Belly Dancing has always been a part of the Middle Eastern culture which evolved from seeing the dancers during cultural shows to having belly dancing classes in dance studios around the world. It’s a skill that’s taught to women throughout the years that may seem easy at first but is actually hard to learn as it involves certain techniques you have to master.

Some women take classes to tone their muscles or simply as a hobby since there are Zumba instructors who actually integrate it with their classes which is often called as Zumba Belly. I personally found that easier and I simply love Zumba but perhaps with belly dancing, if you know the techniques, it will be much easier to master after doing a couple of sessions.

Last Sunday, I was invited to a Belly Dancing class by Jill Ngo, a belly dancer for 20 years now since she initially fell in love with the art of moving your body by rolling, sliding and shimmying. It was a slow Sunday afternoon that led to women meeting together to see for themselves how it’s properly danced at the Footworks Dance Studio, which was located at the Elorde Boxing building in Katipunan.

Having taught several actresses under her belt such as Maja Salvador, Marian Rivera and other actresses from ABS-CBN and GMA 7, Jill Ngo is also a Zumba and Pilates instructor. She is also a producer and an artistic director of Bellyfest, an annual event of different belly dancers in the country.

The difference between Zumba and Belly Dancing according to her is you move your arms and legs more for the former type of dancing while in Belly Dancing you also move the center of your body with the arms and the legs.

Footworks Dance Studio is still quite new as the sign isn’t too visible from downstairs though thank goodness for an elevator which will bring you directly to the 4th floor of the building. The dance studio has a good ambiance, particularly the graffiti standing out inside the room, with a Step Up feel since they also have hip hop and pole dancing classes.

Hopefully they’ll have their own washroom inside Footworks soon since their guests had to go out and use the common toilet which seems to be not yet done as there’s one room for both genders with three toilet bowls without any division at all.

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Facebook: Footworks Dance Studio