Belly dancers perform to full house at John Waldron Arts Center

Barefoot and bedazzled, six dancers brought their fingers together as the high-pitched clash of zills rang through the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center.

Dark Side Tribal, a Bloomington American tribal-style dance troupe, started the seventh annual Bloomington Belly Dances with tireless hip shaking and intricate footwork.

Presented by Different Drummer Belly Dancers and Iron Kitten Productions, 18 acts performed during Friday evening’s event.

Student volunteers brought in additional chairs before the beginning of the show to accommodate a full house of guests.

“Belly dancers don’t like quiet audiences,” Different Drummer founder Margaret Lion told the crowd as the show began. “Quiet is boring.”

Thousands of hours of practice hours by the dancers culminated in a variety of dance and musical styles for the show, Lion said.

Carrie Spratford’s combination of hoop and belly dancing, as well as Laura McCain Reed’s experimental belly dance, was met with cheering, sizzling hisses and loud applause from the audience.

The second act continued the energy of the first with another performance by Dark Side Tribal. Sarah Akemon and her fellow dancers balanced swords on their heads during their movements for the entire song.

Akemon said she practiced every day for “a long time” to learn to balance the sword. Because much of their dancing style includes improvisation, she said it isn’t difficult for the troupe to choreograph their dances.

“It involves deciding whether we’re going to dance with a sword or a basket and how many people are going to go at a time,” Akemon said. “We just start to practice and we come up with it from there.”

Different Drummer dancers concluded both acts by belly dancing, first to “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls and then to “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston during the second act.

Corey Kunn came from Indianapolis to see the show. He said he enjoys dance in general and appreciated the way motions match the music in belly dance.

“I like watching the enthusiasm,” Kunn said. “With some of the people, I like watching the facial expressions that they give and how into it they get.”

Senior Eddie Wrigh, a friend of Kunn’s, said taking a belly dance class at IU helped her appreciate the performance.

“It gives you more of an understanding of what it requires to do it,” Wrigh said. “It’s easier to understand the difficulty level.”

Bloomington Belly Dances began in 2007 when Lion wanted a performance outlet for her Bloomington and out-of-town belly dancer friends.

Lion personally invites the dancers in the show to perform. She said the show usually lasts just over an hour, but was expanded this year to accommodate a full breadth of performances.

“We had so much talent this year,” Lion said. “I went, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t turn you down. You’re so brilliant.’ It was much more diverse than usual.”

New additions to this year’s show included the Bloomington Bollywood Dancers and a fan dance by Hongli Tang, a former professional dancer from China.

After the show concluded, audience members were encouraged to join the performers in a large group dance.

Lion said students and community members should take advantage of the belly dancing opportunities Bloomington provides.

“Bloomington is a mecca of belly dance,” Lion said. “There’s so much belly dance in this town. Go find it and take a class. You’ll love it.”