Veils of different colors including bright blue, shimmering white and midnight black sweep across the air. The room is filled with the jingle of coins on hip scarves and exotic music plays as a petite woman with a toned stomach gracefully steps forward and flips a silk veil over her head. She quickly pulls it back towards her body so it lands folded across her collarbone and arms. The swoosh of nine other veils follow suit, some not falling as perfectly as hoped.

“You’re working with the fabric,” said Aliyah Abir, a belly dance instructor for Mettler Fitness Center on Green Street. “Depending on the different fabrics, the veils work differently.”

The free belly dancing open house was made up of six 25-minute classes led by Abir. The sessions included Belly Dance Basics, Veils in Motion, Fun with Finger Cymbals and Belly Dance Pizzazz!, which focused on music and stage presence. Abir organized the open house to give the community an opportunity to try belly dancing without the pressure of committing to a class.

Abir began the open house by teaching the class the most important parts of belly dancing are posture and breathing. She then led the students through various moves, including shimmies, which involve the hips, and snake arms.

“It’s a buffet type sampling of the different styles of belly dancing,” Abir said.

Kim Kendall, the University’s director of undergraduate programs for the sociology department, arrived at the open house dressed in a black two-piece belly dance outfit embellished with silver decorations. Kendall, who has also studied ballet and modern dance, learned about the open house online while looking for belly dance classes to take. She had taken a previous 18-week course from another instructor and wanted to continue learning.

“What I liked was how it made every woman in the class feel,” Kendall said in reference to her past belly dance class. “It’s very empowering, regardless of shape or age.”

Abir said she believes the welcoming aspect of belly dancing is both a negative and a positive quality of the dance.

“I think the thing about belly dancing is that it is such an individual dance anyone can come (take classes),” Abir said. “Belly dancing is for any shape or any age. You don’t have to be skinny to belly dance and you don’t have to be fat to belly dance. You don’t have to show your belly either.”

The group assembled at the open house was made up of women of all ages and from all walks of life. University undergraduates and graduate students, local residents and University faculty were among the students.

Lametrius Carter, a bus driver, was eager to participate in dancing.

“I’m loving it,” Carter said. “I’m glad to be here, working off some of this weight.”

The ease with which some people catch on to belly dancing can be a downside because they do not take the time to learn the intricacies of the dance, Abir said.

“I think some people come in and take two or three classes or sessions and do not take the time to learn the culture,” Abir said. “They’ll go and spread misinformation about dancing in tents and those fantasy things.”

One of the misconceptions of belly dancing is that most people associate it with the typical two-piece costume and veil, Abir said. Another misconception is that belly dancing is not “real” dancing.

“Here in the Midwest I get raised eyebrows when I tell them I belly dance,” Abir said. “People still think it’s stripping and you have to show your belly. It’s a legitimate type of dance just like tap, jazz or ballet.”

Psychology Professor Ying-yi Hong took Abir’s Fall 2005 belly dance class. She did not attend the open house but said via e-mail that she was inspired to sign up for the class after she saw a belly dance performance at the Farmers’ Market in Urbana last year.

“I like it because it is a good exercise for the muscle around my belly, which is a problematic area for me,” Hong said in an e-mail. “The dance is also truly feminine and beautiful.”

Abir, a recent addition to the Champaign-Urbana area, lived in Monterrey, Calif. before she moved to Illinois at the end of March 2004 with her husband and children. She started belly dancing six years ago while active in the military, when she begrudgingly accompanied a fellow soldier to a belly dancing class. At the time Abir was training to be an amateur kick boxer and running for the military company running team. She laughed at the idea of going to a “girly belly dance class” but was surprised to discover that despite her athleticism she was actually challenged by the dance class. She also said the class helped her get back in touch with her feminine side, which she had not been able to fully express while in the military.

“I went to the class and I felt like a woman again,” Abir said.

She took the stage name “Aliyah Abir” after she began performing and announcers consistently had trouble pronouncing her given name, Francinevia Abair.

When Abir is not teaching belly dancing she is a University teaching assistant in East Asian languages and cultures. She will be teaching three sessions of belly dancing classes, the first one beginning Jan. 29.