Start your bellydance journey with this 8 week introductory course.
Bellydance is an expressive art form based on folkloric and staged dances from the MENAHT region of the world (Middle East, North Africa, Hellenic, and Turkey). What we know of as Bellydance today takes on a variety of styles and goes by a variety of names, but the basis of Bellydance is rooted in body isolation and movements centered in the torso of the body.

In this class we will focus on technique, alignment, and posture as we breakdown the basics forms, movements, and traveling steps that form the foundation for many different styles of bellydance.

Each class will begin with a warm up that will include stretch and strengthen exercises designed with the bellydancer in mind, followed by a breakdown of several basic isolations which will be put together into a simple dance combination to have you dancing by the end of class. Class will close with short cool down stretch series. We encourage students to commit to the full 8 weeks in order to learn the most and to be able to progress. By the end of the 8 week session, you will have been introduced to basic hip and shoulder shimmies, ribcage and hip slides, traveling hip bumps and unweighted lifts, hand flowers, chest lifts, and more!

Niad stylizations lean towards a transnational fusion approach to dance, seeking to create performance based art that honors the roots of MENAHT dance with a lens of theatrical, flow arts, and contemporary dance fusion. Our basic bellydance classes focus on strong technical foundation that the dancer can use as a basis for multiple styles in the bellydance umbrella.

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In this class we will focus on technique, alignment, and posture as we breakdown the basics forms, movements, and traveling steps that form the foundation for many different styles of bellydance. Each class will begin with a warm up that will include stretch and strengthen exercises designed with the bellydancer in mind, followed by a breakdown of several basic isolations which will be put together into a simple dance combination to have you dancing by the end of class. Class will close with short cool down stretch series.
During the course of this 8 week session, you will learn and become familiar with Basic Posture, Horizontal Hip Figure 8s, Chest Slides, Grapevine, Rock steps, Shoulder Rolls, Hip shimmies, and more. I encourage students to commit to the full 8 weeks in order to learn the most and to be able to progress.

Bellydance 102 builds on movements learned in 101. New students are welcome to join this class and follow up with 101 later or take both classes concurrently in a session. Class will end with a short cool down.

Niad stylizations lean towards a transnational fusion approach to dance, seeking to create performance based art that honors the roots of MENAHT dance with a lens of theatrical, flow arts, and contemporary dance fusion. Our basic bellydance classes focus on strong technical foundation that the dancer can use as a basis for multiple styles in the bellydance umbrella.

Every Bellydance 103 topics class focuses on a different aspect of basic bellydance to add to your skill set. Bellydance 103 session classes will have an identifying label to describe the topic, and will utillize the skills and technique built in our 101 and 102 technique classes. 

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Examples of 103 topics courses:

103: Drills -

Drill class is a focused approach to developing clean and crisp body isolation. This class focuses on individual dance movements, simple patterns, and body alignment to give the dancer time to develop neuromuscular pathways (muscle memory) over a healthy body posture. 

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103: Combinations- 

Combinations are where it all starts to come together. Every combination class will put body isolations and traveling steps together into danceable short sentences. This course is great for developing a more in-depth and intuitive understanding of how dance movements can flow together, as essential skill for improvisation and choreography.

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103: Veil Basics - 

Learn to paint the air with a silk veil. A gorgeous and expressive prop, veil dancing is always a delight. In veil basics, we will start with holding a silk veil, and go from there into tosses, turns, flips, and more. Every class will have a short combination where veil work is layered over dance technique from 101&102.

We have student veils available for use in class, and Jaidra's hand dyed silks veils are available for purchase. 

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103: zills - 

Learn the basics of playing and dancing with finger cymbals (zills, or sagat). In this fun 8 week session class, we will cover some basic MENAT rhythms and patterns for playing a musical instrument while dancing. You will need your own finger cymbals and covers for class. 

 

Niad stylizations lean towards a transnational fusion approach to dance, seeking to create performance based art that honors the roots of MENAHT dance with a lens of theatrical, flow arts, and contemporary dance fusion. Our basic bellydance classes focus on strong technical foundation that the dancer can use as a basis for multiple styles in the bellydance umbrella.

Bellydance 104 is our 100 level choreography class. Over the course of this session, you will learn and dance a full piece using skills and props from 101,102, and 103.

Choreography classes will include the name of the dance to be learned and any style information that is appropriate to the piece. All of the niad choreographies have been created by Jaidra. Niad stylizations lean towards a transnational fusion approach to dance, seeking to create performance based art that honors the roots of MENAHT dance with a lens of theatrical, flow arts, and contemporary dance fusion. Our basic bellydance classes focus on strong technical foundation that the dancer can use as a basis for multiple styles in the bellydance umbrella.