Prepare to Shake It Up: Leilainia's 'Step By Step Belly Dance'

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SHIMMYING THROUGH "Step By Step Belly Dance" ($16.99, Acacialifestyle.com), it's hard not to notice that instructor Leilainia is missing something: a belly. Her taut tummy is proof that the Middle Eastern art isn't just pretty. It's pretty exhausting, too.

Body rolls force your abs and back to get to work, slightly bent knees make your legs feel the burn, and keeping up those undulating "snake arms" is like lifting weights. "You don't realize how heavy your arms are until you have to hold them up," says Leilainia, a second-generation belly dancer who teaches and performs in San Diego.

But what she loves about belly dance is that while it's challenging, it's also accessible. "Anybody can do it. Any age, any size. You can start when you're 50," she adds.

To do it right, however, you can't just fling yourself around. That's why Leilainia constantly cues viewers to move with intention. For example, when she rocks her hips from side to side, she does it by tightly squeezing one butt cheek at a time. "If you use your muscles to guide your body to where you want to be, you'll move consciously and create better awareness," she says. As a bonus, you'll also get a better workout.

Just be prepared if your body doesn't want to cooperate. A particularly challenging skill to perfect is that shimmy, which Leilainia can maintain endlessly while executing other steps. "You need to let everything relax like Jell-O," she explains. "You have to get used to that feeling. We usually don't want anything to jiggle."

She suggests her students wrap a fringed scarf around their hips when they're dancing, so they can focus on the flying bits of fabric instead of their quivering flesh. (Your outfit should also bare your belly.)

If you have trouble mastering the steps, don't worry about it. Leilainia's goal with the DVD was to deliver a full-body workout — in three 15-minute segments — that offers a playful spin on belly dance basics. "When I dance, I take the traditional movements but remember it's about expressing what I'm feeling," she says.

So, she adds modern touches, like a cheerleader sequence with peppy elbow thrusts, and what she calls "toning angels." (Pretend you're packing heat while giving your hips a swivel.)

One of Leilainia's favorite benefits of belly dance is "it allows women to love their bodies the way they are." But do enough of it, and those bodies are bound to change.

Photo courtesy acacialifestyle.com