It’s World Belly Dance Day & these gays are putting their midriffs in motion

Get those hips swinging, because Saturday, May 10, marks this year’s World Belly Dance Day.

The website Days of the Year attributes World Belly Dance Day to the World Belly Dance Alliance, but other reports credit the annual occasion to an instructor named Lydia Tzigane. A Facebook post from the organization Shimmy Mob Durango says Tzigane envisioned a global movement that showcases the beauty of belly dance and also unites dancers for a greater cause. Shimmy Mob uses flash mob dances to raise awareness of emotional & domestic abuse, for instance.

As VICE reported in 2014, there’s historic precedent for male belly dancers, perhaps even as far back as Ancient Egypt, the artwork of which depicts androgynous figures shaking their hips. New York City-based belly dancer Tarik Sultan told the site that

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