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Belly Dancing An exotic way to trim your tummy

BY A STAFF REPORTER | Monday, February 27, 2006 11:2:12 IST

The seductive Middle Eastern folk dance is the newest trend at gyms for working out the waist-tyres into a sexy, flexible belly.


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You don�t have to lie on your back for painful workouts to get a flat stomach. Women (and a few brave men) are ditching the mindless repetition of crunches for the ancient, infinitely more entertaining art of belly dancing to solve their tummy woes. Those legendary seductive moves have wriggled their way into today�s gyms.
Every body shape can do it. For people who feel self-conscious in the gym, this is a good start for them.
Belly dancing, a dance of the Middle East, is actually a folk dance performed to celebrate weddings and births, and this contagious spirit of festivity makes you almost forget you�re doing any exercise. But making isometric movements of the hips, rib cage, shoulders, arms, abdomen and head to the beat of traditional and techno-flavored Middle Eastern music will raise your heart rates while strengthening and defining your muscles.
First, you must maintain an upright, energetic posture with the shoulders down. Then there�s the basic hip lift and drop, which you do with one leg slightly bent and the heel raised while tilting that hip up and down, working the obliques, lower back and thighs. The dance works the hips in a similar direction by bending and straightening alternating legs, often at a challenging, rapid pace. For the shoulder, you alternate the shoulders forward and back, and sometimes even combine this with other hip movements. (This is a tough one, even for those of us who can pat our heads and rub our tummies while chewing gum.) The slightly more familiar hip twists and rib-cage isolations might remind you of how much typical nightclub boogying must be derived from belly dancing.
Throughout the dance, you must also hold your arms in strong positions, raising one or both and making elegant, snakelike gestures with them. After a few minutes, you�ll feel well on your way to gorgeously shaped shoulders and upper arms in addition to a toned middle.
Basically, more than any other class, it isolates the muscles, so you feel like it�s actually shaping your body. And it�s really fun. That�s important because that�s what keeps you coming back.
In a dance studio, the teacher would normally spend time teaching the moves slowly, concentrating on proper form, but at the gym class is less technical. It�s easy for a beginner to catch on to the spirit of her movements and enjoy their physical benefits. After stretching and warming up with the basics, the teacher builds the class up to a 20-minute fast-paced, nonstop dancing, set to motivating drum music. It never reaches the sweaty, heart-pumping level of, say, kickboxing or spinning, but you will start to feel every muscle doing its job during this exhilarating portion.
The mental challenge of learning all these new ways of using your body prevents boredom and fatigue. Needless to mention the confidence-boosting rewards of learning and performing something that looks so sexy. It�s not like you�ve ever been dying to show off your mastery of sit-ups in the bedroom!

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