Woden, Iowa, is a town of roughly 200 people, surrounded by corn and soybean fields in Hancock County. There is no stoplight, no downtown theater, and no dance studio. Yet it is here, improbably, that a small group of belly dancers has built what members describe as a lifeline—for themselves and for a scattered community of students across the state.
The group, known as the Rising Stars, did not begin in a studio. It began in living rooms, barns converted into rehearsal spaces, and the occasional community center in nearby towns like Forest City and Garner. Founded in 2019 by Mariam Hadi, a 34-year-old dancer and former Des Moines community college instructor, the collective now includes seven regular members who perform and teach across north-central Iowa.
"People Assume There's Nothing Here"
Hadi moved to Woden in 2018 after her husband took a job at a grain elevator. She had trained in Egyptian-style raqs sharqi for more than a decade and expected her performing life to end, or at least shrink dramatically.
"I thought I'd be driving to Minneapolis or Des Moines every weekend if I wanted to keep dancing," Hadi said. "But there were people here—mothers, teenagers, even a few retired farmers' wives—who were curious. They just had no access."
Her first class, held in a borrowed church basement in Woden, drew four students. By 2022, she was offering weekly classes in three towns and leading a small performance ensemble that adopted the name Rising Stars.
The location presents constant logistical challenges. Rehearsals happen in a converted garage behind Hadi's home, heated in winter by a single propane unit. Performances require driving 45 minutes to an hour to venues in Mason City or Clear Lake. Several members commute more than 60 miles for practice.
"It's not convenient for anyone," said dancer Leah Kowalski, 28, who drives from Algona twice a week. "But that's part of why it matters. We're proving you don't need a city to have this."
What They Actually Perform
The Rising Stars' repertoire mixes traditional Middle Eastern rhythms with music and movement that would be unfamiliar to audiences at a Cairo nightclub. At a March performance in Mason City's Music Man Square, the group performed a piece set to a reworked Iowa folk ballad, with footwork drawn from Irish sean-nós dance and upper-body isolations typical of American Tribal Style belly dance.
Another piece, choreographed by Hadi, layers hip-hop influenced floor work over a maqsoum rhythm, with two dancers performing on aerial silks rigged to a temporary frame.
"We get the question a lot: 'Is this real belly dance?'" said Kowalski. "Our answer is that it's real to us. We're not in Cairo. We're in Iowa. The fusion reflects where we actually live."
The group is deliberate about challenging one persistent stereotype: that belly dance exists primarily for male entertainment. Their performances avoid cabaret-style costuming in favor of full-coverage dancewear, and their outreach focuses on women's and girls' empowerment. At school workshops, they discuss the dance's roots in social and celebratory settings across the Middle East and North Africa.
"We had a 14-year-old girl in Garner tell us she thought belly dancing was 'what you see in movies at bachelor parties,'" Hadi recalled. "By the end of the workshop, she was asking her mom about classes. That's the conversation we want to start."
Partnerships and Pushback
The Rising Stars' community work is anchored by a partnership with Forest City's public school district, where they lead six-week residencies in middle-school physical education classes. Since 2021, approximately 180 students have participated. The district's PE coordinator, Doug Patterson, said the program began as an experiment.
"We were looking for something non-competitive that still got kids moving," Patterson said. "I'll be honest, there were a few parent emails at first. 'Why belly dance?' But after the first residency, the feedback flipped. Kids were asking when it was coming back."
Not all reception has been positive. Hadi said the group has declined three performance requests from venues that wanted "something more Las Vegas." In 2022, a planned workshop in a nearby town was canceled after a city council member objected to the promotional flyer, which featured a dancer in a cropped top and long skirt.
"We're still navigating that," Hadi said. "Rural Iowa is polite, but it can be conservative. We have to educate people about what this is before they'll book us."
The Limits of Small-Town Sustainability
The Rising Stars operate on thin margins. Members pay $35 monthly dues to cover insurance and costume maintenance. Hadi teaches most classes herself, though two senior members now lead beginner sessions in Mason City and Clear Lake. There is no permanent studio
