[Anthea Poole] is seconded by Artemis, who performs most Fridays at Casablanca restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. "There's a lot of controversy around the name 'belly dance,' " says Artemis, whose birth certificate reads Elizabeth Mourat. "The true name is Oriental dance. That's the English translation of its Arabic name, but when I tell people I'm an Oriental dancer, they think I'm a geisha girl or something, so I usually call it Middle Eastern dance."

Nimeera, who dances with the local Silk Road Dance Company lead by Laurel Gray, says she's learned much classical Persian dance from Gray, an admired teacher and choreographer, but says she brings a different Persian dance to Pars. "It's more contemporary costumed dance," Nimeera says. "The focus is generally from the waist up, with a lot of arms, a lot of bending from the waist, head movements, eye movements; and every one has a meaning, whereas in Middle Eastern dance, it can be focused on the upper body, but it's more heavily focused on the belly and the lower body."

When Nimeera (who also co-owns Cleopatra's Closet, an online shop for belly dance accessories) performs at Pars, she first dances an Egyptian set, then a modern Persian performance about a half-hour later. She's accompanied by Shafik, a one-man band of sorts, on his synthesizers. If you're lucky, her Egyptian set will include her candle dance. For that she wears a triple-decker candelabra headpiece, with 11 lit candles burning brightly. I'm worried for her scarves and her hair, but she's a master, showing the muscle isolation belly dancers strive for.