Kim O’Malley :: Dancer Profile

Oct 24, 2011 by lisazahiya

Name: Kim O’Malley

Profession: Consultant for an international family therapy program

Family: Kim lives in upstate New York with her boyfriend Bubba and his children Dustin, 10, and Whitney, 17.

Activities: Teaches Body Pump aerobics and belly dance classes.

Through the ups and downs of life, Kim O’Malley has relied on dance to lift her spirits. Now she shares the activity with others so they too can experience its benefits.

“My mission ultimately is to recreate that sisterhood that you have in elementary school when we had clubhouses and secret handshakes,” Kim said. “I want to create a sacred time for women so we can giggle and move our bodies and remind ourselves how magical we are.”

She is building interest in belly dance in upstate New York, where she moved in May. In the past, she has led classes for friends and neighbors, as well as belly dance workshops for an association for women who have suffered from domestic violence.

“I’m looking to introduce belly dance as a healing art,” Kim said. She sees it as a powerful catalyst for women, particularly those with eating disorders, to take ownership over their bodies.

To improve her instructing abilities, Kim has taken lessons from Lisa Zahiya for two years. Kim would drive seven hours from her previous residence in New Bern, N.C. for intensive workshops with Lisa and co-leader Ava Fleming. Then Kim entered a distance-learning program with Lisa. Kim sends videos to Lisa to critique, and Lisa returns comments and homework.

Kim’s development as a dancer in those two years went way beyond simply building her movement vocabulary. She noticed improvements in her posture, articulation of movements, proper use of breath and control of energy.

“I see changes in my body carriage and my ability to move in a more elegant way,” Kim said. “I’m a more polished dancer now. I recommend her to anyone interested in taking their dancing abilities to the next level.”

Plus, she just thoroughly enjoys Lisa’s company.

“I call Lisa ‘my Mentos,’” Kim said. “She’s sweet and refreshing at the same time.”

At some moments, Lisa was Kim’s “life coach” as much as she was a dance coach. “I went through a divorce at the same time I was working with her,” Kim said. “Dance helped me identify areas of my life that didn’t nurture me. I figured out how to honor myself and create sacred space for myself through that transition. I found my voice as a woman and my persona as a dancer.”

Dance continues to be nurturing for Kim, especially since she is frequently away from home and dealing with delayed plane flights. Her job requires frequent travel, so her practice space is often a hotel room. “It’s great to have something to focus on,” she said. “Otherwise I’d be watching reruns of Law and Order.”

Kim also incorporates dance into her life as a mother figure to her boyfriend’s children, one of whom now knows how to roll quarters down his stomach thanks to one of Kim’s belly dance videos.

“The patience learned in dance has helped me be a better ‘stepmom’ too.”

Written by Megan Riley, www.mretcetera.com