IN THE SMALL STUDIO at the Springfield Community Center annex, Katayoun Hutson (right) teaches her belly dancing class to grow more comfortable with their bodies and movements. (News-Press photo)

This Saturday, April 2, there will be a very special Tsunami relief benefit at Falls Church's George Marshall High School. It's called Dance From the Heart, but in reality it will more from the belly. An expression of the recently-exploding interest in belly dancing will be on display.

On a Tuesday night in a small room at the Springfield community center annex a group of six women run through a series of warm-ups, swaying and shaking their bodies they work out the day’s kinks and reenergize, letting a relaxed fluidness move into their limbs and core.

Eventually, the work starts to focus on specific dance steps and combinations, all part of the Middle Eastern art of belly dancing, an overarching term that describes a variety of forms that have gained increasing popularity in the metropolitan area, for both health and cultural reasons.

Leading the class is Katayoun Hutson, a slender athletic woman in her thirties of Iranian descent, with a striking gray lock of hair on her forehead that adds both an age and mysticism to a woman one might otherwise lose among a group of college coeds.

Hutson has practiced Middle Eastern dance since she was 17, first picking it up as a talent for a beauty pageant competition, needing a two minute routine. She began studying the dance at the recommendation of her mother, who thought it would be a good way to learn something about her heritage.

Hutson told the News-Press that at the time, the cultural import of the dance was, for the most part, lost on her. She enjoyed the exercise, the rhythmic music and the sensual movements but she didn’t read much into it beyond that.

When she went off to college, she continued to dance for herself, though with less frequency, occasionally performing for fellow students. Soon after finishing school, she married and quickly became pregnant with her first child.

The pregnancy prevented her from continuing her dance study, as she thought it would be healthier for her to slow down. But after giving birth she returned to the forms with new intensity, which she kept even after discovering she was pregnant again with her second child. Instead of taking a break this time, she continued to dance, performing almost right up to the day she gave birth.

She has now been teaching for five years, and the interest that she first had as a teenager has matured and deepened through her studies.

“As I learned more about the history and the styles I took a more intellectual approach,” she said. “I now take it much more seriously as a vast amount of cultural information.”

Hutson said that while the terms "belly dance" and "Middle Eastern dance" are often used interchangeably, Middle Eastern dance specifically refers to dance styles and movements that originated in a group of central and near eastern countries, including among others modern day Iran, Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt.

Belly dance, Hutson said, while it can incorporate many of the traditional movements is not considered Middle Eastern dance unless it uses Middle Eastern music, specific rhythms and most importantly for Hutson, retains the blend of power and subtlety that she sees as inherent in the dance forms throughout the various regions.

She said that in teaching belly dance she constantly encounters the common misconception that the form is somehow degrading to women, something Hutson adamantly denies.

Rather, Hutson said that the form is actually liberating. Historically, in many Middle Eastern cultures, especially strict Islamic countries, men and women seldom mingled during social gatherings, instead men spent their time at parties with fellow men, and the women socialized separately. During these times, women often performed for each other. Rather than being an erotic or seductive dance, the performance was a way to enjoy each other’s company.

Hutson said that the myth of the harem, which means forbidden in Persian, that western writers spoke about as being a place of orgiastic delight, was actually just part of the custom of separating men and women and had little to do with sexuality.

Additionally, the movements, which some see as degrading, are actually freeing for many women, who seldom have the opportunity of enjoying the genuine sensuousness of their bodies without self consciousness, Hutson said.

“A lot of people come in shy,” she said. “And everybody has body issues.” But unlike dance styles like ballet, belly dance isn’t created for thin women without any hips. Rather it is built around the natural curves of a woman’s body. During a belly dance performance, the hips, which many women work hard to get rid of, actually add to the effectiveness of the dance.

“It does teach us to appreciate parts of ourselves that we didn’t before,” she said.

Along with being a path to bodily acceptance, belly dancing is just as much a vehicle for bodily improvement.

Janice Nichols, a long time student of Hutson, is a woman who knows a lot about physical fitness, as vice president of Sport & Health Clubs, a Washington area chain of fitness clubs with 26 locations in the metro area. Nichols began studying belly dance after finding herself increasingly bored with more traditional workout programs. Both the movement and the cultural aspects of the dance attracted her. While she has worked with a few other teachers, Nichols said that she has always returned to Hutson because of her genuine focus on the culture that goes with the dance. In her work with health clubs, Nichols said that the popularity of belly dancing as an exercise form has exploded in the past two years, with the growth of core-centric workouts.

Like Pilates, a popular core workout program, belly dancing works the muscles in the abdomen and back that support the rest of the body. Belly dancing requires the practitioner to isolate muscles and move them independently of other parts, like in the shimmying of the hips while the rest of the body remains still. At other times, the movements layer with contrasting actions in other parts of the body like the shoulders and arms.

The combination of isolations and the layering of movements, develops control and strength throughout the body. Along with creating a strong center making for a healthier back, core work also helps create what Nichols called functional fitness, meaning that the results of the training aren’t just aesthetic but also provide real benefits to the ease of movement in day-to-day life. But Nichols said that belly dancing has an added benefit over other core workouts because it incorporates a cardiovascular element.

She said that just 10 minutes shaking and shimmying will make even the most experienced runner break a sweat. Like Hutson, Nichols said that the biggest draw though, is the sisterhood that is created between dancers, and the acceptance of different sizes and shapes.

“Belly dances, because you are able to dance with a more voluptuous body, it helps women accept their bodies,” she said. “The most beautiful bodies aren’t necessarily the skinny ones.” But while the dance style is very personally rewarding, it is also a performance art, and the women who study under Hutson have learned not only to love themselves in private, but also to exhibit their talents on stage.

On Saturday, April 2, Hutson’s students and other skilled area Middle Eastern dancers will be performing at George C. Marshall High School, with more at stake than just their art. The performance will be a part of the Dance From the Heart benefit, a nationwide effort to raise money through Middle Eastern dance for the purpose of supporting Tsunami Relief, a cause that has gained new urgency with the recent earthquake that just hit Indonesia killing hundreds in the past week, adding additional destruction to the already devastated area. Nazie Massoumi, a student in her fourth year with Hutson, decided to help organize the benefit after seeing the effects of the Tsunami played over and over again on TV.

“It was pretty traumatic. I wanted to see what I could do,” she said. She took the idea to Hutson, who has in the past helped organize benefit performances. She said that she would definitely help, but because of numerous other commitments, the majority of the organizational work would have to rest with Massoumi. “It was actually more work than I anticipated,” Massoumi told the News-Press. Over the past three months, she has been designing and sending out flyers and posters, posting information on a variety of websites, arranging for the venue, insuring the event, and arranging advance ticket sales, not to mention practicing for her own performance.

After all the work, she said she is really excited for the day to arrive. While she is expecting between three and four hundred, the Marshall auditorium has a capacity of over 700, which Massoumi is hoping they can fill. Still, no matter how many show up, Massoumi knows she will enjoy the evening, and the performance as she dances, enjoying her body and her art, blending together with fellow dancers for a good cause.