The Jewish Women’s Group at Baruch College in New York played to a belly dancing seminar on April 26. Affiliated with Hillel, the group invited professional belly dancer Layla Aziz to teach students her moves, including male attendees.

After students had filled the room, the boys who gathered there thinking it would be a free show got a little shocker: they had to participate as well, and in the front row nonetheless! Though they were a bit surprised about this announcement, the guys agreed and wound up getting into the belly dancing more than some of the girls. All of the students enjoyed an intimate session with step by step instructions to authentic Arabic belly dancing music.

After the lesson was over, authentic Middle Eastern food was provided to feed the room full of hungry stomachs. The food provided by Olympic Pita included couscous, Moroccan cigars, Israeli salad, pita, hummus, babaganoush and baklava.

The event was attended not only by Jewish students, but also “students of Tatar, Uzbek, Persian, Arab, Asian, Eastern European and Hispanic backgrounds.”