Meet Marine Scardina: The French belly dance teacher who became a viral sensation

In the heart of France, where art and culture converge on the cobblestone streets of Paris, a mesmerising art form has been quietly thriving for years - belly dancing. 

This ancient dance, with its roots in various Middle Eastern and North African cultures, is a celebration of femininity, self-expression, and empowerment.

One instructor of the traditional dance determined to spread this very message is Marine Scardina, who has passionately taught oriental dance to women from diverse backgrounds in Paris for more than six years now. 

Her mission is to inspire her students to reconnect with their bodies and rediscover their innate femininity through her passionate instruction.

Scardina's love affair with belly dancing was ignited from her first lesson. 

"It's a dance that I love passionately. I don't really know how to explain it. I think it was something that resonated in me, that was already there, in me, without me knowing it. And the day I took my first lesson, it was a revelation," she says. 

Her journey took an unexpected turn when she became a viral sensation on Instagram. She reflects on this surge in popularity: "Last November, I went from 1,500 to 130,000 followers on Instagram, in the space of a few weeks, it was really crazy. 

"It immediately gave me a lot of visibility. I received messages from women all over the world, but hundreds and hundreds of messages every day," she explains. 

Scardina found that during the training sessions, that she would frequently record with her students, she would document sequences that weren't always executed perfectly, revealing imperfections in their technique. 

"I believe this created a phenomenon where women realised that it's accessible; they thought, 'I too can pursue oriental