Bellydancing

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Anyone know of any classes in the area? Id prefer not to travel too far but Arlington and Cambridge would be ok. Thanks :)

Comments

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

There are several! The Goddess Dancing is in central square www.thegoddessdancing.com, also there are classes by Najmat at Green Street Studio (www.greenstreetstudio.org) in Central as well. Naraya teaches in Jamaica plain too, though that might be a bit far for you :)

Hope that helps, I am sure there might be more, but those are the I know off the top of my head!

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

http://www.amirajamal.com/ - she's the best beginning teacher out there and one of the best if you ever want to learn about being on stage. Also super sweet and willing to give honest feedback. Najmat is awesome but slightly more advanced. Nadira (mentioned by badseed) is also very good (and one of the nicest people on the planet - seriously). I don't know if Lilya is doing private - (she does http://www.bellydanceboston.com/lessons.html) but she also is one of the *best* in the area and also one of the best people out there. You also might be able to convince Nepenthe (http://www.bellydancernepenthe.com/) for private lessons too - but she's not done as much teaching as the others I've mentioned.

I personally don't like Goddess Dancing but if you are looking for a very woman spirit centric as opposed to learning actually how to dance - then they are for you (that comes off harsher than I want it to - they don't focus on the actual moves as much as other teachers and its easier to reach a ceiling there than with others - but it is a very positive atmosphere for the dancers - it can also be off putting if that isn't what you are looking for).

Also note I am not a bellydancer but I am a photographer who has photographed tons of shows and I am married to one - so I tend to pick these things up.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

Najmat is doing beginner classes now too, and I definitely commented with the assumption that this was looking for beginner classes, which is why I mentioned Goddess Dancing. Their higher level classes are a lot more detail oriented, but the beginner one definitely can get really busy and therefore not so into the basics.

And thanks for the info, more teachers = good! :)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, definitely a beginner!

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Do you have any photography online? I love looking at photos of those types of shows :)

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

the site is moving to a new home soon - but for now you can go here

for a sample of some of my fav's from Raks Spooki Two
http://canongrrl.com/gallery/rs2eb/

or for the rest of the show -
http://canongrrl.com/gallery/spooki/
for last year's Raks Spooki (clicking on the acts brings up a real photo gallery - there are a ton there)

there is also the Shimmies for a cure thing
http://canongrrl.com/gallery/shimmies/
which wasn't the best place to photograph

hmm i've taken down a lot it seems - anyway my work is also on Nadira's site, Nepenthe's site, Jemilah's site, Badriya's site, I didn't see it on Seyyide's site but its been a while since we worked together (2004), Karim's Turbo Tabla site...most likely a few others that I can't recall.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Thanks...JP is too far. Central is perfect I will search their sites

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

http://www.nadirajamal.com/teaching.html#classes

Nadira is a classmate of mine, and a lovely dancer.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

dancecomplex.org in central square, cambridge offers classes.

I do not recommend Carolisa's class. I took the first class in her 8-week beginner session and walked out in the middle because of her behavior.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I took my first classes with her too, and yes, I second that statement.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

So she's much worse than normal? She was the only belly dance teacher I tried because her behavior was so awful.
-She was 10 minutes late to a 1 hour class and then spent 10 minutes taking attendance.
-It was a beginner class, but she expected us to have some skills already.
-I couldn't see her or the mirrors because there were 35 people in the room.
-I couldn't hear her over the music.
-I stepped on someone and someone else stepped on me.
-So I was obviously doing it wrong by the time she had us form into a circle and go around. She walked up to me, said "NO" and grabbed my hips. So I jumped back out of her grip, said "NO" back and left. As I walked out she yelled "No one has ever walked out on me before!"

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

Much. Unprofessional, abrupt, and at times, unkind. Look up other teachers, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

Thanks.
Yeah, she was unkind. In the emails we exchanged afterwards (I got a partial refund from her) she said I shouldn't try taking beginner classes at dance complex and suggested I take some suburban community center classes because they're less ambitious.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

That kind of behavior and attitude are not at all the norm among the Dance Complex teachers. Don't be turned off the whole org by what I agree was terribly inappropriate behavior by one teacher.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

I know Dance Complex is a good organization. I'd taken other classes there before, which is why I was so shocked by Carolisa's.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Ah! I mostly wanted to chime in to give another pro-Dance Complex-in-general voice; I'm glad you had good experiences there as well as this bad experience.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, I took the class I took from her at a suburban community education class, in Concord. So that's not only untrue and unkind, she just shot herself in the foot.

If you take a look at Nadiras class, you can actually get to her easily from the 87 and 88 bus (straight to Union Square) I'm not a huge fan of the space she's running classes in, but I have heard great things about her.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

heh :)

It's been two years since I took a dance lesson and I'm not sure if I want to try it again. But thanks for the rec and union square is a convenient location.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for the space but I can tell you that Nadira is one of the best bellydancers in the boston area and I think she still has podcast lessons on her site (so you can get a flavor of her style)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Bull. Beginner classes are beginner classes. If there are prerequisites to a class, they should be listed somewhere you can see them before signing up for the class, no matter where that class is held.

Oh, I totally forgot: my wonderful, lovely, amazing teacher now has beginner classes in Cambridge!

http://amirajamal.com/Cambridge.htm

She really has down the whole praise and encouragement plus constructive criticism formula for teaching, and she is an amazing dancer with decades of experience.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

thanks :)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

TERRIBLE! thanks for the info

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

hmm I was looking at that site and I emailed moonlightdjs@aol.com to find out more pricing info I wonder if that is hers...

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Well I went back to the email and saw her name at the bottom...I wont be replying back. She also told me I have missed "(you have missed a class, but you can join as the basics repeat every week) " which is confusing to me.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

Her class had a 20-minute "warmup" at the beginning with a set routine that she said she would repeat each week. but I couldn't see well enough to follow along and couldn't hear her describe what to do.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's her.

[catskillz.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. I took her class and found it a frustrating experience. I was hoping for structure and beginner-friendly instruction, and instead we mostly just mimicked what she was doing, even though it could involve some complicated steps and arm movements. She kept pausing in the class to go and skip around among music tracks, and I had trouble hearing her directions over the sound. The class was OK for exercise (though I don't think that we stretched out enough), but I didn't feel like I got a good foundation for further learning, and if I hadn't already been an experienced dancer, I would have been completely lost.

I've also taken other beginner classes at the Dance Complex and had great times with them (Street Funk!), so it's not an issue with the organization.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

I take belly dance lessons with the Goddess Dancing (www.thegoddessdancing.com) in Cambridge, and I really recommend them if you are looking for a supportive environment. It is easy to criticize them as being too spiritual and insufficiently critical in their approach, but I was not a confident dancer when I started and the instructors completely sold me on becoming a belly dancer. They sincerely believe that every woman is special and every woman can achieve in this art form, and they are willing to adjust classes somewhat (especially the beginner classes) based on what works best for their students or what their students are interested in learning. And I can definitely do things with my body that I couldn't before.

With that said, if you are an experienced belly dancer, you might want to meet with one of the teachers and discuss your learning needs instead of signing up for a class, as private lessons might suit you better.