Students rolled their hips and learned how to gyrate properly at a belly dancing clinic Tuesday.
UPC hosted its first belly dancing class in the Union Saltair Room Tuesday evening.
“We started brainstorming ideas for some fun, interactive ways to get involved in the arts. So we thought, ‘how about dancing? What kind of dancing? Let’s do belly dancing,’ ” said Mary Neville, the director of arts and special events for UPC and a junior in math.
UPC sought out Thia Kaeos to instruct the belly dancing lessons.
“I’ve been teaching for 25 years in Salt Lake City. I’ve studied in Egypt, Turkey and India. I own the Egyptian Dance Center here in Salt Lake City and we teach 17 classes a week,” Kaeos said.
Some students who attended the event said it was fun and informative.
“I had a blast. I think it was an awesome cultural experience because we got to dance and we learned a little cultural history as well, which was really cool,” said Stewart Fullerton, a junior in musical theater.
While some students thought it was a great experience, there were different reasons they attended.
“I came because I am very interested in the art of belly dancing,” Fullerton said.
“I saw posters in the OSH building and thought it sounded like fun. I’ve never really thought of belly dancing, but the posters caught my attention,” said Codi Zamora, a freshman in business and marketing.
Neville said fewer people attended the event than expected.
“We were hoping for about 30 students, but 12 actually showed up. I’m not disappointed at all because it was a lot more intimate and we were able to get more interaction and one-on-one instruction from our awesome teacher. So I thought that we got a lot more out of it than if we had a larger attendance,” Neville said.
Some students at the event also thought having fewer people made the lesson better.
“It was nice because there were less people, so you got more individual attention from the teacher. Also the group was smaller, so you got to know all the other people here,” said Zamora.
Neville said the event cost $300 to put on.