The fever of belly dancing is catching up in the city and how. Interestingly, even Gauri Khan, wife of Shah Rukh Khan, learned the dance form with her friends at their residence, Mannat.

Veronica Simas D’Souza Rosas (stage name Veve), a belly dance instructor from South America, now settled in Mumbai to teach the form says, “Gauri is a trained dancer. She is very graceful and picked the moves quite fast when I taught her.”

Veve has also taught the dance to actors Riya Sen and Rakhi Sawant (item number in Krazzy 4) and Arpita (Salman Khan’s sister).

Veve reveals, “My youngest student is nine years old while my oldest is 63.”

But it’s not only celebrities who are smitten by this dance. Many women in fact are even learning this dance in secrecy. Dr Preeti Rao, a dentist by qualification and a belly dance instructor by profession says, “I instruct many women who are regulars on page 3. Most of them have not informed their families about it.”

She adds, “Singer Shakira has popularised this dance form. Women tell me they want to sway their hips and waists just like her.”

Yagna Chheda, an interior decorator says, “It’s believed that belly dancing is meant to woo men. That’s not true. It’s a beautiful dance and most women learn it to enjoy themselves.”

While Zenzi, a club in Bandra hosts belly dance classes, Dr Preeti asserts, “If you are a party animal you would have noticed that moves of belly dancing have become popular at night clubs. This is not just a performance dance. You can sway your hips and waist even on hip-hop music when partying away.”