TWIRLING DANCERS (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

Hips swinging, coin belts jingling, women of all shapes and sizes move in time to Mediterranean music, their eyes locked on their reflections in the wall mirror of a Jakarta belly dance studio.

A growing number of women in the city are learning Middle Eastern dance, a dance form that is believed to be one of the oldest in the world.

Women of various ages -- the oldest is 72, the youngest 7 -- are members of Jakarta's first Middle Eastern dance center, Bellydance Jakarta, which was set up two years ago by Christine Yaven.

"When I first started I had only four or five students, now I have around 120," said Christine, who says she is the only certified belly dance instructor in the country.

The dance movements, natural to a woman's bone and muscle structure, emanate from the movements of the torso, rather than in the legs and feet. Dancers focus upon isolating different parts of the body, moving them independently in sensuous patterns.

In its traditional form, belly dance is a social activity for women that excludes men. It's also believed to be a part of traditional birthing practices in its regions of origin.

In just two years, Christine has established a community of belly dancers and also formed a belly dance troupe that performs at events around Jakarta.

She regularly holds hafla belly dance parties for fun and for an excuse to perform before friends.

Christine, who has always loved to dance, had the opportunity to learn Middle Eastern dance or Raqs Sharqi at the Newtown Middle Eastern Dance Center when she lived in Sydney, Australia.

Upon returning to Indonesia, Christine decided she wanted to teach in Jakarta and arranged to do a belly dance trainer certification program in Egypt. "Belly dancing changed my life," she said.

Christine said belly dancing gave women confidence about their bodies.

"As a bigger girl in Asia, you get stereotyped as lazy and stupid and not having real power," she said.

"By doing this dance I feel as beautiful as a supermodel."

Her students feel the same way. Fahmia Badib, an Arab-Indonesian women who sports a flower tattoo under her shoulder blade, said she always felt happy when she was dancing.

She has been Christine's student for two years. "It doesn't matter how old you are, or how big or small you are. Belly dancing is very natural to the feminine body," she said.

The low impact movements of the dance increase flexibility and strengthen the core muscles.

"The hips, knees and thighs work the hardest," Christine said.

However, she said the dance was not a tummy flattener. "That's the biggest fallacy".

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