Britain's oldest belly dancer shows she still has the moves AGED 82 - and believes it's the secret to a long and healthy life.
Sprightly Tina Hobin has been teaching women the ancient dance for half a century and says she has no plans to hang up her hand cymbals and coin belt just yet.
The gran-of-one began belly dancing in 1973 and quickly fell so in love with performing that she's been shimmying her hips and torso ever since.
Tina, who is the country's oldest professional belly dancer, says the discipline has helped thousands of women overcome various health problems over the years.
She believes belly dancing has multiple mental and physical health benefits - including helping with endometriosis, safe pregnancies, infertility and back pain.
Tina says it's also helped women overcome divorces and relationship breakdowns and she's taught all over the world in her 49 years of being an instructor.
The mum-of-three believes you're never too old to learn the 'sacred dance' and also wants to change the 'sexualised' perception of belly dancing.
She has visited Egypt and Morocco several times to learn about the origins of the artform and says she will continue to dance until she can’t dance anymore.
Tina, of Cleobury Mortimer, Shrops., who became the UK's first belly dancing teacher in 1974, said: "I just love it and I'll keep going for as long as I can.
“I started to dance as soon as I could walk and went to my first ballet lesson aged two-and-a-half.
Tina first discovered belly dancing when she saw an advert for a class ran by an American instructor while living in Oxford in 1973.
She taught herself how to belly dance by attending the classes and reading books on the subject and the next year started her career as a belly dance teacher.
During the 80s and 90's, Tina travelled across the UK teaching classes to women of all ages and regularly took them to Africa to learn about the history of the genre.
When Tina first began her belly dancing career, she found the dance was often sexualised and compared to stripping and prostitution.
But Tina believes the artform is ‘beautiful’ and keeps her young.
She added: “When I first started out in this profession, it was hard as people often associated the dance with night clubs, strippers, and prostitution.
“I often got men ringing up asking how much I charged, and belly dancing was very sexualised.
“My ex-husband hated me doing belly dancing but the new man in my life is so loving and caring and encourages me to keep doing it.
“I am very proud of what I do.”
