Her body moves like a cobra snake across the dark stage. She raises a tattooed covered arm over her head. Her rings and bangles glitter in the spotlight. Her coin bra jingles with every shoulder shimmy. The frills on her wrapped skirt shadow the movement of her hips swaying back and forth. She spins and her blood red dreadlocks swirl around her body like rings around Saturn. She stops. Her hips shake but her turquoise cat eyes are fixed. She stares as if she is possessed and casting a spell.

Belly dancing is one of the most ancient forms of feminine seduction. The enticing dance has lured voluptuous vixens, tattooed temptresses, and even a few brave men into belly dancing studios around the world. Each studio puts their own twist on the dance.

"I've got the dancing bug," says Keri Langwell, a bellydancer. "I've been doing it so long that sometimes I look back at my old costumes and they are completely out of style now."
She has danced with Ultra Gypsy, Red Lotus, and now has founded her own troupe called Lapsus. She describes it as dark belly dance, which is jokingly referred to as creep- fusion on the Lapsus' myspace. "Some might consider our style gothic but I don't," she says.
Lapsus differentiates themselves from other American Tribal Style fusions groups by their possessed stare. "We choose one member of the audience and stare at them the whole time," she says. "It kinda creeps people out."

Langwell, a fan of everything from dinner jazz to black metal, choreographs to darker music like the jazzy moans of Diamanda Galas. At a performance last year they danced with fire to a mix of Prodigy's Spitfire in blood splattered panel skirts tied around her hips. She also incorporates creepy movements like convulsing and crawling in Lapsus' performance art routines. "It looks impossible but that's part of the magic," says Langwell.

Langwell was kind enough to teach [X]Press a few of the basic belly dancing moves.

Belly dance posture:
Keep knees bouncy
Feet close
Hips and pelvis neutral
Engage abs and hold
Lift ribcage
Arms up and out (Keri says this is actually one of the most challenging parts)
Shoulder blades up and back
Shoulders away from ears
Lift chin
Exude confidence

Arabic (body undulation):
1. lift chest
2. pull in upper abs
3. pull in lower abs
4. release tail out
5. repeat

Hip Circles:
1. lift right hip up
2. keep pelvis forward
3. lift left hip up
4. release tail
5. repeat

Chest Circles:
slide shoulders to the right
lift chest
slide shoulders to the left
neutralize back
repeat

Shimmies:
squeeze one glute muscle (your bum) at a time and alternate or engage one oblique at a time and alternate

Toxeme:
Imagine making a vertical figure eight with your hips.
drop right knee
pull right hip up (try to pull your hip to your ribcage)
drop left knee
pull left hip up (try to pull up to your ribcage)
repeat [X]

For more information check out Lapsus' myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/lapsusdance
or Keri Langwell's:
http://www.myspace.com/kerilangwell

Langwell's classes:
Sunday Evening
7:45pm - 9:15pm,
Sun Room Studios
2390 Mission Street
SF, CA 94110

Monday Evening
7:00pm - 8:30pm,
Cotton Mill Studios
1125 Miller Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601