Kristina Kelly teaches belly dance classes at Butterfly Yoga in Jackson and JoyFlow Yoga in Ridgeland. She also runs a belly dance boot camp at Millsaps College in the spring and fall. (Photo courtesy of Kristina Kelly)

By LINDSAY MOTT Belly dancing may not be a traditional Mississippi exercise or dance, but there are a number of places around the state where this unique form of dance and fitness is available to watch or even take part.
    
“Belly dancing celebrates all of a woman’s curves. It’s for all women to enjoy themselves and get comfortable in their own skin,” said Kristina Kelly, belly dance instructor in Jackson, Miss.
    
Kelly described herself as a fusion dancer. She teaches belly dance classes at Butterfly Yoga in Jackson and JoyFlow Yoga in Ridgeland. She also does a belly dance boot camp at Millsaps College in the spring and fall.

Besides the boot camp, Millsaps offers a six-week course through its Community Enrichment Program. The class is taught three times a year by belly dancer Janice Jordan and coincides with the school semesters.
    
“Belly dancing requires a lot of movements that don't come naturally, so I teach a series of exercises that get the body limber and moving in these new ways. These exercises focus not just on the belly, or core, but arms, legs and upper body,” Jordan said. “It may look easy, but it really isn't.”

The class also focuses on balance and stamina, giving participants a well-rounded workout. Jordan said that for the past 10 years, the class has almost always reached its maximum of 30 students. At the end of the class, the students put on a recital.

“We have a great deal of fun in class as well as getting a terrific workout,” she said.
    
But, besides being a terrific workout, belly dancing is first and foremost a dance, which is what Kelly focuses on more in her teaching.
    
“It’s an art form, a skill, a dance style and that’s how I’ll teach it,” she said.
    
Kelly’s classes are not necessarily fitness classes but this is an added benefit to practicing the dance. Just doing the motions is a full-body workout, including strength building and aerobic work. Belly dancing also uses many of the same foundations of yoga, such as stance, posture and breathing.
    
The fitness aspect part is there, but belly dancing is not as strenuous as other forms of exercise.
    
“It’s a type of exercise and movement you can do for the rest of your life,” Kelly said, adding that it’s for all ages and body types. “There are no limiting criteria.”
    
While the fitness and art aspects of belly dancing are important to focus on, Alyssa, an instructor and owner of Gulf Coast Bellydance, sees the middle-eastern dance as much more.

“You’re not just learning to dance, you end up learning so much about a different part of the world, a different culture,” she said.

Her said her studio is the first fully-dedicated belly dance studio in the state and she strives to be a resource, providing anything that any of her dancers might need - anything she would have needed when starting out. At the studio, she provides books, magazines, DVDs, equipment and costumes.

Her classes range from beginner through whatever level her students are. Some focus on dance and others on fitness. Her goal is for her students to always be with people at their own level and to provide everything in one place. She does workshops, bringing in dance instructors that teach a different form of belly dance or a different dance all together.

“You’re going to get something good from every teacher you learn from,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa said that dancers come to her for all different reasons – some for the fitness, some to be social, some to get away, some to learn a new dance – and these are all benefits to learning belly dance.

“It’s different,” she said. “It’s a different way of moving, and you get to wear sparkly, jingly things.”

She is glad to be able to provide a place that’s completely different and gives these women a time that is just for them.

Belly dancing is an unlimited dance form that people can do as much or as little of as they wish. Dancers can do it just from a fitness or dance perspective, or they can continue learning more about it and progress though “endless classes,” said Alyssa. For those who take it seriously and want to commit further, there are even performance opportunities available.

In Jackson, Kelly has created the area’s only belly dance troupe, MissiHIPPY, from her class members. The troupe performs at various restaurants in the area, with at least one performance a week, and they also get hired for Belly Grams. Alyssa performs classic routines as well as Belly Grams in the area but does the majority of her performances in Mobile, Ala.

She said that she gets interesting comments and responses from locals, but she is hoping that, with time, she can grow a strong belly dance community in the area.
 
“It’s just dancing for people in the Middle East,” she said. “It’s just a different kind of dancing.”
 
For those interested in learning more about belly dance without making a commitment, May 8 is World Belly Dance Day and some studios will be offering free classes. Check with the studio in your area for details.

Lindsay Mott is a MSDigitalDaily.com correspondent and can be reached at lindsaymott@gmail.com.