The Dancing Spirit of RI
A Dance Story
Monday 9:30 on Privates available ,5 - 6;30 Dancers Pilates 6:30-8;00 NEW Belly Dance Class, call to reg. 4013389905
Tuesday 10-11:30 Belly Dance,5:30-7,Tiger Lily,7-8;30 Group Belly Dance
Wednesday 9;30 on privates available 5- 6:30 Dancers Pilates, New Belly Dance class 6;30- 8 pm Belly Dance ,call 4013389905
Thursday 9:30-11 Cardio Belly Dance, Private 11:45-1:30, Mom's/ Daughters 10-14 yrs 6 wk,workshop 4:45 - 6, 6-7;30 Tiger Lily
Friday 9;30-11 Dancers Pilates , 11:45 Privates available
Recently I performed a lecture demonstration for a wonderful learning community of 100 people in East.Greenwich, RI. They asked me before hand for a bio. I haven't included until now my "before belly dance life". Here goes........Classical Ballet, Modern Dance, Oriental Belly Dance, 6 yr owner of one of the few Oriental Belly Dance Dance studios in the RI,Mass, Conn area. 2010 Editor's choice, Best undiscovered gem of Newport County.
Age 4, I began dancing in a creative movement class,in NYC with Jean Erdman (then married to Joseph Campbell). In that class ( like yesterday) I drew my first dance map which I think was the drawing of my long dance journey. Isadora Duncan and Anna Pavlova were my muses. I danced between the worlds. Early years of Ballet were in Rye,NY,with Natasha Redel,student of Michael Fokine and Madame Swaboda of The School of American Ballet. At 16 I attended the Washington School of Ballet. Famed Mary Day told me I would never be a dancer and that I should go sailing with my Dad. For many years I would think of Mary's words while I kept dancing. Senior year of high school I was back in NYC at The Professional Children’s school and on scholarship at The Joffrey Ballet. I received my Baccalaureate of Fine Arts in Dance at SUNY Purchase. After college was NYC with Grethe Holby,Asakawalker,Dancer Company,Susan Dibble, to name a few,then in Boulder, Colorado for a year with Nancy Spanier’s Dance Theatre.
Mark and I,married and started our family in Tiverton,RI .Adam,1984. I taught modern dance, had a small troop and put on shows around the state.Jaeke.1986, I started Tanagra Movement Theatre Co. with Michelle Bach Coulibaly,Brown Univ. Followed was The Goddess Dance Triology of women dancing thru ages,inspired by a poem " Before it was Written"- Womb (Cave women),Worship (Pagan ritual based on The Mists of Avalon) and Kajum Chantu, (Egyptian Mysteries).Kajum was a ritual of women dancing a fantasy birth, performed by The Island Moving Company. Izabelle, 1989.I began teaching creative movement,ballet, modern dance,art and movement classes for children-adults and Dancers Pilates.I opened the first The Dancing Spirit Studio. I put on community shows for all ages with dance ,theatre, art and stories. I continued until my brother and Dad passed away.
At that time I was signed up to get my masters at Salve University for Art Therapy but as luck would have it I took a belly dance class which recharged and shockingly altered my dance life view. My kids were teens at the time.My new dance career wasn't easy for my family to accept. They said " You are going to be a what?" My husband said" You are going to do this seriously?".The household joke was,"I know where she is cause we can hear her hip scarf and those LOUD zills".I used to practice the zills 247. I wasn't very good for a long time.
I have been reinventing my dance through the study of the Art of Belly Dance for 10 years. I was surprised to learn such a diverse dance world existed,that I never knew about it and that I hadn’t learned about it in college. I found The Dance by accident wanting to try something new, the way many do.I thought at the time it would be less difficult than ballet and modern.I was right and wrong.
Making my first hip circle I felt an inevitable connection to heaven and earth. Instantly I knew my journey was to somehow express that overwhelming feeling. I didn't know what that meant,how long it would take, how I would figure it out or even who to ask.
The Belly Dance chapter of my life has been wonderful and challenging to learn and share. To be a good at anything you must work hard. I have felt and said often," I had to cut my head off, forget everything I knew, to learn this dance, so I could put my head back on to fuse the best of both worlds".
Before I took the first class I didn't know there was a technique, vocabulary or a long history as I think many people don't realize if they have never taken a class. I believe that Mid East Dance vocab,culture, rhythms and costume knowledge can grow all dancers and non dancers because it is from a different world. Belly Dance is an expanding art form based on roots that open channels.It is a dance map to an alternative dance world regardless of wether you've studied dance or not.
A Modern Dance friend, who I hadn't seen for a while, said to me while dancing at a party ," Barb, you are dancing like a cat". I said happily, "I think I am". Belly Dance is a different way to be in your body and to feel rhythms inside music. It is a folk dance but it isn't our folk dance.To learn it and feel it takes you on a journey of seeing and feeling your body in a new way.
New England roots are Purtinas and Shakers. Belly Dance roots are the ancient desert of snakes, camels and mystery. The dance requires you to listen and feel with every part of your body.When you study and learn the rhythms you hear and feel music differently. It is a funny and challenging thing to try to explain to those who haven't taken a class.
I challenge YOU.Try to move like a snake or camel while counting 2,3,5 or 7 with your torso. Let me know how it feels.
In addition to the techniques and music education there is a deep rooted mind, body, spirit healing aspect to the dance which is a gift for those who find it.
Many of my students have been non dancers.They have been some of my best teachers because to teach them I had to learn how to explain the movements in simplest form. They helped me get inside the movements the most.
The dance is also very proud.All good Belly Dancers have beautiful posture. I teach posture FIRST and ALWAYS in every class with tons of images and core awareness which helps support the technique. The beautiful Belly Dance posture can be a challenge for every student weather they have danced before or not. I say often that " I am a posture freak" because I talk about posture so much.Some say " But I feel as if I am sticking my chest out". It might feel that way if you aren't used to standing up straight with your tummy in, eyes up. Many people walk by my studio with their heads down. I want to say" Head lights UP, long neck, heart open, wing bones - back, down,IN( Dad used to say), walk like a graceful princess
Often trained dancers think Belly Dance will be easy, as I did. You can't take body training OUT you can only add to what is already there. Trained dancers can be as challenged, as non dancers to learn to move their torso and hips to the rhythms.
This fall is 6 years on Main Rd. I made it through the recession! Studio classes are- 4 Adult Belly Dance classes,(One is Cardio Belly Dance), 2 Teen Belly Dance classes (Teen Tiger Lily Seeds, very creative), 3 Dancers Pilates classes and just added Mother. daughters 10-14 workshop. Local students are from Newport, Portsmouth and Dartmouth. International students are from Japan, Italy, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
In December, on the 16 & 17 thanks to Tempest organizing Tapestry, I met Alessandra Belloni. She is bringing her International singing ,percussion, healing, Tarentella passion, energy for a Tarentella weekend of an amazing workshop and show. Bellissimo!!!!!!
I am grateful from " the bottom" for discovering The Art of Belly Dance and for meeting and working with all the amazing artists, lovers, teachers, scholars,musicians and students of The Belly Dance world.
Thanks for reading. Comments welcome. If you have a chance to go to take a class or to see a show " GO!!!!"
Sincerely Barbara www.thedancingspirit.com
I read somewhere recently " If you don't let people know what you are working on, who will ?"
LINKEDIN http;//www.linkedin.com/in/dancingspiritbellydancearts
MERCHANT CIRCLE
