Monthly Workshops

On the 2nd Saturday of "each" month, we will be hosting afternoon workshops with teachers from around the Midwest, including Sonya of Chicago, Maleeha of Iowa City and many, many more.

August 2 & 3, 2008 - Yousry Sharif

Our first weekend long seminar featured master choreographer Yousry Sharif from New York.

March 2008 - Maleeha of Iowa City, IA

Maleeha lead us in an exploration of mood and emotion expressed through dance. Using theory from Delsarte, Laban and Humphrey, Maleeha showed us how movement and positioning of the body, arms, etc is interpreted by an audience. She took us through several simple exercises in how simply changing the facing or direction of a movement creates a different feeling for the audience and the dancer.

November 2007 - Aliyah Sahar of Minneapolis, MN

We spent a wonderful afternoon working with Aliyah on Latin fusion moves. There is a lot of belly dance music available with a distinct Latin overtone. Aliyah showed us how taking several simple Latin moves and incorporating them into a belly dance piece can change the flavor dramatically. During the afternoon, we learned a short but sweet choreography. We ended the day with a short section on skirt work. Aliyah Sahar is a great instructor and we'd love to have her back again!

October 2007 Sonya of Chicago, IL

Sonya did a wonderful job taking us through the basics of the genre of dance called "Gothic Bellydance". Most of us could not really tell the difference between gothic and tribal going in and she did a wonderful job explaining the differences between them. We also had a special 20 minute mini-lesson on "Hair-fu", the art of hair management for performance. Anyone who has seen Sonya dance can appreciate the art of managing hair! She always manages to look cool and composed, keeping her long tresses out of her face and even manipulating her hair to best show off a movement. It was fun to learn a couple of her trade secrets!

Additional "2nd Saturday Workshops" have included:

Basic costuming skills

"Bra Building" parts 1 and 2.