Bloomington Belly Dances 2007 - Workshop Descriptions

Saturday Morning: Slow and Slinky Tribal: Blue Lotus Tribe begins by teaching the foundations of tribal bellydance technique and how to execute the slow, snakelike moves of tribal style. After drilling the different movements, you'll learn how to put them together to form different patterns, combinations, and variations. To top it all off, they'll show you how to use drama to emphasize your movement and make dancing more slowly than a snail crawls the most exciting thing your audience has ever seen!

Saturday Afternoon: Tribal Zilling: Beyond the Gallop: Tired of the 1-2-3 pattern pervasive in ATS Bellydance? This workshop will help you explore other rhythms and create your own patterns to go with group improvistaional dance. Each move and combination will correspond with a different zill pattern, but the underlying formula to create the patterns is so simple, even a beginning tribe can spice up their zilling and create a unique musical presentation at the same time!

Sunday afternoon: The Next Level: Blue Lotus Tribe will offer you a new dimension in tribal improv-- fast combinations that change levels. Drawing on inspiration from other fabulous dancers and their own new and fresh ideas for changing up the level of their dance, Blue Lotus Tribe will teach some of its dynamic signature combinations. There will be some floorwork in this class. Kneepads are recommended.

Lois Silverman - A Taste of Belly Dance - Lois will take the absolute beginner and give them a taste of belly dance by teaching basic moves and concepts. Even if you know belly dance you will enjoy revisiting familiar moves. Also a great workshop for those who know a belly dancer and want to give the dance a try. To read more about Lois, click here.

Margaret Radke - Zils & Canes - Margaret Radke, alias Magda, will instruct the beginning level of dancing with Zils. Starting with amble time at the beginning of class to learn how to adjust your zils (so they can't fly off and become weapons and your fingertips don't turn blue and fall off!) proceeding through the basic rhythms and every so slow arm movements and playing while moving! Even if you are an accomplished dancer but don't incorporate zils in your dance yet….this class is for you!

There will be approximately 15 minutes at the end of this class for basic cane techniques and decoration. Will we be using “dowel rod” canes. You will need to provide you own canes and Zils.

Dowel rod canes and inexpensive (but decent) zils will be sold at the workshop “Audrena's” booth.

Warm ups are not needed for this class. There is no vigorous dancing.

The only pre requite for this class is VALOR WITH GUSTO!

Katya Faris - Technique, Dance, and Space - Now is the time to learn to use one of your most valuable tools as a dance - your floor space. Katya Faris will show you how to maximize the use of your floor space while helping you dance your best. She will also help all level dancers with technique and choreography that can be used in her next workshop.

Katya Faris - Improvisational Choreography - Katya will help you soar as a dancer as show works with you to better your dancing and learn new choreography. She will also teach understanding your dancing space and how to listen to the music for your dancing cues.

Bette Lucas - Flamenco Arms & Hands & Skirts - Bette will show you how to add Flamenco to your belly dance. Bette will focus on arm and hand movements, as well as how to dance dramatically with a skirt. Spice up your dance and add some passion with flamenco.

Jeana Jorgensen - Belly Dance to Bizarre Music - Performing belly dance to music other than traditional, Middle Eastern songs requires a creative approach to movement and choreography. Using improvisational exercises and fusion techniques, Jeana's class will help you to experiment with dance elements such as space, speed, mood, and themes. It is recommended that you have taken at least one belly dance class because we will dwell on basic movements only briefly in order warm up and begin thinking about how to translate a belly dance repertoire to bizarre music.

Dark Side Tribal - Tribal Improv: The Art of Collaborative Creation (Beginner-Intermediate) Ever wonder how tribal dancers are able to improvise together as a group? Looking to get out of the choreography box? Dark Side Tribal introduces you to one of the most magical aspects of tribal style belly dance: the fine art of group improvisation. We'll teach some basic fast tribal moves, then delve into the subtle science of cues and transitions. Finally, we'll stir things up by working with chorus and smaller group formations to explore the dynamic possibilities of creating the dance together.