Charlottesville Bellydance Class Schedule

• Beginner bellydance classes are held every Monday from 6:00 - 7:00 pm
  
• Spiritual bellydance classes are held every Monday from 7:10 - 8:10 pm
  
• Performance-oriented bellydance classes are held every Monday from 8:15 - 9:15 pm
  

In this contemporary world, the most common question that I am asked by knowledgable prospective students is whether I teach Cabaret or Tribal Style bellydance. I always find this a bit puzzling because while I appreciate the beauty of skilled bellydance performance and the role that it plays in encouraging students to practice, I quest for the roots of bellydance that pre-date its use as a popular performance art.

To keep it simple, I often say that I teach "ancient" or "traditional" bellydance. The long answer is that I teach isolations at the chakras. All 7 of them. Following in my first teacher's footsteps, who used to say that "bellydance is all about geometry", I encourage my students to develop their internal physical self control throughout their spinal columns and torsos by performing simple geometric motions - lines, circles, squares, diamonds, spirals at each of their chakras in each geometric orientation (flat/vertical/undulant). These exercises stimulate and awaken the micromuscles surrounding the spinal column (which have often atrophied in our walk-a-little-sit-a-lot western culture) to produce significant health benefits.

In short, I teach the geometric components of bellydance. The fundamental advantage of this approach is that it develops an advanced level of internal self-awareness and control throughout the torso. This results in an ability to rapidly learn new movements - even very difficult ones - simply by breaking them down into their geometric components and applying the areas of flexibility and control already mastered in a new combination to learn the new movement. Thus for those interested in learning tribal or cabaret styles, this form of bellydance will accelerate the development of their skills in either of these areas.

From there, I encourage my students to use their inner creativity to use these components as an artist uses colors to create pictures with their personalities upon the canvases of their bodies through dance. While many students want to participate in the popular tribal and cabaret forms from here (and I teach any move from either style that they're ready for upon request), they have been given the ability and tools to create truly new and unique reflections of their personalities through dance.

Other Bellydance Class Topics:

• Music used in Bellydance Classes
• Health Benefits of Bellydance
• Class Goals & Basic Posture
• Directions of Movement in Belldance
• Bellydance and the Chakras: Introduction
• Bellydance and the Chakras: Manifesto
• Tribal or Cabaret?
• Shakti's Quick-Start Guide to Henna
• Balancing Things on Your Head
• Energetic Arms