Both women and children take foreign dance lessons to stay fit and have fun.[Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Chinese attitudes have shifted in the past few years.

The demand was fueled by Chinese winning international Latin dance competitions and the popularity of such TV programs as US shows So You Think You Can Dance and Let's Shake It in China.

Zhang Miao says she was surprised at how quickly her interest surged after her first belly-dancing class, a 50-minute session at Beijing's Payot Dance Studio with 11 other women.

"The class is thrilling－the music, the moves, the clothes," the 36-year-old says.

The Beijinger has been working out to lose weight and tone her body since becoming a mother 10 years ago. Zhang, who trades stocks from home, considers it a way of relaxing.

"I took a few Chinese folk-dance classes, but they're too hard," she says.

"It requires years of practice. But you can belly dance even if you've never danced before."

Western-style dances have muscled into Chinese fitness programs, especially those for white-collar women and young mothers, Payot Dance Studio's founder Sun Yushuo says.

More than 1,000 members have joined Payot's two studios in the capital, the first of which Sun opened nearly half a decade ago. With the monthly and yearly cards priced from 1,000 to 5,000 yuan, the studio offers seven types of classes, including jazz, Latin and ballet.

About 20 people came for the first lessons.

"But as Western culture－movies, music and fashion－influenced Chinese, and especially the youth, dance programs－hip-hop, salsa, Latin－have worked their ways into gyms that then developed dance studios," says Sun.

Sun graduated from Beijing Dance Academy with a major in traditional Chinese dance and choreography. He choreographed such government-sponsored galas as those for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, before opening his studio.