Generation Magazine

By Keeley Sheehan

Class at the Belly Dance Academy in Kenmore hasn’t started yet. The single-room studio—one wall lined with mirrors, the opposite wall a deep dark red— is unoccupied, save two performers who fill the time and the empty space. They’re practicing for a Mardi Gras performance in Buffalo. Four dancers will perform, but for now, the two work together to perfect their moves in a flurry of shakes and rolls.

The woman, barefoot, glides her way through the routine, her dark hair pulled back into a bun. She wears loose black pants, a thin black tank top, and two scarves around her hips—one red, one black, both a little shiny, with coins dangling from the edges. The man appears out of place at first—nondescript track pants, bandana tied around his forehead. But his swift, sure movements make it clear that he knows exactly what he’s doing. The dance is a series of graceful hip rolls and serpent-like arms, to Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s “4 Minutes.” The mesmerizing dance ends far too soon.

The woman, instructor Mandy Hoeplinger, later practices a routine with her Monday night choreography class. She and the two students dance to a song mixing traditional and contemporary elements. Each move seems to flow effortlessly into the next, but their cool precision and penetrating gazes betray a purposefulness behind each step, a combination of elegance and confidence that leaves onlookers entranced.

Belly dancing has its origins in traditional Middle Eastern dance styles—different regions have their own styles and costumes. The exact story behind belly dancing is uncertain, but some believe it may have started as a method for women to demonstrate the process of childbirth to other women—a theory popular in the West because of its implicit contrast to negative female stereotypes. Some think it may have started in Northern Africa, spreading to the Middle East via caravans, and some think it originated in Ancient Babylon, as a dance women performed at celebrations. Belly dancing has since found increased popularity in the Western world.

“Belly dancing helps your back, your posture, overall health, cardio, self-esteem, self-image,” Hoeplinger says. “There’s no down side.” Belly dancing is a low-impact,

aerobic activity. “I always leave feeling better than when I came in,” she says.

Belly dancing can be difficult at first because it employs muscles that most people don’t use in regular daily activity. “It seems foreign when you first start, but it becomes intuitive,” Hoeplinger says.

One move she practices with her Monday night beginners class has students standing upright with their knees slightly bent, raising the pelvis, each hip separately and—in the middle of the hip and pelvis—each oblique. The instructions draw looks of puzzled concentration from a few in the room, wondering exactly how one is supposed to raise an oblique. “It’s about being patient and getting the brain to connect with the right muscle,” Hoeplinger says. “It’s not something that’s often natural but if you do work at it, you do get it.”

Hoeplinger got involved in belly dancing after watching a friend who belly danced perform locally. “She seemed like a whole different person. She was graceful, she’d lost weight, she looked serene,” she says. “The next day I called and signed up.”

She uses a wide range of music in her classes and performances, and often favors contemporary styles that she has more of an emotional connection with. She’s used everything from traditional styles, to Guns N’ Roses, Fatboy Slim and Beyoncé.

It’s “belly dancing on a budget” that night. Hoeplinger begins pulling handmade belly dance costumes from bags as the students in her choreography class look on. The costume staples are simple—a basic black bra and some fabric fashioned into a panel skirt—two strips of fabric with a decorative belt worn over black pants. But each piece is personalized, hand sewn with embellishments from craft store sales, K-Mart clearance racks, friends’ second-hand jewelry collections, and furniture store odds and ends. She holds up a black bra. It’s trimmed with pieces of a black feather boa—the perfect last-minute Halloween outfit. Another is intricately decorated with thick woven green trim from a fabric store. A large tassel normally used to hold back drapes dangles from the center. Small gold coins dangle from most of the bras—one is completely weighed down with them.

The Belly Dance Academy offers a variety of classes for seasoned dancers to beginners, and everyone in between. The school offers a beginner tribal-fusion class on Monday nights from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The class teaches tribal-fusion movements, technique, and is ideal for those with no prior dance experience—beginner to intermediate level. They offer a similar beginner tribal-fusion class on Tuesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. that Hoeplinger says is a good class for beginners. A new session of that class just began on Feb. 2.

The school also offers a few earlier class times during the week for those who can’t make it to a later class. On Wednesdays they offer a high impact fusion fitness belly dance class from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The class combines dance moves and other exercises for a toning cardio workout. A new session will start in May.

On Thursday nights from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the Belly Dance Academy holds a new folkloric world belly dance class, exploring different styles of belly dance from countries like Greece, India, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia—they recommend students taking this class have knowledge of basic belly dance techniques. They offer a number of other classes geared toward different levels of experience, as well as a few yoga classes. Visit thebellydanceacademy.com, call 983-7788 or stop by 2938 Delaware Ave. for more information.

Classes are $12 per class drop-in rate, $50 for five classes, and 10 classes range in price from $85 to $100, depending on the class. Some of the classes allow users to pay online for five or 10 sessions.

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