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

[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