In a league of her own

She teaches her "GoddessWorkout" with videos and workshops across the country and advocates her own brand of feminism - embracing femininity rather than competition.

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She hopes to teach women how to "make their life more magical," and appropriately, her life story makes her sound like the chosen guru of some misty, spiritual netherworld. When she was 20, a squall knocked her out of a Zodiac and into the Caribbean, from which she said she was rescued by a trio of dolphins. (See www.bellydancegoddessworkoutdolphina.com/encounter.html for the whole story). Since then, she's gone by Dolphina and has preached her message with a newfound spiritual zeal.

"I really teach women to bring out their inner goddess so they feel more empowered and fulfilled, and their life has a little more meaning and fun to it," Dolphina said.

"Belly dance is a great tool to do that. It's a very ancient dance, and I've always believed there's something really ancient about the moves that speaks to women. You're reclaiming your own power, and the moves of belly dance are more powerful than almost everything I know as far as getting in touch with that."

book signing

when: 11 a.m. saturday.

where: nugget mall hearthside books.

other saturday events: dolphina will teach a sold-out workshop from 1-4 p.m. at the downtown jrc/alaska club. she will also dance at docwater's pub between 8 and 9 p.m.

Dolphina is a northern California native and a belly-dancing teacher, whose conviction that every woman can embrace their inner goddess has landed her spots in dozens of newspapers, magazines and television shows.

Dolphina will appear at the Nugget Mall Hearthside Books for a book signing at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 18. From 1 to 4 p.m., she will teach a sold-out workshop at the downtown JRC/Alaska Club. That night she will perform two 20-minutes dances at DocWater's Pub between 8 and 9 p.m.

"Belly dancing is not about your body being perfect right now," she said. "It's no-impact. It's about getting you to try moving and doing something that's fun. Squats and sit-ups are not fun.

"Most women have issues about their hips, buns or thighs," she said. "This is the area that we move in belly dance and the area that feels most powerful to move. When you start moving that area, you start feeling good about yourself and you start doing things that are pleasurable instead of things that you hate. You're not going to want to eat bad things or do things that are self-destructive if you're really loving yourself."

Dolphina has been teaching her "goddess workouts" for about 10 years. She first learned to dance in Northern California, tagging along to classes with her mother. Her family eventually moved to Morocco, where the culture of dancing became more ingrained. She moved to New York City at 17 to study at the American Academy of Dance and Drama. Soon, she realized that belly dancing was not only a great workout, but a lifestyle she could teach to other women. She began teaching classes at the gym Crunch, released her first video and suddenly had a celebrity following.

"I wanted to make the video something they could watch more than once," she said. "I wanted it to be more than a series of moves they could do. I put a lot of different motivations and cultural acts and aspects in there.

"I started getting feedback from women saying how their lifestyle had changed. Women that had multiple sclerosis and felt really bad about their body were contacting me saying they felt better about their body. Other women said they were having problems in their marriage, and after doing the video they started to feel more feminine. I started realizing there was more to this."

That encouraged Dolphina to explore her thoughts about the feminist movement.

"In the 1970s, when women were advocating for equal rights, it became a competition between men and women, instead of women celebrating being gorgeous feminine beings," she said. "They were taught they had to act like a man in order to get things done. A lot of women felt like they couldn't be a girl after the whole women's movement.

"The other element is that women often feel like other women are their competition," she said. "I try to teach them that when we come together, we can support each other and something powerful will happen. It's really about going inside yourself and learning how to take care of yourself so other people aren't obstacles."

Dolphina also teaches the "secrets" of how to talk to men.

"There's a language that men don't hear, and women use a lot of it," she said. "'You do this and you do that.' That sets up men for feeling like failures. There are certain words that women use that create a division between men and women, so that all of a sudden they're competing. I try to teach women how to use language that makes them want to do things for you and want to treat them well."