Age-old dance form becoming hot workout

Age-old dance form becoming hot workout

Vaughan

A peek behind the ‘veil’ of belly dancing
Keely Grasser

The studio reverbs with rhythmic jangles, quick crescendoes as hips sway to the music.

That’s the sound of belly dancing, an age-old dance form that’s becoming a hot workout and a huge confidence booster for people no matter what their age, shape, size or dancing experience.

You don’t need a dancing background to become a belly dancer, said Andrea Lucarelli, who leads a belly dancing class at Evolution Dance and Fitness Studio in Maple.

She said that’s a misconception.

“I don’t teach dancers. I teach moms. I teach teenagers. I teach regular people,” she said.

She leads her class through each move, in slow motion, walking around the class checking everyone’s form.

Then she and the class pick up the pace, performing the dance to music.

The class includes a pair of sisters, a nurse who cites fitness and bodybuilding as a pastime and a teenaged girl.

There’s a wide range of people in all of her classes, Ms Lucarelli said.

In some, she’ll have dancers in their 60s.

“They can still rock a coin belt (the coin-embellished garment dancers wear on their hips),” she said.

Peolina Kuznencsova is one of the regulars at the Evolution class.

She’s only 15, one of the younger dancers.

When Peolina moved to Canada from Russia, she said she was surprised to see that belly dancing classes here are usually for adults.

As a child, she belly danced in her native country.

Peolina said when she moved here, she stopped attending classes, but then signed up at Evolution, where Ms. Lucarelli combines belly dancing technique with fitness moves, making her classes a great workout.

It’s low-impact cardio, she said, that’s great for weight loss, core strength, improving posture and toning the whole body.

There’s a misconception that you have to be thin to be a belly dancer, Ms. Lucarelli said.

“The more you have, the more you have to shake,” she laughs.

Belly dancing can be tailored to any fitness level, Ms, Lucarelli said.

Tracey Borsato said she’s very involved in fitness and said she joined the class to explore a different way of working out.

It beats the gym, she said.

Although she’s clearly in great shape, she said she thinks dancing would be a good choice for anyone looking for a fun form of exercise.

“I think any fitness level can do it as long as you’re not self-conscious and have fun,” Ms. Borsato said.

Ms Lucarelli said her belly dancers, once they get the hang of it, tend to come out of their shells.

She said she’ll have ladies that start out at the back of the class, but they learn a few techniques and get a coin belt and suddenly, they’re having a blast shaking their hips at the front of the class.

Ms Lucarelli said people that come to her classes get to learn the moves and feel sexy in a non-intimidating environment.

She added that participants will shed away any embarrassment or self-consciousness they encounter at first.

Ms Borsato agrees.

“It’s not about the way you look. It’s about the way you feel,” she said.

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