Think belly dance and an image that's likely to come to your mind is one of a svelte Helen in Sholay's hugely popular song, Mehbooba. But there is more to the dance form with Egyptian roots than its Bollywood portrayal. "It is a serious art form that takes 10 to 12 years to master. There are modern touches to it, and just like our regional dance forms in India, it has a folkloric tradition, too," says belly dancer Payal Gupta, who moved to Mumbai last year, after helming a professional troupe in Bengaluru for a decade.

Tomorrow, Gupta, together with 30 of her city-based students, will present their first annual showcase in Mumbai called A Journey From Bombay to Beirut. "Apart from dances that present the various styles of belly dance, we also have a collaboration with tap dancers, where the artistes will use zills [a manjeera-like instrument] in their finger movements, which will be in sync with the footwork of the tap dancers. The dance will be performed to the beats of a live darbouka," says Gupta, adding that props like the fan veil and veil poi, a spinning prop used to create geometrical patterns, will be incorporated in the showcase.