To the women of Gypsy Fire, belly dancing is a language of sisterhood and celebration of the female form.

The six-member belly-dance troupe awed a crowd of hundreds Sunday at the Bend Summer Festival with its tribal form of dance a largely improvised style influenced by gypsy dances of India, Egypt, Turkey, North Africa and Spain.

”It’s about celebrating your body with other women,” said Sara Loberg, 25, a nursing school graduate who has studied belly dancing for three years.

Accompanied by finger cymbals calls zils, the dancers swayed and twirled to Middle Eastern music as onlookers cheered.

Colored tassels on their elaborate costumes swung wide with each movement.

Spins, performed together in group precision, revealed brightly colored pantaloons worn beneath black, ankle-length skirts.

Other than the skirts, each costume is unique and a riot of bright colors, mirrored cloth and tribal jewelry.

With swaying hips and elegant arm movements, the women accentuated their bare bellies with each motion bellies that are as different from each other as their costumes and jewelry.

Paula Lozano, 33, said acceptance of every body type is crucial to belly dancing.

It has also helped her deal with her own body image problems.

”It’s all about accepting that these curves are perfectly OK wonderful, in fact and something to be celebrated, not hidden,” she said.Lozano, a local antiques dealer, belly danced into her eighth month of pregnancy earlier this year and is already performing just four months after giving birth to her first child.

”It forces you to look at your body in a different way,” agreed troupe member Lexi Hiou, 28.

And by watching Gypsy Fire, no one would ever guess that the dance is improvised. Subtle cues from the dance leader a dropped hip, hand gesture or nod of the head tell other dancers what’s next. The improvisation is inherent to the American Tribal style of dancing, and contributes to the feeling of sisterhood among the dancers, said leader and teacher Quinn Donovan, 31, a photographer.

”It’s such an empowering style,” she said. ”You really have to trust your fellow dancers. You can dance freely and know that your sisters are right behind you.”

Donovan teaches belly dancing weekly.

Information: Call 420-5416.