GO FOR IT! It is so worth it!

How does a day in your life look like?
Different every day, as I have a 3 year old toddler, and a man working in shifts (so really every day is different). But usually, I get my toddler to kindergarten, then walk the dog and do a short meditation, then work for 1-2 hours, then relax (as I am still forced to take long breaks due to my post COVID recovery), cooking, household work, and aaaaall the mom-mental-load issues that I try to somehow get done between being a good mom and trying to work on my profession as a dance teacher, then collecting my son, playing etc. And work consists of marketing, accounting, more marketing, customer inquiries, making new choreos, creating new courses, going to podcasts etc. to make bellydance (and especially pre- and postnatal bellydance) more popular, looking for new cooperation partners, and so on. And trying to find more time to dance for myself :-) Currently, I am also participating in Coco’s Pussy Yoga Facilitator Training, to get even deeper into pelvic floor knowledge and incorporate more and more of it into my dance lessons and workshops. Women deeply need this knowledge and body feeling, and I am kind of addicted to learning more and more about it to share it with my students.

What are 3 books that shaped your life?
Body Love by Coco Berlin :-) 
John Strelecky: The Cafe on the Edge of the World
Dr. Med Christine Northrop: Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom