A Bonding Dance

The sound system in Margallete’s class pours out music from all over the world. Students shake their hips, adorned with gold coins, as their bare feet patter and slide across the floor.

At times, they watch Margallete intently, emulating her moves. At other times the studio rings with laughter. When the class is over, students huddle in groups, exhilarated, chatting about the class.

"We form bonds," said Margallete. "It's a very female bonding kind of dance."

Her students agree about bonding and they also agree about the intense workout.

Can Belly Dancing Flatten Your Stomach?

If your fitness goals include washboard abs and a tighter midsection, you may think that countless crunches are the only way to get you there. While not a total solution, swiveling your hips with belly dancing can help you on your quest for a flatter stomach by engaging your upper and lower abs, along with your obliques for a tighter core. This can help you develop stronger ab muscles. Along with a regular cardiovascular workout routine, belly dancing can be help you achieve your fitness goals.

Benefits

Belly dancing can be a break from the regular gym experience, so it can be more motivating than simply heading to a pump class or working out on your own. The American Council on Exercise lists the benefits of belly dancing as increased core balance, toned abs, flexibility and better posture. Each facet of the benefits of belly dancing can contribute to a flatter belly, particularly a stronger core and better posture.

Considerations

It should be noted that in fitness, there is no such thing as spot reduction. While your belly may be your trouble area, working on your belly alone doesn't mean you'll lose weight only in your stomach area. Instead, a focused effort on losing weight from the entire body through strength training, aerobic activity and a healthy diet will leave you feeling svelte and satisfied. Belly dancing is a full body workout, which means you can also tone your glutes, thighs, hips and arms as you dance.

"A single belly dance session works hundreds of muscles, burns calories and helps woman de-stress."

"There's parts of your body that after you do this dance you realize you haven't been moving those parts in years!"

Students don't just move parts of their bodies, but the entire body.

"The neck moves and the shoulders move and the chest lifts and the diaphragm lifts. The pelvis goes up and down," said Margallete, who has been performing and teaching belly dancing for more than a decade. "It's soft for the joints and yet it's very energetic and very aerobic."

A single belly dance session works hundreds of muscles, burns calories and helps students to de-stress.

"You really have to stay with it," said longtime student Valerie Mamane. "It's always a challenge, a physical challenge, and that's the real workout."

Belly dancing has emerged as one of the hot new workout trends in recent years, according to the American Council on Exercise.

The fitness advocate group says belly dancing and other dances have evolved from the traditional concepts to become heart-pumping workouts in gyms across the nation.

"I think every woman originally moves like that," said Margallete, as she described what its like to belly dance. "The sensuality of the dance was why I really wanted to teach it."