I had a very good time at Shimmy for a Cure. Quite a number of bellydancers put on a benefit performance for the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation. They were mostly local/regional performers, but there was a troupe from Toronto (which included a male dancer) and a performer from California who was fantastic.
I knew a fair number of the local performers. Unsurprisingly, many of them were Pagan. Just as there aren’t a whole lot of straight male church organists, the odds tend to favor that if a woman is a belly dancer, she is probably not a fundamentalist Christian. (Not to say that is a guarantee in either case, of course.) I remarked to a few friends that it was interesting attending a bellydance event where people from my faith tradition weren’t the majority. However, it was all cool.
Kamille, the California, did a finale where she placed a belt on her waist with rods extending that were then set on fire at the end: very dramatic! My first thought was that it would be a really bad time to get an itchy knee. 
She also held conjoined rods in her hands that looked like big fingers that had flames after she got out of the belt.
All in all, I think everyone had a great time, and money was raised for terrific cause, so I consider it an evening very well spent.
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