An intense practice aimed at polishing your bellydance technique while building strength and stamina. Asharah is known for her clean technique and muscular execution, and in this workshop she will share with you tips and tricks for sharpening hard movements like hip work and chest locks and for deepening and intensifying smooth movements like undulations and Mayas. Time permitting, she will also share with you a few of her signature robotic movements to add spice to your bellydance movement vocabulary. This workshop can be customized to meet participants’ needs and abilities. 3-hour minimum for maximum material.

Pops, Locks, and Tick Tocks: Tips and Tricks to Mechanize Your Movement

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

Inspired by robots, experimental electronic music, and poppin’ and lockin’, Asharah has integrated mechanical movements into her expressive performances. In this workshop, Asharah will lead students through an intense warm up and then will show students how to break down traditional bellydance movements such as vertical hip figure-8s, shoulder rolls, torso undulations, turns, and arm waves into smaller and sharper parts to give your performances a robotic and creepy edge.

Danse Mécanique: Elegance and Grace for Every Dancer

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

Move like a dancer! While clean and sharp technique is an essential part of a belly dancer’s repertoire, grace and polish are equally, if not more important for conveying expression and feeling from the stage to the audience. Asharah will lead students through an intense warm-up that will prepare the body for fluid arm-work, well-defined isolations, and dramatic extension. We will drill smooth bellydance movements (such as arm waves, interior hip circles, and undulations) and hard contraction movements (such as chest locks and hip work in various directions). Asharah will also lead students through foot and hand exercises to help participants gain a greater sense of poise and grace.

Shimmies Asharah-Style

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

Ahh… the shimmy! No other movement quite captures the essence of bellydance so well as the hip shimmy. Asharah is a master of the shimmy in many of its forms, from 3/4 shimmies, small vibrations, traveling shimmies, to shimmies with layers. In this workshop, we’ll break down the technique of each shimmy variation and how to safely execute each. Asharah will share tips and tricks for keeping your hip shimmies consistent, controlled, and musical.

The Cymbalist Movement: Finger Cymbals for Every Dancer

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

Finger cymbals are the quintessential instrument of the belly dancer. From folkloric to American Tribal Style belly dance, finger cymbals–also called zills, sagat, and silsil–can be a lovely accompaniment to any performance. However, many dancers often feel daunted by cymbal playing and have been using them less and less… Finger cymbals aren’t scary, and this workshop will help you approach cymbals as an instrument and as a way to enhance your performance. With the right exercises, anyone can play cymbals and dance! Asharah will lead you through an intense warm up, teach drills that layer movements and cymbal playing, introduce common cymbal patterns found in Middle Eastern music, and teach a short dance combination focusing on the playing of your cymbals with the music and your movements.

Intermediate Workshops: The Next Level

The Sinewy Spin: Safe and Healthy Backbends

Experience Level: Intermediate and above.

***Maximum Class Size – 10 students. Because of the potentially harmful nature of this workshop material, class size must remain small. Thank you for your understanding.
Asharah has been known for making backbends and floorwork look elegant and effortless. In this workshop, Asharah will lead you through an intense warm-up, then we’ll do a series of yoga poses and pilates exercises to strengthen the abdominals, thighs, and back muscles as well as lengthen the spine to prepare you for backbends and floorwork. Students will then spot each other as they try out laybacks, berber walks, and backbends on the floor, taking care of our lower backs and knees as we try these difficult, yet impressive movements. Tips for keeping your spine happy and healthy will be discussed throughout the workshop.

Progressive Raqs: Technical Bellydance with a Geeky Twist.
A Two Part Series for the Intermediate Dancer

Experience Level: Intermediate and above.

This workshop series is aimed at pushing the dancer into new technical realms of movement and musicality. Workshops can be taught as a 4-6 hour series or as individual 2-3 hour workshops. *Why “Progressive Raqs”? It’s a pun on the term Progressive Rock, one of Asharah’s favorite music genres.

Progressive Raqs Part 1: Odd Meter and Unusual Time Signatures in Middle Eastern Music

Progressive rock is known not only for its somewhat geeky musical themes but also its use of unusual and odd time signatures in its songs. From 3/4 to 5/4 to 10/8 to 13/8, odd time signatures are also an integral part of Middle Eastern music, such as in the Turkish Karsilama (9/8) and the Egyptian Samai (10/8). Asharah will lead students through exercises to not only find the downbeat in these unusual meters but also how to count them, and most importantly, basic concepts for dancing to these rhythms and the countries from each derives.

Progressive Raqs Part 2: Logical Layering

Layering is the next step in technical belly dance proficiency and is a valuable skill for interpreting different instruments, melodies, and rhythms within the same piece of music. In this workshop, Asharah will lead participants through logical and formulaic exercises to introduce students to layering bellydance movements in both standing and traveling drills. Be prepared to sweat, think, and be inspired!

Creativity and Expression

Kickstart Your Choreography: Tools for Creative and Honest Composition

Experience Level: Intermediate and above.

In this workshop we will explore the basics of choreography, creativity, and honest dancing. Using techniques from theater, fine arts, and, of course, dance, Asharah will demystify the choreography process and give students tools to overcome their creative and choreography blocks to build the foundations for a unique and personal dance creation.

Required materials:
• Dance notebook (large format works best, 8.5″ x 11″ or larger)
• Pens/pencils
• One song for a work-in-progress choreography on iPod (or similar mp3 player) AND your OWN earbuds/headphones.

Full-On Fusion

Modern Bellydance Combinations

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

In this workshop, Asharah will teach short combinations to music that combine the fludity and grace of oriental (cabaret) bellydance with the strength and poise of tribal style. Pulling from her studies in Egyptian, Turkish, the Jamila and Suhaila Salimpour formats, and American Tribal Style, these mini-choreographies can be performed together or pulled apart to create new dances. Combinations are a great way to put together your technique and prepare it for the stage. A notebook will come in handy.

Kick it Like It’s 1960: Tribal Roots, Nightclub Sass

Experience Level: All levels.

Let’s go back in time when it didn’t matter if you wore coins or sequins… In this workshop, Asharah presents a blend of her training in the Jamila Salimpour format, American Tribal Style, and contemporary tribal fusion belly dance to give participants a taste of modern tribal belly dance with a vintage edge. Learn versatile traveling steps, sharp isolations, percussive hip work, and a little bit of folkloric feel to add to your dance.

Turkish-Tribal Fusion: Blending Folk with the Future

Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.

In this workshop, Asharah will introduce participants to the essential elements of Turkish oriental and Romany dance, and will break down how to count the quintessential Turkish musical meter: the 9/8, also known as the Karsilama. Then, we’ll blend Turkish dance moves and make them more “tribal” through changes in stylization, posture, and intent. This workshop can be taught with or without finger cymbals; finger cymbals have been an integral part of Turkish oriental dance, and add flair and excitement to any Turkish fusion.

History and Culture

The Salimpour Legacy in Tribal Bellydance

Experience Level: All levels.

Tribal style bellydance, one of the newest incarnations of this ancient dance form, has hit the world by storm over the past decade. With its rich costuming, sense of camaraderie, and common dance vocabulary, tribal style dance has grown into a international phenomenon. But where did it come from, and why do dance the way we do? The answer: Jamila Salimpour and the Salimpour dance legacy. In this workshop, Asharah will discuss just how important Jamila Salimpour–the first American dancer to name bellydance steps in a standard format, the creator of the first tribal-style dance troupe Bal Anat, and mother of Suhaila Salimpour–is to tribal style belly dance and how her format evolved and changed to become American Tribal Style and tribal fusion bellydance. Asharah will then lead participants through some core movements of the Jamila Salimpour format and explain how these movements are similar to and differ from the familiar group improvisational steps we use in American Tribal Style bellydance. Bring your dance journal for note-taking. Handouts will be provided as well.