You don't have to lie on your back to get a flat stomach. Women (and a few brave men) across the country are ditching the mindless repetition of crunches and Pilates for the ancient, infinitely more entertaining art of belly dancing to solve their tummy woes. Those legendary seductive moves have wriggled their way out of the harems and courts of yesterday, shimmied forth from stereotypes of Middle Eastern restaurants and costume parties and slinked into today's gyms.

"I think the recent focus on the Middle East has brought a lot of [positive] attention to the dance and music of the region," says Reyna Alcalá, who teaches Belly Moves at Crunch in New York City. "Every body shape can do it. I think for people who feel self-conscious in the gym, this is a good start for them."

Belly dancing, called raqs sharqi ("dance of the East") in Arabic, is actually a folk dance performed to celebrate weddings and births, and this contagious spirit of festivity makes you almost forget you're doing any exercise. But making isometric movements of the hips, rib cage, shoulders, arms, abdomen and head to the beat of traditional and techno-flavored Middle Eastern music will raise your heart rates while strengthening and defining your muscles.

First, you must maintain an upright, energetic posture, with the shoulders down and the glutes tucked in (this is almost a workout of its own for some of us). Then there's the basic hip lift and drop, which you do with one leg slightly bent and the heel raised while tilting that hip up and down, working the obliques, lower back and thighs. The shimmy works the hips in a similar direction by bending and straightening alternating legs, often at a challenging, rapid pace. For the shoulder shimmy, you alternate the shoulders forward and back, and sometimes even combine this with other hip movements. (This is a tough one, even for those of us who can pat our heads and rub our tummies while chewing gum.) The slightly more familiar hip twists and rib-cage isolations might remind you of how much typical nightclub boogying must be derived from belly dancing. Throughout the dance, you must also hold your arms in strong positions, raising one or both and making elegant, snakelike gestures with them. After a few minutes, you'll feel well on your way to gorgeously shaped shoulders and upper arms in addition to a toned middle.