I have scoliosis and finding an exercise that I can do without making my condition worse is tricky. I've found that belly dance is a fun exercise alternative that can get and keep you in shape. Once you learn the basic moves it really can be quite fun!

I think that belly dancing would also be fun! I was looking for a class last year in our area and found nothing I was so mad because I really wanted to give it a try.

Do you go to a class, or do it at home?

I have a couple of video tapes actually that I started with. One is Belly Dancing for Fitness with Janine Rabbit. Then mostly I just do it around the house as I clean or whatever. The movements are easy to do and it's virtually no impact at all. My fave song to dance to is "Voodoo" by Godsmack....I guess I don't flow with the traditional....LOL!

I have been belly dancing for quite a while now. It's a wonderful art form and offers a great form of exercise. If you want to learn I highly recommend taking lessons. Like any dance form though, it requires years of practice to perfect. You cannot become a ballerina overnight nor can you become a belly dancer overnight. If your looking to learn some group folk dances I would suggest looking into learning the debke which is a common folk dance done in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan (the Levant area). It would be a great way to explore a traditional folk dance of the middle east and would be fairly easy to learn the basics with just a few lessons. With belly dance you will need much more training and if you want to do a traditional dance you will have to pick a specific style (for example Egyptian) and then choose specific traditional dances of that style (for example Sa'idi, Sha'abi, Beladi, Shamadan, Assaya or Ghawazee). Of course when you get that specific it will be difficult not only to find a teacher near you but difficult to find one that happens to teach that specific dance style. There are many, many styles of bellydance and many, many traditional dances from each of the countries those styles are from. You may want to do a little more research into what bellydance and it's styles actually are. Here is a condensed list of resources you may want to check out for more information.

If I can't find a belly dancing teacher or can't get hold of a video tape can I start with a hula hoop?

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Belly dancing is very common to women, right? Would it be fine if a man do this exercise? Unlike women, men are not quite flexible and I wanted to know its level of difficulty. I would like to recommend belly dancing to my friend because he really had big stomach.

My cousin and I, usually have a belly dancing. Well, I could say, it's really great source of staying your body physically fit. What do you think?

Phew belly dancing is really tiring but it gives a good result. I guess it can help shapen your belly into some nice curves.

I heard about this but don't know exactly how it is done though i'm a good dancer, can anybody tell how it is done, how often we can do, method of doing, pre-cautions to be taken, & where can we get trained?

I agree with you Ekmallette - I have also learned the basic moves with a DVD training program and I love it. It is not hard but it is one of the most pleasant things that you can ever learn to do. Plus, it's great for the stomach muscles!

It's going to be a tough exercise. I think you only have to move your belly without moving much on other body parts. It's like an egyptian style of dancing.

I have seen this on TV and want to try it. It looks like it would be a really good workout for your stomach muscles. I need to get my hands on a DVD about it.

This may sound really funny, but when I'm in the shower, I listen to my CD player and try to belly dance. I'm just weird and I don't want anyone to see me. It's funny how quickly it begins to hurt. You can tell that it's definitely working out all those stomach muscles that we never use Dancing is a lot of fun.. even just barely moving.. you can just get lost in it. It's my fav thing to do!!!

Of course belly dancing is an excellent way of exercising, I mean if you have ever seen a belly dancer, they move so many muscles in their body and the body itself, its just amazing, they are obviously going to lose weight with that.