Teachers, Classes, and Performers for 2019... (full schedule here, a more print friendly version at the bottom of this page ) Lacey Sanchez is the owner of Florida Tribal Dance based in Orlando, Fl that has been offering classes, performances, and events, specifically focusing on Tribal Bellydance since 2006. Starting bellydance at the young age of 15, in Southern California, Lacey is passionate about sharing her love of this unique and diverse artform. With over 20 years of bellydance experience and a unique background in Western Dance (including: Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Ballroom), Lacey's strength is in her meticulous breakdown of movements so whether you are a first time dancer or a seasoned professional you will find her teaching fun, easy to comprehend, and useful in any dancer's progression. Lacey completed the American Tribal Style General Skills Certification by Fat Chance Bellydance in June 2009 as well as American Tribal Style Teacher Training in 2017. Lacey completed and passed the necessary requirements and testing for Phases I, II, and III of Rachel Brice's 8 Elements program.  Never Shabby, Always Chic-Tray is the new Black! Welcome to your new favorite prop!!! The Tray!! Lacey is developing a new dialect of improv using one of the most lovely props, the silver tray! A little bit of American Tribal Style, a dash of Tribal Fusion, and hint of the unknown! Open to all styles and levels of dancers, come and get to know how lovely dancing with tray can be!! The ideal tray is round, silver or copper, and aprox. 12-16" in diameter. Lacey will have a few to borrow if needed. Let’s Get Earthy Let's dig deep into our hip work, exploring some big, bouncy, full technique, that will set our hips on fire! We'll build a few movements together to create an earth quaking combo! Bagoas is an award winning fusion dancer known for his musicality, lyricism, technical power, precision, and down to earth interaction with his audience. In 2010 he won the title of the Yellow Rose of Texas at Ya Halla Y'all in the Professional Tribal Alternative Men's category. Since then he has taught and performed at festivals and venues across North America, where he has been lovingly described as an Atari joystick, one liquid muscle, the Energizer Bunny of belly dance, a blur of belly jiggles and most recently, a Red Hot Chili Pepper with Michael Jackson in his belly.  Breath and Shadow This workshop will break down the mechanics of the breath within the context of common belly dance isolations. Students will be coached through breathing exercises and techniques that can be used to develop phrasing and a broader range of movement options. These exercises will then be applied to short combos to help tie breath into movement. Bringing awareness to the breath allows dancers to increase their performance endurance, and to discover their potential slinkiness by adding that luscious, molasses-like aesthetic to choreographies and combos. What just happened?! Bagoas will teach a high energy Tribal Fusion choreography brimming with musicality, muscular isolation and attitude that will leave your audience wondering “What just happened?!” A wide range of movement will be used including layering, traveling, popping and locking, ticking, arm patterns and turns. Student will leave with a full choreography that they can perform as a whole, or dissect into to small combos to incorporate into their own choreographies. Rodnya  Jennifer Anya Imashev Jennifer Anya Imashev from Pittsburgh PA a recent resident of NJ. Over her 27 years of BellyDancing you may have seen her in Ghawazee music and dance, Zafira Dance Co, Ever After, and the Hamer Sisters Bellydance. Enjoy. Getting Down With the Hip Down! This class will focus on building muscle memory, flexibility, timing and layers. First we will do strength building in the muscles being utilized then we will work on shimmy variations. The drills will include weight shifts and traveling and then moving on to layering. Timing will include whole note through 1/16 note times signatures which we will use in multiple muscle groups. We’ll break all this work into practicable drills to add to your regular practice routine. Then we will move on to develop some complex layers. Get ready to sweat and have fun! All levels welcome. Dance as meditation with Jen Anya This class will focus on breath and energy, building muscle memory and timing. First we will learn a walking meditation and then slowly transition through the body building intention, energy and muscle memory, utilized this idea then we will work on adding breath of fire, breath of water breath of air and breath of earth variations. The drills will include weight shifts and traveling and then moving on to layering with all the elements. We will then learn a short choreography where breath will be choreographed with the movements Breath and have fun! All levels welcome. Drills from head to toe with Jen Anya We will work the whole body This class focuses on solid technique separate from stylization (unless specifically noted), developing body awareness for full expression, posture, musicality, cultural context, and artistic expression. Full warmup, strength & flexibility training, technique drills, and combinations to apply technique in stylistic exploration. All levels welcome.  Joseph Castelli from New Jersey, he has been playing music for 29 years. He has performed on broadway and at more venues such and night clubs , bars and music festivals than he can count. He has studied Electric Guitar, Classical guitar, sitar, flamenco guitar, bouzouki, and the banjo, just to name a few. He hopes his music brings joy and connects the audience, for him that's what it's all about. Musical improv This is an music class for everyone. Joseph performs mainly with the sitar and bouzouki. This class will teach basic musicality, how to improvise with other musicians and how to communicate with the dancers. This is a class that anyone can do, not just musicians; it's fun and informative. You'll walk away with the confidence to perform with other musicians and that joyful feeling of how music brings us all together. All levels welcome Marta has a passion for her Ukrainian heritage and all it encompasses, especially Ukrainian music. She comes from a musical family and has been singing all her life. She has toured Europe and Ukraine with the chorus Dumka and the women's vocal ensemble Lastivky. She is now singing with the folk band Rodyna. Ukrainian Folk Song Workshop with Marta Learn to sing traditional Ukrainian folk songs. The instructor will prepare three songs for participants to learn to sing, incorporating harmonics. Will provide transliterated words with translations for workshop participants. Mavi Fire Safety & Choreography - learn to add the element of fire to your belly dance (or non belly dance). Open to all levels, even super beginners! We will cover the basics of fire safety, fire tools (1st 45 minutes), safer costuming and professional fire performance considerations. In the 2nd half of the workshop, we will pull together a group fire choreography tailored for beginner to advanced dancers. Dancers who pass (very) basic fire safety and performance skills tests will be invited to perform the choreography on Saturday night, weather permitting! Erin Roark has been performing and teaching the Indian classical dance Odissi for the past thirty years, and more recently has taken up Kathak dance.  Kids will learn a short Odissi choreography about the elephant god, Ganesh. They will tell a story using hand gestures (mudras), body positions (bhangas), and facial expressions (abhinaya). Odissi According to Nandikeshvara, "It is the mouth that utters the song, the hand outlines the meaning, the look enlivens the sentiment, the feet catch the measure and go on beating it. Where go the hands, goes the gaze; where goes the gaze, poses the mind; where there is mind, settle down the sentiments; where the sentiments rule sovereign, rasa arises." In this workshop, students will combine all of the above dance elements and learn a short Odissi choreography to the sanskrit shloka (prayer), Asato Ma Sadgamaya. Students will use hand gestures (mudras), body positions (bhangas), and facial expressions (abhinaya) to convey the meaning of the words to an audience. Students will then perform this short piece to music. Kathak In this workshop, students will learn to say a specific drum rhythm, or bol—literally the words that the rhythm speaks—and will then be taught a short Kathak choreography in which the feet movements, hand movements, and body movements all exactly match the bol. Students will then alternate both saying the bol and dancing the bol. Indian Dance In this workshop, students will learn to say and form all of the single-handed and double-handed mudras (hand gestures) as listed in Nandikeshvara's Abhinaya Darpana (The Mirror of Gesture, written in the 5th century BCE); they will then work together to create short, story-telling choreographies to music based on the uses of these mudras.  Karadeniz (Denys Proteau) Karadeniz is a long time dancer and musician of many ethnic styles, and long time facilitator of the Darbukastan National Orchestra.  Darbukastan National Orchestra: All are welcome to come sing, play melody, or percuss. We'll play a few rhythm and melody games and learn a few songs. Traditionally the Orchestra also performs at the Saturday evening show. Introduction to al Oud: We'll talk Oud, practice some ornaments and stylings, and then add those to some simple songs that we already know or want to learn. Donovan is a world percussionist based in Wellington Colorado. Over the past 3 decades he has taught and learned from hundreds of percussionists, played in numerous bands, recorded a few albums and performed with belly dance troupes across the US. Love for world music and soul-lifting percussion drive his musical aspirations and teachings to this day. Drumming with dancers/Dancing to drums: The art of performing live: For both drummers who want tips and tricks to delivering a solid live performance with dancers AND dancers interested in those same tips and tricks to nailing that performance to live drumming. Looking at techniques for starting, stopping, transitioning, on stage communication, soloing for dancers, basics for improv and other topics Kazuki Kozuru-Salifoska has been a student of near-eastern percussion for over 20 years, under several notable teachers - Souhail Kaspar, Susu Pampanin, and Seido Salifoski among them. She also studied Latin conga at Drummers Collective in New York City, in order to deepen her sense of rhythms and to understand their complexity. She has been performing in New York City area and beyond in various styles, from Rebetiko, Balkan folkloric, American Tribal bellydance, off-Broadway show, Shakespeare theater company, to Renaissance Faires in New York and Connecticut. Circle Drumming: Have fun creating and playing collaborative drum songs in a group setting. Open to all levels, all ages, and all types of hand drums. Rhythm Variations and Creations: Stay flexible with right amount of control with middle-eastern and Balkan rhythms. We will explore variations of each rhythms, some traditional, and some made up. Open to all types of hand drums. Some hand drumming experience recommended, but we are flexible. Na'la is a naturally curious person who is often down to Flow, Dance, Sing, DFC, Play, Learn and have meaningful conversation. She has recently moved from the Washington DC area to Knoxville, TN where she is thrilled to be closer to the Smoky Mountains! She is honored to be a part of the DID family and looks forward to many more years of Dance and Flow!  Slacker Bog Yoga Shahrazad Shiraz Shahrazad is a belly dance instructor, performer, and choreographer. She currently teaches in Maryland at Shahrazad's Shimmy Headquarters. Her specialty is double sword.  Veil Work Learn how to enter the stage with your veil, tips and tricks using a veil, improv using your veil with a song, also learn how to exit. This is a performance class, so be ready to dance what you learned at the end of class in front of other students. Please bring a veil Billy Woods Teaching QI Gung- from China. Taught since ancient times; used to prolong health and life and as an aid to spiritual development DragonSong is a collaborative world music ensemble performing a synthesis of contemporary and traditional music. With a shared love of stretching musical boundaries, this tribe of artists bands together to experiment freely with an open mind, challenge one another, and explore artistic diversity. Their organic nature and addiction to exotic percussion births a kaleidoscope of compositions with a unique, international flavor. Through the integration of both ethnic and progressive tools, members combine their talents and put their egos aside in order to create an entity greater than themselves to share with the rest of the collective. They strive to enlighten and inspire one another by recycling energy and encouraging expression on a conscious and subconscious level. Vocal harmonies blend with a variety of instrumentation, weaving an intricate tapestry of sound. Through the fusion of music with visual performing arts, DragonSong creates a multi-sensory experience for all to enjoy.  Methods of Trance in Music and Dance A brief discussion of modern surviving trance practices in indigenous cultures with an emphasis on energy working. A guided introduction to trance dancing and “tarab”, including several movements and musical techniques used to induce trance. Kylie Hilali has been playing kanun for 20+ years, studying with American, Persian, Turkish and Arabic teachers, and migrating her way from Australia to LA to Washington DC, where she now resides. Locally, she plays with Dragonsong, the Fez Tones (a monthly, live music belly dance hafla) and the Saltanah Ensemble, an Arabic music Takht (www.saltanah.com). Her specialty is Arabic music, and playing music with like-minded individuals is what makes her world go around. Songs of the Mashriq Connect with your inner nomad as we learn and sing some songs of the Bedouin tribes of the Mashriq (the “land where the sun rises” – Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq etc). No singing experience is needed to enjoy this workshop, just be prepared to make some sounds and sing some notes you may have never tried before. We will go over the pronunciation and meaning of the lyrics, and add in the phrasing and melody. Melody musicians and volume-sensitive percussionists are also encouraged to take the class, so that we can put all the elements together. Joanna Abel is a Pittsburgh based dancer. She has traveled internationally performing and currently travels nationally studying, teaching, and performing. Joanna also teaches classes out of her Pittsburgh studio, 3rd Street Belly Dance.  Giraffes Can’t Dance - Storytelling and Creative Movement for Kids under 7 ITS FUNdamentals - Learn the basics of this dynamic dance form! We will go through the vocabulary of movements in Improvisational Tribal Style, cuing, and formations! This workshop is all about teamwork so be prepared to play well with others! Radha took up the drums at the tender age of three. Since then he has studied and played a variety of Indian and Middle Eastern percussion instruments including tabla, kanjira, mridanga and doumbek. Indian Rhythms for Non-Indian Percussion Listening: The Heart of Sharing Music Christine Andrews began her study of ethnic dance in 1988 with Turkish style bellydance. She was a founding member in both Zafira Dance Company and Ghawazee Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble. In 1999 she travelled to India and enjoyed the opportunity to delve into Kalbelia(Sapera), a folkloric dance from Rajasthan. The dance of the snake charmers, known for its high energy spins, has added to her dance repertoire. She had the great pleasure of performing in India alongside her dance guru, Gulabi Sapera, widely known and respected as the primary innovator/“mother” of this dance form.  Rajasthani Folk Dancing Also... Drawing with Sasaya Drumming for Kids with Freddie Greek Line Dancing for Kids with Mina Fun with Gramma Hamer and other fun kids activites! Carla Monnich of Turku Carla has been leading Guedra trance rituals for over 20 years. Guedra North African Trance Dance. Brief instruction followed by performance of the dance and chant. Women only during performance; men are welcome during instruction. For all levels, no experience necessary. Bring a bottle of water. Bring a veil if you think you might want to dance. Usually held at a tent near the pond.  |