<B>adult education - belly dancing classes</B><P>from The Guardian <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>So how did it develop? As a folk dance. For centuries, Oriental dance in Middle Eastern society has been what people have done at joyous occasions such as weddings, the birth of a child, community festivals - any party, basically. <P>But what about those skimpy costumes? That's another western image, a woman shimmying around a restaurant floor in a heavily sequinned bra-and-belt set with fringing. Actually, in the Middle East it's a dance that men, women, and children do for fun, not a 'performance' to entertain an audience.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010911000995&query=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>