Cathy Moore  is Certified Nurse Midwife practicing full-scope midwifery in the Boston area.  She holds an MS in nursing from the University of Lowell, and a certificate in nurse midwifery from Baystate Nurse Midwifery Education Program in Springfield, MA.  She holds an appointment as a clinical instructor in the department of OB/GYN at Harvard Medical School.  She is also certified as a Pre & Postnatal fitness instructor through the Dancing Thru Pregnancy™ program.

    Cathy began belly dancing in 1996, as a student of The Goddess Dancing™, then completed their apprenticeship program to become a member of the group.  During her time as a "goddess" she developed her own style of proud, powerful, and fun dancing.  Her work “catching babies” has convinced her of the connection between belly dance and birth.  In her classes, she is happy to be able to offer women yet another tool to help steer them through pregnancy and birth so that they emerge feeling powerful and beautiful in this most creative and most abundant time in their lives.

The Goddess Dancing were the first in the Boston area to recognize and proclaim that Belly Dance is a birth dance.  In the late '70's, Barbara Brandt, founding mother of The Goddess Dancing, was teaching and writing about her understanding of the connection between belly dance and the birth process.   After her departure, the company continued to carry the seed of this recognition. Click here for an article written by Barbara in 1976.

As Cathy was learning the art of belly dance, her professional training as a certified nurse midwife informed her personal appreciation of the connection of the dance to the labor and birth process.  Click here for an article outlining Cathy's personal discoveries in this regard. During her tenure with The Goddess Dancing,  along with her former TGD partner, Anita-Cristina Calcaterra, she  developed a program of belly dance for pregnancy and birth, and has been teaching it to pregnant women, and birth professionals since 2004.  Click here to read her resume.

In 2008, after studying, teaching and performing with The Goddess Dancing for over 10 years,  Cathy left the company to focus her energies on further developing the pregnancy and birth applications of belly dance.  She has taken the seed handed to her by the company and has planted it deep within the belly of the goddess.

The seed sprouts

In 2007, Cathy presented "Belly Dance for Pregnancy & Birth" at the Annual Partners in Perinatal Health Conference - an annual conference for birth professionals - where she met Rachel Zimmerman of The Wall Street Journal.  Rachel was fascinated by the concept and using Cathy as a consultant, went on to write an article which appeared on the  front page of the August 4, 2007 issue of the paper and had the effect of pushing the idea into the limelight for a short time...  Since then, several more articles and TV segments have featured belly dancing for pregnancy, labor and birth.  Click on the Resources page for links.

Fruiting & Flowering

Where will it go from here?  Who knows...  Stay tuned...  Click here if you would like to be on a mailing list to be notified of upcoming classes, workshops and events related to belly dance for pregnancy and birth.