After her mastectomy, Jennifer LaFleur found herself lying on the hardwood floor in her kitchen. The firm surface seemed to loosen up her tense back muscles, which were sore from the maddening ...

Theresa Mahon has been teaching belly dancing in Nyack for 20 years %22You feel so beautiful when you put that costume on%3B there%27s a mix of sensuality and strength in belly dancing.%22 This low ...

SEQUIM — Laura Samperi-Ferdig has been studying belly dance since she was 8 and teaching since she was 16. “Belly dance is one of the oldest known art forms,” she said. “Its true name is Raks Sharki ...

Sciatica drove Bettye Ames to belly dancing. Beset with back problems, and at the behest of a friend, the Dayton resident took up the ancient art 10 years ago to strengthen her abdominal muscles. The ...

“It is hard to believe and I know it sounds funny, but really, belly dancing saved my life!” says Sandra Catena, the belly dance instructor at the Sol Goldman 14th Street Y. Catena grew up in a rough ...

“Belly dancing is really a full body workout,” says Tanya Shamray, who has been teaching dance for five years at a studio in Swampscott, Mass. “The great thing about belly dancing is you are never ...

I had a couple of rough patches in grad school. There were a few semesters during which I was in a relationship that'd gone bad and a living situation that'd gone bad, and my coursework wasn't doing ...

A little girl stands in the front row as she watches the belly dancers at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. She can’t take her eyes away from the scene before her. A strong, powerful belly dancer glides across ...

EGYPTIAN MUSIC BOOMS through the amplifier at 6:15 p.m. as instructor Leslie Rosen leads her belly-dance class through what she calls a shimmy warmup. She gives gentle instructions every few seconds ...