Belly dancers shimmy for fundraiser

Norman Papernick, of Park Place, says he is the only man in Pittsburgh who belly dances.

Even if he's not, he definitely will be the only guy demonstrating the exotic dance style with other female performers at Shimmy 2, a fundraiser with proceeds earmarked for the Pennsylvania Humane Society and a belly dance workshop to be held later this year.

Papernick has taken belly dance lessons for three years and is a student of dance instructor and performer Kari Merlina-Kizina, of Moon, who is organizing the Shimmy 2 event with her business partner, yoga instructor and belly dancer Sterling Painton, of Scott.

He says he decided to take belly dancing as a form of exercise during the cold-weather months when he couldn't pursue his hobby of biking.

"I had some friends who were taking belly dance lessons, and they told me how much fun they were having," he says. "I asked other students if they would be uncomfortable with having a guy in the class, and they said no."

Papernick says belly dancing is an excellent workout that combines elements of yoga and Pilates.

"It requires a lot of movement, control and fluidity," he says. "Men can do it as well as women."

In the benefit performance, he will perform in four dance numbers, including one with Merlina-Kizina. He is a member of an American tribal-style belly dance troupe known as Tribe Taksim, which also includes six female dancers.

"We try to stay with the traditional Arabic, Egyptian and Turkish music," he says, although dancers can perform to any type of music, from techno to hip hop, as long as it has a good rhythm. Papernick's costume features a form of pantaloons or harem-style pants and a short, cropped vest to provide ease of movement.

Merlina-Kizina spent 10 years studying the traditional disciplines of tap, jazz and ballet before taking up belly dancing. She still studies the dance form in addition to flamenco dancing, and she is a solo belly dance performer. She is a 2003 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she majored in political science and western European studies. She works for a life insurance brokerage firm but says her true passion is dance. She has taught belly dancing classes in the Pittsburgh area for three years.

Painton received her yoga teacher training through the Himalayan Institute of Honesdale, in Wyoming County, and has taught yoga for more than four years and also participates in yoga classes and workshops. She teaches yoga at Moonstone's, in Dormont, in addition to fitness and yoga classes at area fitness centers and other facilities.

At Shimmy 1 benefit dance show held last year, Painton says she and Merlina-Kizina raised $860 for a children's foster care organization, where officials were happy with their contribution and the way they raised the money.

"They told us it was the most inventive way of raising money they ever heard of," Painton says.