(shanghai daily)
Updated: 2007-01-08 09:10

The ancient art of belly dancing - not that sleazy act in smoky nightclubs - is popular among office ladies seeking great exercise and flat bellies. It originated in the Middle East where women performed just for themselves, writes Yao Minji.

Seductive, feminine and sexy - these words come to mind when thinking about about belly dancing.

Isis Belly Dance Club, a fairly new belly dance school in Shanghai, says it "makes women more womanly," perfectly summing up the stereotypical image of belly dancing.

True, it is sexy, but it is also demanding and it uses the abdominal muscles - and it's great exercise. It was originally performed by women for women in Egypt and elsewhere and it spread throughout the Middle East.

It has its origins in ancient fertility cults and the abdominal movements are like those of women in childbirth.

To enhance this image, the school on Ruijin No.2 Road invited Kaeshi Chai, a master belly dancer and teacher from New York, to perform and hold workshops in Shanghai.

The school also sends teachers to Egypt for training. It offers basic and intermediate courses. Basic lessons are 450 yuan (US$58) for eight sessions, intermediate 500 yuan for 10 sessions, each one and a half hours.

Kaeshi, who is Chinese-American, not only brought top-notch performances, but also expanded the slogan - "Make women more womanly, and stronger." The "stronger" part many women activists would agree with, while the bedroom, seductive part is definitely less appealing.

"The dance looks very soft, yet it is very powerful, just like tai chi," says Brad, Kaeshi's husband and a belly dance drummer.

There's a similarity between the essence of tai chi and belly dancing. After all, the core of tai chi is to "defeat the hard and strong with tenderness." And Kaeshi's belly dancing demonstrates the same idea, softness and power.

After a musical introduction, she appears on stage in a sparkling golden two-piece costume. Everyone in the audience is guessing: what is a master-level belly dance performance like?

Kaeshi senses the anticipation and seems to smile. She doesn't move a muscle of her face, but in a fraction of a second her eyes flash a message. She is feminine and powerful. Everyone holds their breath.

The fluid, sinuous dance is an extraordinary exercise in control of abdominal and other muscles.

Unlike ballet or modern dance, belly dancing rarely involves leaps. From a distance it looks restrained, but up close the audience can see Kaeshi's belly ripling rapidly like relentless flowing water. Each muscle seems to have an independent controlling nerve and through years of practice Kaishi puts all the muscles to work.

Later, she tells Shanghai Daily, about a senior woman executive in New York who learned belly dancing. The woman never told her colleagues or friends, though she told them about her tae kwan do. She didn't want people to know about the Middle Eastern dance because it was considered so sensual - then they would consider her too feminine. And many people equate femininity with weakness.

"Why should only masculine women be considered strong?" Kaeshi asks rhetorically.

Nobody could ever consider Kaeshi masculine, especially on stage.

When she moves, she becomes "every woman." Every movement is natural and sensual. Every muscle movement makes people admire the female body.

Yet, Kaeshi is a strong-willed and independent woman who dominates the stage. She controls the audience as a queen controls her court.

Everyone, men and women, is riveted to her. Even the professional DJs and synthesizers forget their jobs for a bit.

Many people mistakenly think the dance was designed to seduce men. Today, it is often performed in nightclubs. But it was not designed for the bedroom.

"Absolutely not," says Kaeshi.

From the very beginning of belly dancing in Egypt, women performed the dance for themselves, says Kaeshi.

"By doing this, they established connections between each other and eventually built strong communities," she says.

About 90 percent of those who attend Kaeshi's belly dancing performances are women.

"I love seeing her belly dancing, not because I can see her belly or a little bit of leg. But because when she dances, she is an artist performing her art. At those moments, she is powerful and achieved," says Brad.

Today's TV programs are dominated by gender-neutral idols like Li Yuchun and the streets are filled with manly girls in baggy clothes and weak pretty girls - also feminine guys.

Well, belly dancing might help us reflect on what it means to be really feminine, sexy and strong and remember the ancient maxim - to "defeat the hard and strong with tenderness."

Isis Belly Dance School

Address: No. 6, Lane 69 Ruijin No. 2 Rd.
Tel: 021-2778-6887, 5382-7238