BELLY is a feature length documentary by Cecilia and Chad Rinn of Full Tilt Boogie L.L.C. that is an intimate exploration of belly-dancers living America today. BELLY was shot on mini DV and produced with funds raised only from Cecilia’s belly-dance performances and belly-dance costume making. Cecilia took class, performed in shows, dressed and lodged with many of the subjects in the documentary while filming BELLY, in order to create an intimate and honest story of these dancers. BELLY explores the multi faceted lives of these women; mothers, spouses, professionals, and community members, and the effect that belly dancing has had on their hopes, dreams, and expectations as lived through their dance

Production  story:

 When I first began belly-dancing over 14 years ago, I would sometimes torture my husband, Chad and my two sons, Jacob and Joe, with belly-dance videos.  For the most part I watched them on my own, but occasionally I just had to share something that really excited me.  One of those videos was of a beautiful belly-dancer rolling a quarter on her belly.  Chad and the boys were equally impressed and even tried the trick on their own bellies. 

 One of the main locations we traveled to was The Double Crown Competition in Vancouver, WA.  Jacob traveled with us as our photographer. While we were there we saw Delilah, a belly dance legend, perform and were so impressed that we decided to approach her about being interviewed. It wasn’t until after the interview, when Chad and Jacob were standing in front of Delilah’s vending table watching a video she had on display, that they realized that Delilah was the beautiful young dancer they had seen roll a quarter on her belly all those years ago.  Until then BELLY had felt like a new project we were working on, but at that moment it suddenly felt as though we had been moving towards this project for over ten years.  It is always difficult to explain the magic that is felt when you become part of the belly dancing world, but in that moment of synchronicity, my husband and my oldest son felt a little bit of that magic.