They look, for all the world, like suburban moms heading for Thursday night book club.

But once indoors, barefoot and alternating laughter with lip-biting concentration, the women practise langorous hip rolls, shimmys and eye-popping chest thrusts to the sensual, hypnotic rhythms of the Middle East.

Belly dancing has gone mainstream.

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Martina Crowe-Hewett (left) assists Sally Myrfield during a belly dancing class at the Urban Dance Co. in Richmond.

Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun

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"It's just a real cool, different way of staying fit," says West Vancouver Community Services program coordinator Jocelyn Rea who offers several weekly classes. And when a fitness activity requires brain power as well a fitness power as belly dance does, so much the better, she says.

The ancient dance is even headed for morning TV.

Longtime Vancouver teacher Venus (Marilee Nugent) recently finished filming 20 episodes of belly dance instruction for the Channel M series, Workout,which is expected to air in the fall.

Belly dance "is extremely popular right now and people are hitting classes everywhere," says Shirley Cole, series producer and director. "More people are becoming aware of it and it's an amazing core workout."

In recent years, belly dance has come to mean everything from the glitzy, big production numbers of Los Angeles' Bellydance Superstars, to traditional folkloric improvisation, and modern ballet, jazz, hip hop and even flamenco-infused interpretations. Lessons in all these forms are available in Vancouver.

You don't have to look hard to find a belly dance bootcamp (strength training for belly dancers), a perky, high-energy bellydancerize class, or the dark, goth-inspired alternative subculture known as tribal fusion.

"When I took up belly dancing in my mid-20s, it was something that just struck a chord with me," says Richmond teacher Martina Crowe-Hewett, 32, who studied ballet as a child. "Dancers are very attracted to that aspect of trying to master something. The thing is belly dancing is so complicated and technical. It's challenging."

Richmond university student Megan Blackford, 24, got hooked on the dance three years ago. "I was just looking for a creative way to get fit. Now I practise two hours a day, six days a week."

Lori Morosoff, 48, started belly dancing two years ago.

"I thought it would be a really nice, light form of exercise," the Tsawwassen paralegal says. "It's a real workout. I became totally addicted. It's a real mind, body, soul thing. It makes you feel good."

Her friends and kids were taken aback at first.

"I think a lot of them at first likened it to stripping and pole dancing. It's not anything like that. It's more towards ballet or something."

No question, belly dancing is a sensual art form.

Veteran Vancouver teacher Rahma (Gail) Haddad puts it this way: "Inside each of us is a sensual being and this dance gives everyone permission to reach inside and pull a little bit of that out and get in touch with that part of our being that is really not necessarily cool in day to day society.

"We're not allowed to take time and feel that bit of joy from moving the body and that bit of sensuality that is really an integral part of human beings," Haddad says.

Belly dance is certainly friendly to women of all shapes, sizes and ages. Indeed, it is said that belly dancers don't get good until they hit their 40s. But forget the cliches. Belly dance classes are neither filled with aging hippies nor women with middle-eastern backgrounds.

"Are you kidding, my classes are loaded with Asian ladies," Crowe-Hewett says. "Maxed out. Belly dancing is really popular in Korea, Toyko, the Phillipines."

Many Vancouver belly dance teachers have formal training in ballet or jazz, or fitness instructor training.

"In my class, the first exercise we do is crunches on the floor to get the abdominal muscles firing," says Nugent, who has a kinesiology degree and studied modern dance, ballet and pilates.

"I've been in workshops and seen so many overarched lower backs. They are not using any muscle tone to support the spine and that's not good."

Be sure to choose a teacher who understands the importance of neutral posture, she advises. In her classes, Nugent asks students to work in additional cardio and strength training. Some moves can be risky. Watch out for back bends and some kneeling moves such as the kneeling and hinging backwards, she says.

jennylee@png.canwest.com

What will belly dance do for you?

Belly dance is great for people looking to become more active or to add another element to their fitness program, says Vancouver belly dance teacher Venus (Marilee Nugent) who is working on a kinesiology master's degree. "It's not as intense a workout as an aerobics, but it takes more concentration," she says.

More modern styles of belly dance develop more core stability and include fast directional changes and travelling choreography, she says. You can find a teacher through the Middle Eastern Dance Association. Classes run $70 to $125 for 10 sessions.

Links

- Middle Eastern Dance Association (MEDA): www.medabellydance.com.

- Vancouver Bellydance Forum: www.tribes.tribe.net/vancouverbellydance

- Venus: www.venusbellydance.com

- Rahma Haddad: www.rahmahaddad.com

- Martina Crowe-Hewett: www.bellyfringe.ca

In town

- Watch belly dance at: Mona's Fine Lebanese Cuisine, 1328 Hornby St., 604-689-4050; East is East, 3243 W. Broadway, 604-734-5881; Kalypso Restaurant & Ouzeria,1025 Robson St., 604-689-5550; Kayan Mediterranean Cuisine 202-777 W. Broadway, 604-874-2777.

- Saturdays starting May 10, veteran Vancouver teacher and performer, Sarita Mileta will perform at Kalypso Restaurant.

- May 24 to 25 dancer Carolena Nerricio will perform at the Scotia Dance Centre. Go to www.bellyfringe.ca for more information.

Jenny Lee, Vancouver Sun

© The Vancouver Sun 2008