By Annie Thelen
A professional belly dancer talks about how her craft showed her the importance of learning and experiencing other cultures.
Christine Mitchell, a former professional belly dancer for over 20 years, took up the art form when the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world. She found the dancing gave her a way to connect with the Middle Eastern community at a time when immigrants in the U.S. were facing racism and backlash due to the ethnicity of the attackers. Belly dancing changed Mitchell’s life, and led her to experience a new way of thinking.
