Flat tummies are not needed for this liberating dance workout

"How hard can belly dancing be?" I ask a friend, before heading across town to a class taught by Natasha van der Merwe, an experienced ballet, modern, belly and Spanish dancer.

We've all got bellies, some less flat than others, and surely that's all you need for the sultry moves. What I found was a world of intricate movements which felt harder to execute than the vertical dance forms I have attempted, including aerial silks and pole dancing.

The exuberance of the four women at the advanced class that night showed, however, that taking the time to master this Middle Eastern style would be fun.

"Belly dancing is a very free dance form that lets us express ourselves. When women come here the first time they tend to cover up, but soon they are whipping up their tops to look at their bellies in the mirror and enjoying how they wobble," says Van der Merwe, who delights in the way it defies body shaming.

A teacher with nearly 20 years' experience, she says: "Belly dancing is about discovering our bodies, learning a body awareness and how to isolate every muscle (which eluded me), almost like Pilates.  

"We are getting strong but also learning to relax our tummy muscles. This is a chance to find our softness - and our power."

Discipline and abandonment mysteriously converge in belly dancing, not unlike jazz. Van der Merwe comes from a family of jazz musicians, but she got infatuated with ballet as a pre-schooler and never looked back. Belly dancing was a much later love affair, pursued after she left school.

Her energy infused the 90-minute class, from the time we warmed up with basic strengthening exercises through to the women's slick choreographed piece set to a Bollywood hit in dimmer lights.

This music contrasted with the Arabic music earlier in the class but, as belly dancing fan Gertie Store says, you can belly dance to any music, at any age.

"You don't have to worry about your size, shape, religion or culture," says Store, who loves the Hip Circle Studio, and Van der Merwe's graceful tuition. "I will belly dance . until I can't dance anymore."

Van der Merwe's hands-on instruction, for example tilting my hips to show me what angles would work, gave me a glimpse into what it must be like to get the action right. Like riding a bike or rolling a kayak (which uses hip flicks) for the first time.

"Belly dancing is natural. I can't be a fake and I don't have to pretend anything. It's my space for just being the real me," says another studio member Rose Botha. "I feel the uniqueness come through dancing. Dancing makes me so happy."

The nonjudgmental environment allows people to share their lives and shake stress, says Van der Merwe, who has taught classes of up to 40 women at a time.

She studied the belly dancing through the SA Dance Teachers' Association: Bellydance Division.

•Van der Merwe danced through both her pregnancies and thinks her toned pelvic floor muscles prepared her for childbirth and speculates it might aid fertility. "One dancer who came to classes with me was pregnant within eight weeks, even though she had given up trying after two failed IVFs," she says.

The pelvic strength and sensual elements of belly dancing could be conducive to great sex.

Even in austere countries, including those in the Gulf region, belly dancing has been a popular form of entertainment for centuries.

Van der Merwe has been exposed to a range of belly-dancing styles overseas, including on her three trips to Turkey and representing South Africa at festivals in Egypt and China.

THE MUSCLES BELLY DANCING ENGAGES

Janet Lindup, a former principal ballet dancer with Capab (now the Cape Town City Ballet Company) says that strong core muscles are very important for all dancing, which trains these muscles.

"Core muscles include abdominal as well as back muscles and these are important for stability, including posture," says Lindup, describing the benefits of dance, including belly dancing.

"Strong core muscles help to avoid injuries," says Lindup, now a Pilates instructor.

Belly dancer Gertie Store, a member of the Hip Circle Studio, said she started belly dancing in 2010 to lose weight. "We worked muscles we never knew existed, from our head to our toes and got more than a workout," she says.

"I started feeling good about my body weight and got the confidence to dance alone," says Store. 

• World Belly Dancing Day is celebrated in May but SA hosts other events. Coming up on July 28 and 29 at the Dance Zone in Joburg are workshops with foreign dancers. Book with Nova Nouveau. For studios, visit bellydancingsa.co.za