The art of belly-dancing is centuries old. It was hard to gauge just how many centuries, but it's definitely been around for a long time. Unsurprisingly, it is often misinterpreted in pop culture in a variety of ways. Even so, it's very popular among lovers of the exotic. Miss Fabina had received more than a few requests for belly-dancing to be added to the Meat Market's retinue. While she wasn't against the idea, she wanted it to be authentic as well as captivating. As such, she arranged for her old friend, Mi-Soon, to come to Animalia and join it.
After Mi-Soon became a caracal cat, she was quite eager to teach new students about her craft. However, because of the pandemic, there were only so many who showed up for her class. First, there was Leila, the Arabian mare who certainly had plenty of potential. Then there was Xochi, one of Animalian's upwardly-mobile models. Mi-Soon wouldn't have expected a Mexican Hairless Dog to want to be a belly-dancer, but Xochi said she wanted to impress her boyfriend with it. Finally, the most challenging for Mi-Soon, was Anjali (or Angie) the four-armed python. Mi-Soon didn't want to lose her own legs with converting, but Angie had already lost hers, as well as her arms. While Mi-Soon wouldn't turn down a student who wanted to learn, she was a little uncertain on how to work with Angie's unusual form.
Three students were pretty small for a class, but Maggie had only started with four students and she has expanded a lot since then. Besides, three was enough to start with. Mi-Soon would be learning as well, about how to best fit Animalian forms to work with belly-dancing. She was pleased when the three showed up. They were dressed the part for belly-dancing, including veils that covered their muzzles. These veils would serve as facemasks, if they weren't wearing facemasks underneath them.
"So, ladies," said Mi-Soon, "Do you think it'll be easy to belly-dance? Do you really know what all it entails?"
"Well, that's what we're here to learn, isn't it?" asked Leila.
"Quite right," said Mi-Soon, "Now, the first thing you need to know is that it's not your limbs doing most of the dancing. They're still a part of it, but the main movement is, as the name implies, your torso. You will be dancing with your shoulders, your hips, your pelvis, and, of course, your belly."
"Sounds simple enough," said Angie.
"You would think so, but it requires more work than you think," said Mi-Soon. To demonstrate, she did some basic movements herself, undulating her lower body and letting her upper body bounce. Any straight man watching would be captivated by the way her breasts bounced. After a full minute of it, Mi-Soon stopped and said, "Of course, that's only the most basic parts."
"I'm not seeing the hard part," said Xochi.
"Oh, you will," said Mi-Soon, "Let's start with some exercises." She had her three students repeat her steps over and over. With Angie, Mi-Soon didn't have to alter things much as this was a mostly stationary movement. Her students were able to take to this pretty easily at first, but eventually Xochi started to pant with exhaustion and sweat was appearing on Leila. "Ok, time for a break," said Mi-Soon.
The three students collectively groaned and grabbed at their stomachs. It felt like they've done 20 sit-ups. "I'm definitely going to feel this for the rest of the day," groaned Leila.
"As you can see, belly-dancing is just as much a form of exercise as any other dance. Well, the actual dances anyways. And they will definitely build up the strength in your cores," said Mi-Soon.
"I thought double-dosing would make our cores strong enough," groaned Xochi.
"Ok then, how many of your exercise your abs on a weekly basis?" asked Mi-Soon. The students didn't answer but exchanged sheepish looks. "I thought at much," said Mi-Soon, "Any muscle that isn't used consecutively will become weaker. Yes, we may be built like fitness/supermodels, but our strength and tone won't last without exercise. So if nothing else, you will be getting exercise for your abs and spine from this."
"There is going to be actual dancing, right?" asked Leila.
"Of course," said Mi-Soon, "But you have to limber before you can start." She turned to Angie and said, "Though I'll need to figure out how to make things for for you."
Angie shrugged and said, "I'm not that surprised."
"That said, you're still capable of practicing with the fundamentals so you can build up your core," said Mi-Soon, "I want you all to spend at least five minutes a day doing this. It'll get easier eventually."
"Oh great, homework