Teressa-Belly Dance Artist in Toronto

I adore the summer in Toronto! The weather is beautiful with clear bright blue skies, hot temperatures, and a wide variety of awesome summer festivals all over the city, from east to west and north to south! Summer is also the time of year where we do lots of belly dance performances at outdoor festivals and community events in the city. This year has been no exception.

Just this past weekend, I, along with two of my student dancers, were invited by the Warden Woods Community Centre to perform at their yearly Taste of the Woods Festival. We performed for the first time at the event last year and it was exciting to be invited back as we had a great time performing for the crowd last year. The Taste of the Woods Festival is a great event in Scarborough, where community members gather at the centre, sample delicious multicultural foods and see performances that ranged from singing, Tai Chi demonstrations, and of course, bellydance, to name a few. I even managed to do a bit of food sampling myself before our performance with a couple spring rolls, some tandoori chicken, and a vegetarian dish that was delicious, but I don’t know what it was called. I also spied with my little eyes jerk chicken with peas and rice and curry and roti. There was an abundance of mouth-watering treats for all your hunger needs!

I performed, along with my longtime students, Camille and Elizabeth, for a very enthusiastic crowd. At the end of our performance, we found some very great young dancers in the audience who participated and showed us their awesome bellydancing skills. I also have to give a special shout out to the two boys by the DJ booth who were AMAZING bellydancers and with a little coaxing, strutted their stuff with us in front of the audience. Camille even managed to start a bellydance train! I’m not sure how she did it, but all we could do was join in! Choo-choo!

Next up, we’ll be performing at the Scarborough Village Summer Festival on Saturday, July 23^rd. This will also be our second year performing at this event. We are so lucky in Toronto to have big, wonderful summer festivals every year, but we’re luckier still in Scarborough that we have a variety of community festivals of our own that we get to enjoy! These are some of my favourite events to dance at because it’s a way to really connect with the community close to home. Check out some more Photos from the Taste of the Woods 2011.

I took my first bellydance class when I was 16 and before that, the most dancing I had done was a short stint in an 8-week hip-hop class for teens and before that, coming up with dance routines to songs by the Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child with my cousins that we then performed in front of our family…yes, we were that awesome! I wasn’t a child dancer who took classes in ballet, jazz, and tap, the fundamentals of all childhood dance training, so jumping into belly dance training intensively was my first real foray into the dance world.

When I became serious about belly dance, I still sometimes felt as though I was “missing” some dance training. When I first started dancing for example, traveling steps and turning were not my fortés and I knew that it was my lack of this childhood training that left me stumbling over my feet, while others glided effortlessly.

With the rise of shows such as So You Think You Can Dance and their amazing contemporary routines that I fell in love with, along with the understanding that I needed ballet and jazz in my life, I hopped on over to a local dance studio to take adult ballet and jazz classes. I started this adventure over 2 years ago and the training has been amazing for my bellydancing.

Ballet was a huge challenge at first. Did they say that I have to move my legs without moving my hips? No, that can’t be right because that’s impossible! I was trained as a belly dancer, which meant that my hips were directly connected to my legs, so if my leg moved, the hips obviously followed…obviously. In ballet, I had to learn to keep everything still, whilst only moving my legs. Ballet was also instrumental in helping me to create strong lines and pointed toes when I dance. Although I’m no ballerina, my toes now create a much stronger arch and line than it did before these classes. Trust me, there are results!

I also decided to try jazz/contemporary since one of my dreams was (and to some extent, still is) to become a fab contemporary dancer. It’s a long shot, but I’ll keep trying. Jazz was and continues to be amazing at helping me with turns and traveling steps. No longer do I look as though I’m about to tip over when I’m turning. It’s also awesome that after 2 years, I feel extremely confident in class about doing those scary across the floor exercises.

In addition, the new movement vocabulary provided in jazz classes has given me a lot of new options for my bellydance movement vocabulary. New foot patterns, jazzy kicks, even a few jumps are a part of my bellydancing repertoire now!

So bellydancers, get out there to your local dance studio to find a ballet and/or jazz class and jump in! It’s a bit scary at first, especially if you’ve never heard of pirouettes, jettés and a lot of other French words being yelled out by your instructor whilst you look around in confusion. But trust me, after a few classes, you’ll get the hang of it and will be pirouetting and jetté-ing all over the dance studio (and possibly in your kitchen and hallway after class).

Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of working with two amazing dance photographers to shoot some new bellydance photos to update my website and promotional material. As such, I thought it would be fun to share my experiences, as well as some helpful tips for doing photoshoots.

My first photoshoot was in late February with the amazingly talented Samira Hafezi. Check out her work and you’ll see why she’s one of the go to talents for dance photography in Toronto. Samira has worked with numerous bellydancers before, so she has a great eye for dance movements and poses that work well for photos. In addition, I also got to work with the fabulous make-up artist, Christine Millan, who can manage 3 completely distinct make-up looks with just a quick flick of her magic wand (or make-up brushes). Christine, being a bellydancer herself, also helped with constructing really unique ideas for the shoot. This duo is amazing and dancers, if you get the opportunity to work with them, jump on it!

This shoot was my first in over 3 years (3 years!), so I was a little rough around the edges when it came to poses and making pretty facial expressions. I had also decided pre-photoshoot that I had too many photos in which I was smiling and my costumes this time around seemed to call for a more serious look. Unfortunately, serious isn’t really my thing and sometimes I ended up looking really pained or just numb. Who wants a numb bellydancer? Not I. Even with my sometimes funky facial expressions, the shoot was awesome! Samira and Azhia came up with cool ideas that had them, for example, wrapping the veil around me and then making it seem as though the veil was floating beside me. These ladies are full of great ideas to give you unique shots. In addition, Samira not only did the traditional full body bellydance poses, but also did some shots halfway and even headshots, so you have a lot of options to work with.

One of my “Serious” Costumes

Flying Veil!

My second photoshoot was with Paul Cutler, who I’ve worked with twice before. For this shoot, I only had one purple costume that I really wanted to shoot, along with my new pair of Isis wings. I had also just gone shopping that past Thursday and purchased a funky jacket/dress that just demanded to be shot with full lights and heavy make-up! I figure they’ll be great headshots for the books I write when I become a professor in a few years (in my other life, I’m starting grad school in September). And anyway, every girl needs headshots and some frivolous photos, right?

My dress!

This shoot went fantastically! Why? I had just had the experience of a photoshoot with Samira, so my rough-around-the-edges poses were now not so rough. I learned that I should probably smile, so there was lots of smiling. In addition, my comfort level with Paul from our previous shoots together made everything flow effortlessly, which included some awesome shots such as this one (I can’t believe I’m posting this on my website):

So Glamourous!

Here are 5 tips for your own bellydance (or otherwise) photoshoot:

• Look up images of the kinds of shots you’d like to get from your shoot: If you’re a dancer, look up dancers. I looked up some amazing bellydance photos, but I also looked up jazz and contemporary dance photos, which have really unique poses that can work beautifully for bellydancers. If you’re doing a couples shoot, look up engagement or wedding photography. Doing sassy headshots? Try to find some of those on photographers’ websites. Compile all these great shots in a folder that you can refer to before the shoot to practice, as well as on the day of your shoot.

• Practice, Practice, Practice! Remember all those great shots you procured from your hours of late night Googling? Now they’ll come in handy as you stand in front of a mirror with your photoshoot outfit(s) and pose away! If you’re in a bellydance costume, now is the time to see if your desired poses will work with the type of costume you’re wearing. For example, I had a lovely pink costume that I wanted to do some particular poses with, but the fabric was heavy and didn’t flow the way I had imagined, so it was off to my folder for new ideas. Get these prepared beforehand so that you don’t miss a minute of your shoot fumbling about for ideas.

• Get Comfortable: Get to know your photographer. You want to make sure that you are comfortable on the day of the shoot to be silly, sexy, spunky, and a bit outrageous. After all, it’s your personality and comfort level that will make the shoot work. If you need a glass of wine beforehand to loosen you up, then by all means, pop that bottle! I highly recommend a bottle of Canei white wine!

• Take Risks: Don’t be afraid to try something new or different that you hadn’t thought of beforehand. Move around, play, jump, and enjoy the shoot. Some of the best shots come from really unexpected moments. In addition, specifically for dancers, dance and move around! Play with your props, twirl your canes, spin with your veils, and kick up your skirts! All of this movement captures beautifully on the camera. For example, with my Isis wings, I expected that I would pose with them and have the traditional poses with the wings beside me like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. However, I started moving around a bit with them and my favourite shots with them are the ones that have me mid-dance. Who knew that Isis wings could capture movement so well? Now you know.

Isis Wings & I

• Listen to Your Photographer: Your photographer is an expert at photos, so listen to them. They may tell you to turn your head a certain way, twist and contort your body in ways that seem awkward and unconvincing, but trust them! They’re behind the camera and can see what’s working and what isn’t.

Good luck with your fab photoshoot!

Recently I’ve had quite a few students come to me with sighs and distressed looks, wondering how they were supposed to practice all the dance technique/combos/choreographies we do in class when they’re at home by themselves. It’s all too much to remember and they’d love some guidance on how to improve their dancing in the comfort of their own home.  So here are some ideas to help you out when you’re feeling flustered about your ability to get your practice on at home:

1. TAKE NOTES IN CLASS: This is so important for all student dancers and will help you to get the most out of your class time and your practice time later on. Writing down a combo you did in class or a new movement that you learned and want to practice more is a great way to jog your memory later on when you decide to practice. Get a funky notepad that you can keep in your handbag or even use your phone as a notepad!

Here’s an example: I currently take 2 to 3 jazz classes per week and after every class, I pull out my iPhone, open up my notepad app and type in the new movements, combos, or choreography notes from a song we danced to in class. I’m not necessarily going home to practice my jazz jumps right away, but those notes are secure in my notepad, waiting to be used when I’m ready to practice.

2. PRACTICE THE FUNDAMENTALS: Okay, so that new funky undulation-reverse-maya-layered-with-a-hip-shimmy-into-really-complex-traveling-combo didn’t really sink in after tonight’s class and you can’t remember all of it to practice (you’re thinking you probably should have taken notes, see #1 above). However, if you’ve been dancing for a bit, you’re certainly an expert on your bellydance fundamentals. These are the movements that you started out your bellydance career with and the ones that continue to drive every single Intermediate/Advanced technique concept that you’ve encountered and will encounter in the future. Practice those!

I like to start from my head and work my way down my body with isolations. For example:

Head slides/Shoulder accents Forward & Back/ Shoulder Accents Up & Down/ Chest Lifts/ Chest Slides/ Stomach Accents/ Hip accents/ Hip Drops/ Hip Slides/ Pelvic Tilts

3. FOCUS ON SHAPES: If you think about it, bellydance is all about creating shapes with our bodies, so focus your practice on a particular group of shapes.

Some major shape groups to practice are:

• Diamonds (Head, Chest, Hips)
• Circles (Head, Chest, Hips)
• Figure Eights (Chest, Vertical Hip, Horizontal Hip)
• Undulations (Torso, Arms, Hands)

4. FOCUS ON TRAVELING STEPS: When we think of bellydance, we don’t necessarily consider the traveling steps that make a lot of our dancing possible. Traveling steps are near and dear to my heart because we don’t focus enough on them, yet they are so vital to the dance form. To practice traveling, make a list of some common patterns and practice those. Additionally, try layering some of your fundamentals and your basic shapes (see above) with traveling steps.

Here are some of my commonly used traveling steps to get you inspired:

• Walking
• Triple Step
• Rocking Step
• Grapevine
• Turns (3-step Turns, Double Turns, Crossover Turns)

5. ¾ SHIMMIES: ¾ shimmies are a bellydance staple and as such, you need to practice them all the time. I like to practice my ¾ shimmies alone, then layer them with additional movements.

Some ideas include:

• Drill your ¾ shimmies for a full 3/4/5 minutes or for the duration of your favourite song
• Layering your 3/4 shimmies with movements from some of your shape groups above (#3)
• Layering your 3/4 shimmies with traveling steps from above (#4)

6. SHIMMIES AND DRUM SOLOS: In every class (or almost every class), I do a drum solo drill in which we practice developing strong shimmies and layering shimmies with some of our fundamental movements and groups of shapes. This is a great way to practice as well. Put on your favourite drum solo and start shimmying! Add some layers and see what happens.

Additionally, practice by improvising to a drum solo. Pick a drum solo that you know really well and just dance. Another challenging option is to pick a drum solo that you don’t know very well (or you’ve never heard before) and try to dance to it. You can also use YouTube to find drum solos that you’ve never heard/danced to before (see #10).

7. PROPS: Playing with props is a great way to practice and gain additional skills that are so important for bellydance performers. Try some basic movements with your veil or just toss it around a bit! I know that doesn’t sound like the best advice, but especially when a prop is still new to you, it helps to just play with it  in order to understand the way it feels and moves in your hands. When I first started practicing with veils, I spent a lot of time with the veil tangled around me, trying to figure out how to to simply get it to move properly.

Have a cane? Hold it, move with it, try your fundamentals, shape groups, and traveling steps while holding/moving the cane. In addition, practice twirling the cane in both your right and left hands.

8. USE DVDS: Practicing with a bellydance DVD is like having your very own bellydance instructor in the comfort of your home. The best part is that bellydance DVDs are widely available and easy to access. One of my favourite websites for purchasing DVDs is www.amazon.ca as they have great DVDs, a wide selection, and it gets to my door in just over 24 hours.

Some great production companies making bellydance DVDs  that you should definitely check out are:

• Cheeky Girls Productions
• World Dance New York
• Bellydance Superstars

Don’t have too much extra cash to splurge on a bellydance DVD collection? No problem! Check out your local library for bellydance finds. When I started dancing at age 16, I was a teenager working part-time and spending all my money on bellydance classes, so purchasing DVDs was not a luxury I could afford.  Instead, I went to the library, found a whole collection of DVDs and used those to practice on my own. I actually first learned undulations from one such library DVD. Typically, you’ll find mostly Beginner level DVDs at the library, but they’re a good way to review your fundamentals and it’s always useful to have a new perspective on how to do a particular movement.

9. IMPROV: A lot of my students get nervous when they hear the word “improv,” but learning how to improvise is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a bellydance student.

Improvising is easy! Just throw on a song from your bellydance music collection and start moving. It doesn’t matter if you do something strange or spectacular! I always tell students to keep moving regardless of whether they feel silly, stuck, or have no idea what’s happening in the music (or will be happening in 10 seconds). The more you keep practicing and moving through those tough and awkward moments, the more comfortable you will become at improvising.

There’s also no rule that you have to practice to bellydance music. Choosing a song you love, in any genre, will make your improv practice that much more relaxing and fun! Love that new top 40, soca, or Bollywood song? You’d be surprised how conducive bellydance movements are to other dance forms. Even as I write this, I’m trying chest circles and undulations to Britney Spears’ new song…it’s going rather successfully, I must admit.

Here are some additional suggestions to begin the process of full-blown improv:

• Pick one or two movements and do those for the entire song (Add variation with arm patterns, level changes, layering, dynamics, and speed)
• Pick one part of your body and only perform movements with that part of your body for the entire song (i.e. Focus on arms, upper body, hips, traveling steps). This is also a great practice tip if you’re known for neglecting one part of your body in dancing. For me, I think I need to try this with my upper body only since I’m definitely a hip-centric dancer!
• Pick a particular shape group and only perform movements from that group (i.e. Figure eights, circles, undulations)

10. YOUTUBE: YouTube is amazing for bellydancers! It’s a great way to see what other dancers are up to and get inspired by all the amazing talent found all over the world. When I’m feeling a bit uninspired, I usually take a trip onto YouTube and search for some of my favourite dancers and see what they’re up to. Don’t have a favourite? Just search for “belly dance” or “belly dance Toronto” for example and you’re sure to find some dancing. Be warned that not all dancing is great dancing on YouTube. Because of its user-friendly format, anyone and everyone can post videos of themselves as a “professional” bellydancer, so use your bellydance discretion as you check out videos!

To help you out, here are some names of just a few of my favourites:

Older Egyptian Dancers

• Samia Gamal
• Tahia Carioca
• Suheir Zaki
• Fifi Abdo

Current Dancers:

• Randa Kamel (Egypt)
• Tito (Egypt)
• Orit Maftsir (Israel)
• Aziza (North America)
• Sahra Saeeda (USA)

Dance Troupes/Companies:

• Mahmoud Reda & the Reda Troupe (Egypt)
• Arabesque Dance Company (Toronto)
• Bellydance Superstars (USA)

Another great way to use YouTube (which also relates to #9 above), is to put on a performance of a dancer and use the music she/he dances to as another way to improv. This is a great way to practice if you haven’t built up an extensive music collection as yet and allows you to sample some of the music that the greats are using!

There you have it, 10 ideas to help you practice when you’re not in class! Now it’s time to get practicing!

The ~undulate~ 1001 Nights photos have finally been posted. The photographers got some really great shots (and of course it helped that my performers were all pretty awesome), so check them out here: ~undulate~ 1001 Nights Photo Gallery

Here are some of my favourites that I just had to share:

My Bollywood Students: I love the energy of all the girls in this photo; it’s so upbeat and let’s be honest…it screams Bollywood!

Banat el Sharq: I love the way Stacey and Leah are having so much fun and really enjoying dance! Funnily, this was for the piece called “The Happy Lands,” so it worked out perfectly!

GypsyVibe: The performance, the lighting, and this awesome photo were so amazing! This is such an empowering shot that really emphasizes the sense of community that was the theme of this piece.

Cairo ala Nar: It might be a bit uncool to choose a photo with myself in it, but I really like the contrast between Moli’s sexy samba movements and my standing there…doing not much.

Okay, I think I need to stop. I could really do this all night as there are so many amazing photos, but I’ll just let you check out the Photo Gallery instead and share in the story of ~undulate~ 1001 Nights.

Coming soon: Videoclips from the show (assuming I find a computer to cooperate with me)

Wow, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted and so much has happened since then! I guess I’m not so good at this whole blogging thing!

The biggest news in the past few months was of course our successful ~undulate~ 1001 Nights show that happened on Saturday, November 27^th at the Leigha Lee Browne Theatre here in Scarborough. The night was wonderful and all the performers were fabulous! I’m still sifting through the over 500 (and more to come) photos from the actual show, but they will be up soon, with lots of photos of the each amazing performance.

I’m so happy that I was finally able to get a theatre as our venue.  I’ve wanted a theatre since I first started doing our ~undulate~ shows and have been searching since that first show, but I guess third time’s the charm as I was able to find the perfect venue in the Leigha Lee Browne Theatre. It was a great opportunity for all of my students to perform in a theatrical setting, complete with an enormous stage, beautiful lighting, and a wonderful audience.

The change of venue wasn’t the only change for this show. It was also the first time that I incorporated a theme (or in this case, it was more of a storyline), which as you may have guessed was the story of the 1001 Nights (also called the Arabian Nights). Just in case you’re not familiar with the story of 1001 Nights, it tells the tale of the King and Scheherazade. The King finds out that his wife has betrayed him, so each night he takes a new wife, but by morning, he has her killed as he constantly feels suspicious of each new wife. Scheherazade is taken as one of his wives (in some versions of the story, she volunteers herself as the next wife), and she devises a plan to save her life and the lives of the additional women that may be killed next. Each night she tells the King a story, but instead of concluding the tale, she keeps the King in suspense until the following night when she tells him the rest. In doing so, Scheherazade ensured her survival as the King was intrigued with her stories and wanted to hear the conclusions of each. After 1001 nights and 1001 stories, they fall in love and Scheherazade’s life is spared. In the 1001 Nights, the story of Scheherazade and the King’s relationship form the framestory for a series of diverse tales that derive from the Middle East, South Asia, and Persia.

So the long and short of it is that I used the story of Scheherazade and the King as the framestory for all the beautiful pieces in the show, many of which served as “tales” that Scheherazade told the King. Some of our tales included the Tale of the Sailors of Port Said (performed by my folkloric class), the Tale of the Egyptian and the Brazilian (samba-bellydance fusion piece by Cairo ala Nar), and the Tale of the Girl from Alexandria (folkloric melaya piece by Emilia). Each individual piece really made the show and story come alive.

I’m not sure what I’ll do next, but I love the idea of themes as it really allows for artistic and choreographic creativity. I got the idea of themes because the studios I teach at are both children’s dance studios and always have a theme for their year-end recitals (it’s a common thing for children’s studios). I thought it was such a neat idea and hadn’t seen it done for bellydance recitals, so I thought it would be fun to give it a try. Who knows what theme you’ll see next!

Finally (and most importantly), I have to thank some people who put in a lot of time and energy to make this show such a success.

Okay, here goes (hopefully they’ll read my blog!):

BIG, GIGANTIC Thank Yous to: Aamirah and Stephanie for managing the backstage all night so that I didn’t have to do a thing/ Amanda for managing the music and creating and editing voiceovers with me with lots of patience, especially when I couldn’t for the life of me recite a voiceover without going into fits of laughter/ Carlos and my dad for their amazing photography/ Shaun for videotaping and standing on a box all night in order to get the best angles/ Krissy for taking charge of the front of house and making sure that there were snacks for everyone.

And of course the performers: My amazing students who come to class week after week and work their hips off/GypsyVibe for supporting my classes in Scarborough and coming all the way from Barrie to take classes, workshops and perform (even in winter snowstorms!)/Emilia for sharing your flirty girl from Alexandria with us/Ingrid for coming all the way from Niagara Falls and showing us what Raks al Assaya is all about/Sabine for actually using a real tale from the 1001 Nights and embracing the tale of the peacock with a beautiful, elegant performance/ Mayada for performing a beautiful solo and bringing her 2 troupes to perform 3 additional pieces/ Cairo ala Nar (Mayada, Sabine, Liv, Moli, Sue, me?) for your awesome samba-belly performance that people could not stop talking about after the show/ Banat el Sharq for sharing your love of folkloric dances with my audience with not 1, but 2 fabulous folky pieces (Mayada, Sabine, Liv, Danielle, Stacey, Leah). Phew! Okay, I think I’ve got everyone. One more time: THANK YOU!

It’s that time of year again! A new session of bellydance classes is fast approaching and this September, I have 3 Beginner classes running! Now I know that when you’re first starting out a new class, it can be intimidating and perhaps you’re like me and want to know as much as you can about the class before you even set foot in the dance studio. With that in mind, here’s some info on what my Beginner Bellydance classes are all about:

First off, if you’ve never danced before (ever), don’t be afraid as this is the class for you! I start from the very beginning with lots of explanation and breakdown of movements. I’ve been in my share of “Beginner” dance classes that were actually more like classes for “Intermediate Dancers Who Danced as a Child” with very little explanation and breakdown of what I was doing. Thankfully, these have never been in a bellydance class, but happens quite a bit in other dance styles. So it doesn’t matter if you’re 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60 and you’ve never been in a dance class before; we’ll get through it and have tons of fun while at it! Bellydance is one of those great dance forms that everyone can do!

At the Beginner level, we always start with a cardio dance-based warm-up. Usually, this consists of big movements to get your muscles working. I’ll also start to include some bellydance movements in our warm-ups, such as big hip circles and hip accents, as well as footwork, that we continue to use throughout the class.

After warming up, we do conditioning for our bodies doing various exercise to strengthen our dancing. For example, we may do a series squats and pliés to firm up our leg muscles so that they’re prepared to do sharp shimmies and hip accents, or work on our abdominals with crunches and other related exercises so that we can create beautiful ooey-gooey movements with our bellies!

After our warm-up and conditioning, we learn a few new movements (usually 3 or 4), with a through explanation and breakdown. We then put our new dance technique together in a short combo/choreography at the end of class. This way, you can start learning how the movements fit with the music and start bellydancing right away! This session, we’ll be learning a short bellydance routine so that by the end of the 7-week session, you’ll have a fun 4 minute dance to practice with (and show off to all your friends if you’re feeling brave)!

Come on out and try some bellydance! Classes are starting next week:

Sundays, 11:00 – 12:00 pm                           Starts Sept. 12^th

Mondays, 6:30 – 7:30 pm                              Starts Sept. 13^th

Thursdays, 7:30 – 8:30 pm                           Starts Sept. 16^th

Visit our Classes page for more details on locations and prices!

I’m so excited to be teaching my 2nd full session of Bollywood dance classes here in Scarborough this September. I tried out my first session of Bollywood classes this past July and it was so much fun because of all the unique and funky choreographies I was able to create. Although Bollywood has much in common with Bellydance, such as big hip articulations, and some hand and arm movements, it’s also completely different in the way the entire body interprets the music and moves. Modern Bollywood dance styles are heavily based in western jazz and even hip-hop styles. It’s an upbeat, exciting dance form with lots of high energy movements, jumps, kicks, and crazy fusions!

That’s the thing I love about Bollywood: You can be so creative with it and make it whatever you want it to be. Some songs have a strong Latin flavour, some stay within a traditional classical Indian musical framework, while others have lots of hip-hop elements, and of course, you’ll even find songs with a slight bellydance leaning. Bollywood is truly a fusion dance style and choreographing a Bollywood routine is so much fun because you can throw in so many different elements from various dance genres based on the song you choose!

In my upcoming classes, we’re going to be working on learning a choreography of a medley of some of my favourite Bollywood songs including Jai Ho, Nach Baliye, and Mauja Hi Mauja. There’s going to be lots of fusion in this one with a bit of Latin, lots of jazz, a hint of hip-hop, and because I’m a bellydancer, we’re going to throw some of that in as well. I’ve been taking lots of jazz and hip-hop classes recently, so you’re sure to find some new combos that blend the genres together. Come on out to class and join the fun! Remember, no experience is necessary!

We’ll be dancing Sundays, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, starting on Sunday, September 12th, at Dance Fusion Studios. Check out our Classes page for all the info and details.

On Saturday August 7th, 4 of my students and I had the opportunity to perform at 2 community events here in Scarborough; the first at the Taste of the Woods Festival at the Warden Woods Community Centre and the second at the Scarborough Village Summer Festival. It was a great chance for us to learn new choreographies and revise some of our old favourites.

The first show at Warden Woods was a great start to the day; we arrived at the centre just before noon and found our stage to be the grass in front of the centre (luckily, I had thought this through beforehand and made sure that we all wore shoes), so we were all set for our natural setting. The only challenge was that our grassy stage was on a slight slope, which made dancing a bit more challenging as we had to make sure we didn’t fall backwards down the slope as we shimmied and undulated! However, we all had a fantastic time performing and the audience seemed to really enjoy it as well (I also heard that there were a few in the audience who even knew the words to some of the songs we were dancing to!). I performed a bellydance entrance piece fighting with my veil against the wind, while my students Camille, Elizabeth, Miriam, and Susanne performed a pop song and a drum solo. We also did a little audience participation and found some natural bellydancers in our audience!

For the second show at the Scarborough Village Summer Festival, we did a similar show to the first, but the girls also had to perform a short veil choreography to the classic song, Tamra Henna, while I also added an upbeat modern Egyptian song to the repertoire. Now I should know better than to try to manoeuvre veils outside with the winds blowing and I should really know better than to force my students to do the same…but yet, there we were, with our veils battling the fierce winds on stage. Audiences love props and I love happy audiences, which meant that veils would just have to be a part of this show!

I performed first and my veil developed its own challenging personality that I couldn’t control, then the girls took to stage as I worried that perhaps I should have really rethought the whole veil situation. However, they were all lovely (although I’m not sure how they felt) and the veils looked totally in control! Afterwards, they said that my veil didn’t look like it was out of control either, but we were all just thankful that it looked much better than it felt. The rest of the show was great as we danced and got the audience involved once again, teaching them how to do hip circles and shimmies.

At last, after our 2 shows, we were finished! We took lots of photos, which can be found here.

We also made it into the Scarborough Mirror! Here’s a photo of Miriam and Susanne performing:

So you’ve discovered the beautiful dance form that is Bellydance…and now, you can’t wait to learn more, perform more and become an amazing dancer! This is fantastic!Now, all you have to do is be a good student, right? But how?

Belly dance takes lots of time, energy, practice, and most of all, commitment. Belly dance is a dance form like any other and thus, takes years of dedication to perfect. Througout my years as a bellydance student and now as an instructor, I’ve gained some knowledge on what it takes to really become a good bellydance student. Here are 5 great tips that are sure to help you on your way to belly dance success:

Continue reading →