I used to play rugby and tore out my ACL tackling someone once. For years, I was in pain, because of my injury. A few years ago, I wanted to take up a form of exercise that would be fun, but because of my knee injury, I couldn't do any high impact activities.
A friend of mine had taken belly dance lessons on the West Coast and really liked it. I would see pictures of her in her lovely costumes and it looked fun. It was exercise that worked your core muscles that wouldn't hurt my knee.
So, I bought a DVD and started to practice to it and have been hooked ever since.
The best part of belly dancing is that you are encouraged to wear pretty, sparkling things!