The world cup of belly dancing

Cairo (Egypt): Football may be taking the centrestage in the world of sports but Egypt saw a sports competition of another kind.

Belly dancers from around the globe gathered in Egypt to see who takes home the gold in an international belly dancing competition.

Over 1200 international contestants showed off their shakes, spins and gravity defying moves - things which should not be attempted by mere mortals - all trying to win the golden crown in Egypt's international belly dancing competition.

Belly dancing is one of Egypt's biggest cultural exports and growing worldwide. However, one will not get to see any Egyptian women shimmying in this battle of the bellies for this competition is for foreigners only.

Egypt's most famous dancer, Dina, says the explanation is simple. "Belly dance is our dance and when we compete with foreigners we win and that is not fair," she laughs.

And belly dancing is becoming big business. Dozens of merchants come to the festival every year to sell the latest in belly dancing apparel and accessories. Outfits like the ones the dancers wear can start as low as $100 and go upto thousands of dollars.

But the dancers are not judged on their costumes.

The judges at the competition look at technique, musical understanding, stage presence and overall presentation.

And though there were dozens of international dancers trying to convince the judges that they had all the above qualifications in them, it was Egyptain dancer Nancy and her equestrian friend who stole the night - not by competing but by performing and showing the rest of the world why Egypt remains the home of belly dancing.

In the end not all bellies are created equal.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)