Wednesday 24 August 2011

Try before you buy at Dancebase!

If you've never taken a class at the amazing Dancebase before, there's a special offer this term. You can try your first class for free before you pay for the whole term.


Why is Dancebase, Scotland's National Centre for Dance, so amazing? Well, their studios on Edinburgh's Grassmarket are lovely, as is their studio in Leith at the Thomas Morton Halls; the people are friendly; they have a huge range of dance things going on; and they have lots of great teachers working there ;)

There are lots of brilliant dance classes available at Dancebase (including mine, natch ;) ) so take advantage of this offer. You have to register before 31 August though, so hurry up! Classes start at Dancebase on the week beginning 12 September.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

New Term: September 2011

If you fancy trying bellydance, my classes are fun and friendly, and I do my best to cate for all fitness levels and all abilities.

All you need is a desire to dance! Beginners classes will teach you the technique safely, give you some understanding of a range of Middle Eastern dance styles, and get you into the groove of Middle Eastern music. Hopefully along the way you'll use new muscles, make some friends and have a laugh.

We dance in our bare feet. Bring a drink of water with you, and maybe a notebook and pen to help your memory. If you want to wear a scarf around your hips, feel free to bring one.

  • The Fisherrow Centre, Musselburgh: Thursday 7.30pm from 1 September.
  • Dancebase, Thomas Morton Halls, Leith: Friday 6pm from 16 September.
  • Dancebase, Grassmarket: Wednesday 6.30pm from 14 September.

If you've danced before, my Improvers classes might be up your street. At Dancebase, I cover dance styles in more depth (saidi, baladi, oriental), use a wider range of music, and look at polishing your dance especially if you're thinking of performing. The class assumes you know basic bellydance moves and are comfortable with them.

At Fisherrow, the Improvers class focuses much more on performance. It's the home of the Helwa Hurdies, a dance group who perform at festivals, weddings, parties and suchlike. You don't have to perform if you don't want to, but a lot of time in class is spent getting choreographies ready to perform. It's lots of fun and lovely atmosphere, and new dancers are made welcome!

  • Dancebase Improvers: Grassmarket, 7.30pm on Wednesdays from 14 September
  • Fisherrow Improvers: 8.30pm on Thursdays from 1 September.

For classes at Dancebase, book your space at the Dancebase website. For Fisherrow classes, just turn up and join in.

It would be great to see you soon - please get in touch if you have any questions.
 

Fitness Convention, August 2011

I was invited to teach at a Fitness Convention at Meadowbank Sports Centre over the summer. It was organised by Joanna and Les of Fitness Around the World, who are best known for their super-popular Zumba classes. Like most bellydance teachers, I've lost a few students to Zumba over the last year or so - it's marketed as a workout, a party, a get-fit fix, and when I've tried it, it's been great fun. It's not a dance class, it's not about technique or beautiful movement, but it's fun!

I took part in some of the other classes at the Convention, including Cuban Salsacise (fun but I could not keep up with the steps - although it improved when I took off my trainers!), Bodylicious (lots of squats and a zillion stomach crunches) and Zumba. In the Zumba, I was really disappointed that the music just did nothing for me. Accoustics in a sports hall are never good, so perhaps that was the problem. Or perhaps it was just too much of the pounding techno for my taste!

I have to say that some of the Zumba moves just don't respect the diversity of fitness levels or flexibility of the participants. The demostration crew were all young, slim and had spines like spaghetti, leaping into deep, fast pelvic thrusts and backbends with no warning or explanation. It's the opposite of how (in my experience) bellydance is taught, with emphasis on good warm-up, safe posture and modifications of moves and positions to suit the dancer.

There were about 50 people in my session. Because it was a fitness audience, I gave them a near-solid hour of upbeat, energetic bellydance, teaching one move at a time and then dancing/drilling it to a pop choon (Saad, Hakim, Tarkan, Nawal, Milk & Honey, Hisham Abbass). There was a good response.

For me, it hadn't felt right to teach a 'normal' dance class at a fitness convention, so I'd modified my usual classes. However, after my session was a Broadway Dance class (I was too hyper to take part!) which taught a choreography (in very high heels!), so the whole event had a real variety of class styles.

Joanna and Les are hoping to run another Fitness Convention in the spring - I'd recommend it, but watch out for those spaghetti-spine moves!