Ishara Gamal is a local belly dance instructor and University alumna. Her troupe recently had a cancer research fundraiser at Highdive. Gamal herself has been battling breast cancer.

Gamal, who has been battling caner for over a year, says it hasn’t been that bad. Throughout her treatment, Gamal finished school and continued to teach belly dancing. She said many people are impressed with how she’s been handling her illness and she finds that viewpoint funny.

Throughout the time that I’ve had cancer everyone tells me it’s amazing that I’ve accomplished so much while going through treatment, she said. This has been a breeze compared to other things I’ve gone through, she said.

I worked through a lot of setbacks that I never thought I’d get through, she said.

Gamal had a difficult childhood, battled depression, went through a divorce and recently found out she has attention deficit disorder.

“My whole life prepared me for cancer,” she said.

While Gamal felt prepared for cancer, she wasn’t prepared for some of its social ramifications. After she was diagnosed she had to work part-time at her job and was fired as a result.

Gamal said she did not like the idea that she was looked at as a liability. She also said it can be hard managing your personal, public and business identity.

“I didn’t want cancer to become my identity,” she said, “but I want to be part of the survivor group.”

Humor helps Gamal and her family deal with her illness.

“That’s how we get through it,” she said.

Throughout her illness Gamal has remained active and hasn’t let it slow her down. She continues to dance and teach. Her strength has impressed her students.

Annie Ray, a grad student at the University who has been taking lessons with Gamal for two years, said it was a very big deal when she was diagnosed.

“I felt like I had to do something,” Ray said. “It was not something I was prepared for.”

Ray said putting together the fund-raiser was a way to cope. Ray asked Colleges Against Cancer to help with the event, which raised over $1000. Ray says Gamal’s attitude has really been an inspiration.

“Even in the face of her diagnosis she’s been really positive. Her positive attitude really affected everyone. She kept us going and really inspired everybody,” she said.

Isabel Molina, a University professor of Communications and an instructor at Gamal’s studio, said you would never know Gamal was sick unless she told you. Through chemo and radiation she kept coming to class as much as she could, Molina said.

“If (cancer) hasn’t stopped her, she hasn’t let it affect her,” Molina said.

Throughout the interview it’s apparent Gamal hasn’t let cancer affect her. She speaks passionately about belly dancing, teaching and performing with her troupe. Gamal is a strong believer in using belly dancing as a way to empower women. She says it lets women express their sensuality, which is something that isn’t encouraged by society.

It’s a big part of my message and why I started belly dancing, she said.

“You can be proud of yourself and the way your body feels without ever giving up control of what you will or won’t do,” she said. “Your goodness and ethics aren’t necessarily intertwined with your sensuality.”

Gamal said many women who take her classes are really affected by this mentality. A lot of older women say they have a huge transformation after taking her classes, she said.

In class, Gamal defines the societal norms. She encourages freedom of the body and pride in it.

“You can look like a sensual goddess,” she said.

But, she said, it never has anything to do with men or the approval of men. It’s not about being sexy, it’s about building pride and confidence, she explains. This pride, she said, comes out of this inner body freedom.

If her students experience this, then, she said, her class has been a success. It doesn’t matter about technique or choreography, she said.

“This always is about promoting everybody,” she said.

Gamal is by nature a promoter. She even describes herself as more of a belly dance promoter than teacher. She wants to promote the values that are an inherent part of the dance.

Gamal says when she first saw belly dancing, she was mesmerized by it. There were women dancing in a park and they were both strong and sexy, Gamal said.

“They were not asking the crowd if they were sexy, they were telling them,” she said.

She said those ideals matched the values she was taught at home, so it was natural for her to start belly dancing. Gamal said that belly dancing is a great way to embrace your womanhood.

“We (women) have been having an internal battle for a really long time,” she said.

Ever since the women’s liberation movement there has been a conflict about how women should be. To fit in a man’s world we’ve dampened our sensuality, she said, but we want both power and womanhood.

“For a lot of women this dance is about getting back what they gave up,” she said.

Gamal is really hoping belly dancing and its ideals will spread.

“Then it’s worth the time and energy,” she said.

All photos by Adam Babcock, The Daily Illini