Riding the belly dance wave in Japan

When Sadia Camille first came to Japan 15 years ago to teach English, she had to put her passion -- belly dancing -- on the back burner. She never imagined that one day the art form would become popular enough in Japan for her to make a living from it. But now, with regular gigs in Tokyo and 50 students -- not to mention several who have become teachers themselves -- Camille is one among a growing number of belly dance professionals capitalizing on this belly-dance bonanza.

With its sensual, undulating moves and sexy costumes, belly dancing has gone mainstream in recent years, creating a huge community of teachers, performers and students. In 2008, a glossy quarterly magazine called "Bellydance Japan" debuted, and it's now offered alongside yoga and aerobics classes at fitness clubs. Quite a shift from a decade ago when Sadia had a tough time getting people to come to her shows because they didn't know what belly dancing was.

A brief background on belly dancing -- in Japan and abroad
Belly dance, or to be true to the Arabic, "Raqs Sharqi -- Oriental dance," comes from the Middle East, where long ago it played a role in rituals for purification, harvests, childbirth, marriage and death. It meandered its way around Europe and the Americas in the 18th and 19th centuries and finally made its way to Japan in 1984, when a Japanese woman who had studied in the States opened the first belly dance studio. Though just a handful of women took an interest, more foreign dancers arrived in the 1990s.
Sadia, 56, a Lebanese American from California, was one of them. These were the days before Japanese fashion mags hyped its 'get slim' benefits, and before Shakira, the Colombian pop star who made it a signature part of her dance style.

The tipping point came around five years ago when the scene in Tokyo exploded, and dancers like Sadia found themselves in demand. "Most do it to feel better about themselves," Sadia told me. "They want to be more feminine and sexy, and if they stay with it long enough, they will develop more self-confidence. Many even take on a Middle Eastern name."

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