shimmy

Hi, I'm just interested to know if all you Belly dancers only concentrate on Belly dancing or if you do other styles of dancing as well. I enjoy african, latin and hip hop along with belly dance and also contempory. I also teach yoga. I want to teach a dance class with a blend of different styles (more for exercise and fun than performing). I would love to hear your thoughts on this and whether you think it would work.

janaki

Hi Shimmy,

I am a belly dance instructor from Hong Kong. I also teach bollywood and brazilian samba. I learned Polinesian and african dances. I may start teaching Hula and Tahitian soon. But my passion is in belly dancing!!!!

Cheers
Janaki

Aisha Azar

Dear Shimmy,
While I do not know any other forms of dance outside Middle Eastern/North African, I dance, teach and perform both belly dance and folkloric dances from various countries of those two regions. I also used to practice Tai Chi Chuan, but have not done so in many years. ( It was great, by the way!!)
Regards,
A'isha

Shanazel

I only teach AmCAb belly dance, but turn on the country western tunes and I can swing dance with the most mediocre of them!

Moon

I do ballroom dance with my boyfriend and it's very different from bellydance

I think the dance-mix is a good idea for fitness Shimmy. If there was some class here called "dancing for fitness" or something like that and it had different dancing styles, I would go there a lot faster than to some regular fitness class.

Sara

I do a few here and there.

I go to Tango classes, Salsa, Hip hop, Belly dance, family getting together dancing ( it's sort of hard to explain), club dancing, pole dancing, and I'm wanting to start going to Samba classes.

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With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, now shake your bum.... :P

da Sage

I occasionally do other forms of social dance (contra, polka, club dance), but I haven't taken any other dance lessons since college (besides bellydance, and a single Iranian dance class).

As soon as I got to college, I started taking dance...modern, ballet, ballroom, American folk dance. Somehow, I could never work tap class into my schedule...too bad! I would still like to try tap (or clogging).

Kharmine

At some point or other, I've studied ballet, modern, jazz, tap, ballroom, early American dance and English country dancing. Met my husband at an English country dance camp (he's also a Morris dancer and musician).

I think the best combo would be some type of Latin dancing with belly dance. They'd work well together.

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What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?

shimmy

that's great! Alot of variety here I see. My next question is what type of people do you think would be interested in such a class? I'm a 35 year old mum and I'm keen, but what about other walks of life? Should I try to target younger girls or stick with the mums?

chryssanthi sahar

Besides belly dance (Egyptian, Greek and Fusion style), which I've been teaching and performing for more than 20 years now, I've been dancing Greek Folklore and Folk dances through my entire life (as native Greek) and the last 4 years I'm also giving classes for Greek Folklore dances. Except that, I've also been dancing Salsa/Merengue/Bachata for about 12 years (but I don't give classes), I did ballroom dances with my husband for 3 years, contemporary dance for 2 years, and various martial arts for 10 years (Tai Chi Chuan too, Aisha ). And I go often to the disco and Greek bouzoukia clubs and dance just for my own fun and pleasure I am dance-addicted anyway (maybe the sickness "dancoholic" must be defined to describe my addiction)
Shimmy, as about your question about what people to reach for such a fusion course: it depends on what people you feel comfortable with. If you get along well with teenage girls, go for them If you rather feel comfortable with moms in your age, try to get them I think at the end, one attracts the people who suit the best.

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Oriental dancer and instructor of Greek origin, living in Germany
www.chryssanthi.com