Workshop Descriptions
Skills and Technique
Technique Intensive for Tribal Fusion Bellydance
Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.
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 your students’ needs and abilities.
Pops, Locks, and Tick Tocks: 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 tribal fusion 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: Elegant Movement for Tribal Fusion Bellydance
Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.
This workshop will help you refine your technique and add elegance to your bellydance movement. While clean and sharp technique is an essential part of the tribal 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.
Progressive Raqs*: Technical Bellydance with a Geeky Twist
A Two Volume Series Aimed at 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.
Progressive Raqs, Volume 1: Unusual Meter 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, Volume 2: Logical Layering
Layering is the next step in technical belly dance proficiency and can be 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!
*Progressive Raqs, a pun on the term Progressive Rock, a music genre that emerged in the early 1970s with bands like Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson taking their experimental cues from the later music of the Beatles. These musicians and bands aimed to lift their music to a higher artistic level, blending classical instrumentation, science fiction and fantasy themes, and virtuoso technicality. Prog rock, as it is often called, has influenced Asharah tremendously as an artist and dancer, as she herself tries to blend her intellectual side with her artistic side through bellydance. She continually strives to challenge herself technically and emotionally in her dance, and, like many prog rock musicians, eschews convention for the sake of her own artistic expression. For more information about this much maligned and often misunderstood music genre, visit: wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_rock
Specialty Subjects
Dancing Your Demons: Dramatic Dance through Emotional Expression
Experience Level: Intermediate and above.
***Because of the intense emotional nature of this workshop, class size is limited to 25 participants.
Within each one of us is our true, instinctual self, and we often ignore or repress her (or him) in our everyday lives. Our instinctual self is not rational, and yet to dance to our fullest, we must acknowledge our instinct, acting upon it without second-guessing it and while still harnessing it for a clean and stage-worthy performance. Our instincts are raw, untamed and absolutely essential to a dancer who wishes to give a moving and expressive performance.
In this workshop, Asharah will lead students through physical exercises aimed at drawing out instinctual responses to music and other students in class. She will also explain her own emotional preparation process, giving guidelines and tips on how to be “in the moment” before you even take the stage. Students must leave their egos at the door, and judgmental or critical behavior will not be tolerated.
The Salimpour Legacy in Contemporary Tribal Style 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.
Turkish-Tribal Fusion: Blending the Old with the New
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.
The Cymbalist Movement: Integrating Finger Cymbals into Your Dance
Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.
Finger cymbals are an integral part of American Tribal Style bellydance, and can be a lovely accompaniment to a solo 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.
Smoldering Eyes and Fabulous Falls: A Make-Up and Hair Primer for Fusion Bellydance
Experience Level: Intermediate beginner and above.
By popular demand, Asharah is now offering this workshop on how to make your hair and make-up look amazing. Asharah will go over the basics of stage make-up and application for bellydance, tips and tricks for adorning your head and hair, and give you little insights on how to keep your make-up and hair looking fresh, even after hours at a festival or out in the sun. She’ll also unravel the mystery behind the application of false eyelashes.
For hygiene purposes, please bring your own make-up supplies:
- Foundation make-up (liquid or mineral)
- Loose or pressed powder and powder brush (loose powder is best)
- Eyeshadows: One dark (black or very dark grey/brown), one medium (medium brown is best to start), one light (cream or white)
- Eyeliner: MAC Carbon pencil or MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack recommended.
- Lip stick: Dark red or burgundy.
- Blush
- Hand mirror
- Bindis
- False eyelashes and false eyelash glue (Duo brand is best – available at CVS, Target, etc.)
- Make-up remover wipes (Ponds, Neutrogena, etc.)
- Brushes
- Face powder
- Angled blush
- Flat shadow (2)
- Large round eye crease
- Small eyeliner
The Sinewy Spine: Strength and Flexibility for Backbends and Floorwork
Experience Level: Intermediate and above.
***Maximum Class Size – 10 students. Because of the potentially dangerous 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.
