News and Special Events

Workshop

Wonderful Wednesday Workshops

DRAMA QUEEN Intensive

with Princess Farhana

Only $55 for the entire series!

3 Wednesdays: June 5, 12 and 19 from 6-7:45pm

For advanced beginners through professional level dancers of any genre, to foster structuring strong, dynamic dance pieces of any style. You will learn to access your creativity, strengthen your performance skills, and decrease performance anxiety. You’ll gain a sense of focused professionalism both on and off stage- in performance, rehearsals, technical and lighting checks, and in the dressing room…and learn invaluable theatrical tools which will bring your dance piece from inception to a dazzling “finished product”.

Part 1: VISUAL & EMOTIONAL Breathing and centering exercises designed to calm stage fright and get performance ready; creative guided imagery to eliminate fear and ease into accessing your emotions onstage. Learn the effects of theatrical lighting on costumes and stage makeup, and how to put together costuming and make-up that visually cues your audience to your character’s purpose

Part 2: TECHNICAL & CONCEPTUAL Dynamic entrances and exits; show structuring concepts and using music to move your narrative; use of pauses and poses onstage, creative use of performance space, adding texture and intent to movement, introducing props to your audience, understanding theatrical directions; implementing your creative process; professionalism and dressing room etiquette, crowd control and troubleshooting for mishaps that occur on stage

PART 3 : THEATRICAL & LYRICAL Improving your dance improvisation skills, dance fusion concepts; lyrical dance and performing to the melody; mime and non-verbal storytelling. Classic Theater Games including: audience ice-breakers, personal emotional access and dramatic portrayal skills; group trust, playful character-based exercises

Part 4: Option to perform your piece for family and friends at Princess Farhana's TIARA TUESDAYS showcase on June 24th!

* Mandatory Homework Assignments for the series, in the form of reading material and videos, will be emailed to all participants at least one week prior to the series. <

PreRegistration is very strongly recommended. Drop-ins discouraged. (No Beginner Flex, Groupon or Passports. No makeups for missed classes)

Workshop

"I'm With the Brand"

with Princess Farhana

Marketing and Branding for Bellydancers

$35 Presale Online: $45 at door

Sunday, June 16 from 1pm-3:30pm

You’ve got the chops, you’ve got the look, you’re getting the jobs, you’re teaching classes…so how do you take your career to the next level? Savvy marketing and branding! Wikipedia defines Personal Branding as “the process whereby people and their careers are marketed as brands…leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable.” In this class we’ll explore branding, marketing and networking techniques for print promotions and flyers, hard copy and web flyers, and your own website You’ll also learn tried and true networking concepts for “real life” and especially for social media. This class will give you the tools for setting yourself apart from the crowd…without setting you apart from your cash!

Workshop

Bellydance workshop with Zahra

Dancing to Tarab Music

$35 before 6/12 ($45 after, $50 at the door)

Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 1pm-4pm

Dancing to Tarab Music: Traditional Arab music has an intimate ambience and aims at evoking tarab, or musical ecstasy in the performers and listeners. In this Workkshop Zahra will teach a choreography to the classic Warda song: "Ekdeb Aleyk".

Register online to secure your spot or email us for information!

New Event

Sunday PERFORMANCE SALON at DG!

Tickets are just $5!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Doors at 6:30pm, no sooner

Show begins at 7PM SHARP!

Join us for this cozy event where the studio becomes the stage, and students become the stars!

Got a piece you want to perform? Want to try a new choreography? Need to practice improvising for a friendly audience? Email Jenna to sign up to dance at our next Sunday Salon!

July 2013

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Workshop

Wonderful Wednesday Workshops

with Zahra Zuhair

4 Wednesdays: July 10, 17, 24 & 31
6:45 - 8:45 (This special series will take the place of Zahra's regular weekly 7:45 class)

Preregister for only $80 for entire series (that's 8 hours!!) before July 1!! $98 after that

Muwashahat: Muwashahat is the plural of the name Muwashah, a poetic musical form that originated in Muslim Spain during the tenth century. It is believed that the name muwashshah, is in reference to the Wishah a (sash) that women wore in Andalusia. The lyrics of the muwashshah expresses the poet's own thoughts of love, joy and sorrow. In this workshop, we will learn how to dance to 10/8 rhythm and learn a beautiful Andalusian style choreography. Must register for the entire series, no drop in's. No refunds for missed classes. Missed classes can be made up in Zahra's class. You may use your 5 or 10 class card (2 marks per class) but card will be marked off for all classes at start of series. (No Beginner Flex, Groupon or Passports.)

For those interested, we will perform the choreography at the Moun of Tunis Showcase in August!

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Lia’s mission is to touch the lives of as many people around her and around the world as she can, showing them the beauty of dance while providing an outlet for people to feel amazing about their bodies, take time out for themselves, make new friends and see the beauty of this world through dance.

Guest Workshops

Lia Muniz:

All the way from Australia!

2 Workshops with this Brazilian Native!

Only $42 for both before midnight July 1.
$50 pre-registration after that

Saturday, July 27, 2013 from 2:30 - 4pm
Samba Reggae/ Samba Funk workshop:
From the vibrant Samba hip movements of Rio’s Carnival, the ‘tropical sunset’ feel of Bahia’s Samba Reggae to the infectious beats of Rio’s ‘Funk’ parties… Join Brazilian/Australian Samba Queen Lia as she takes you on a dance/fitness journey of Brazil and her hometown Rio de Janeiro in this jam-packed workshop. Bring water and a towel as you will smile, sweat it out and shake those hips!

Only $20 until 7/1, $25 pre-registration after that, $28 door

Sunday, July 28th, 2013 from 3 - 5pm
Belly/Samba Fusion Workshop
Two countries, two cultures and an array of fabulous hip movements beyond the veils and feathers… From Brazil to Egypt, use your hips to showcase the similarities and differences of two amazing countries, cultures and costumes and then put this into practise with a fast and fabulous Egyptian drum solo/ Rio Carnival choreography that will leave your audience ‘Hip’-notized… (You are welcome to bring a Belly dance/ Samba costume and feathers if you have them!)

Only $30 until 4/24, $35 pre-registration, $40 door

Pricing increases after July 1. Don't wait, register now!

Brazilian-born Lia Muniz is the Artistic Director and International Performer/ Dancer of Australian based Brazilian Dance School ‘Studio Samba®’ and creator of the ‘Studio Samba Method™’ the easy-to-follow, fun and comprehensive way to learn Samba . Born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Lia is now based in Melbourne, Australia where her dance studio is located. Lia got her first breakthrough dance job at the age of 15 as part of the Auroville Dance Company based in Chennai, India. After 5 years in India, Lia moved back to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil temporarily to study Samba and all styles of Brazilian Dance. She has been teaching and performing around Australia and Internationally since 2002. A few years ago, Lia was mesmerized by a Belly Dance performance and since then has been studying the art of Belly dance, and in particular dance translated through Brazilian and Egyptian culture- ‘It all starts with the hips!’ With her quirky Australian accent and crazy Brazilian hip movements, Lia’s classes are fun and informative, with loads of smiles and laughs and you will leave her workshops feeling like you have travelled around the world and back!

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Special Series

ITS: Improvisational Tribal Style

Only $85 for the entire series (8 hours!)

if you register by midnight July 1! $100 after that.

4 Sundays: July 21, 28; August 4, 11 from 12:30 - 2:30pm

Now is your chance to learn Improvisational Tribal Style Bellydance in the style of UNMATA! Always danced in a group, ITS relies on a series of cues and combos to create a group synergy through improvisation. This cohesiveness happens very quickly - within minutes you will be following and leading dance cues you didn’t know when you walked in, with people you have just met! Once you know the basic vocabulary, you can dance with other ITS students anytime, anywhere!

We will dance Hot Pot ITS, as created by Amy Sigil of Unmata . HPITS is a wonderful introduction to bellydance for beginners, and an enticing style for experienced dancers to add to their repertoires. All levels are welcome! ITS 1 is usually taught as an 8-week course, but we will tackle two weeks’ worth of material each session to learn it all in 4 weeks!

Students should wear yoga pants or similar (flowy skirts are not ideal for HPITS) and a snugly-fitting top or bare midriff (so instructor can see body movement). Bring water and an eagerness to learn. Dance is for everyone! Women and men of all ages welcome!

Jennifer Knott Biswas has been dancing Hot Pot ITS for 5 years and is a certified HPITS teacher. She dances with the ITS bellydance troupe, The Nautch Conspiracy (www.facebook.com/NautchConspiracy) and with the L.A. Bellydance Improv Academy, or L.A.B.I.A.. She is also a member of Belly Fusion Los Angeles (B.F.L.A.) (http://bellyfusionla.com/wp/). Her other love is fire, and she directs the Los Angeles-based fire arts company, Entropy Arts Firedance, as well as the 50-person Burning Man fire conclave, L.A. Fire Brigade. Jenn is primarily interested in the fusion of dance with technical fire spinning, large-scale choreography, the community-building and therapeutic aspects of ITS, and the transformational effects that dance, fire spinning, and all flow arts create in peoples’ lives.