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Hello, and thank you for visiting my website! Please feel free to peruse the tabs above or contact me for more information. I am available for: classes, private lessons, weddings, birthday parties or other tasteful, family-friendly events, modeling and much more! Just email me!
bio
I have been in love with bellydance since I was a child. After seeing a group of dancers in Boulder Co., I returned home, created my own costume, and trooped out to the front yard with a tip basket and a sign proclaiming “Watch the bellydancer dance her best!” Sadly, I did not draw a crowd on my quiet backstreet, and my dreams of becoming a bellydancer were stowed away until 2004. That year my mother attended a show in Madison WI. featuring the Blue Lotus Tribe. She returned from the show raving about bellydance and how much I would love it; so it came to be that I found world-renowned instructor Mona N’wal and we became her students.
In 2006, I decided to pursue bellydance as a professional career. To commemorate the occasion, I got a tattoo - a blue lotus (in honor of the troupe responsible for my pursuance of bellydance) between two words written in Arabic, dance and life. I chose these words for their simplicity of translation and meaning; for me, dance is life. Dance is my passion, my life’s blood; I feel joy down to my soul when I move to the music with which I have become so familiar.
I continue to study with Mona and attend weeklong seminars taught by some of the biggest names in bellydance, Suhaila Salimpour and Yousry Sharif to name a few, to develop a truly professional style. I have high aspirations, including creating awareness about bellydance; I believe it to be one of the most misunderstood dance forms. My goal is to reach one person at a time and change their perspective. Most people don’t know that bellydance is indeed art- many times I have heard the question, after announcing myself as a dancer, where do I strip? I have learned not to be offended at the question. Unfortunately the media still portrays bellydance as a less-respectable form of dance, and I am sad to say there are some people reinforcing that image. I hope to be someone who can shed light on this underappreciated art form and create a reputation for bellydance as a real, dignified style of dance on the level of ballet, jazz or modern.
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hip hop
I first became seriously interested in hip hop in 1999 when I was 12 years old. I joined a dance team that required us to perform in the school’s talent show. I was one of two white girls on the team of ten, and correspondingly danced like one. I had a lot of catching up to do, but I worked hard and when the talent show rolled around, I fit right in.
After the dance team wrapped, I continued my study of hip hop dance at home; I found the music video channels on the TV and watched them religiously. I have always been one to learn through watching and I perfected this technique at this time. After a couple of years my efforts started to show as I was finally able to dance in public without a group of other people dancing with me. This culminated for me in my junior year of high school when I was required to perform for the dance class I was attending. I had a short solo in the piece my fellow students and I had choreographed, and this is when I caught the performance bug- there’s nothing quite like doing what you love in front of an auditorium full of people shouting for you.
Since then, I continue learning in the same method I utilized previously and I have added a new method- YouTube instructional videos! That is what I love about hip hop dance- there are no right or wrong answers, just what you can pull off. It doesn’t matter how you learned, but only how you execute it right now.
calendar
links
Performances:
www.mediterraneanhookah.com/- Mediterranean Hookah Lounge and Cafe- Bellydancers every Friday and Saturday night, check my calendar for my next performance!
Classes:
www.madisonmultidance.com - Madison Multicultural Dance Center- I teach two bellydance classes on Wednesday evenings and one hip hop bellydance fusion class on Fridays
www.fusionmadison.com/ - Fusion Dance Academy- I teach one class on Tuesday evenings
www.cambridgecap.net/ - Cambridge Community Activities Program- I teach one class on Thursday evenings
Resources:
www.Shira.net - Best informational website!
www.madisonbellydance.org/ - Madison Bellydance Alliance
groups.yahoo.com/group/monas_classes/ - Mona’s Classes Yahoo group- Great resource for anyone who takes classes at the Madison Multicultural Dance Center
www.bluelotustribe.com/ - Blue Lotus Tribe- The dance group I mentioned in my bio
www.myspace.com/mona_nwal - Mona N’wal’s Myspace- The Myspace page of my fantastic teacher, Mona
www.suhailainternational.com/ - Suhaila Salimpour’s website- A teacher I have studied under
www.yousrysharif.com/ - Yousry Sharif’s website- A teacher I have studied under
www.dahlal.com/ - Dahlal Internationale- A great costuming website
www.khafif.com/rhy/ - Really great website for learning arabic rhythms, there is a rhythm generator!
www.dalesande.com/ - Dale Sande’s website- the mastermind behind my website
classes
Go to links to see the websites of the locations where I teach
Basics of Bellydance:
Discover the ancient art of bellydance! In this six to eight week course, we will cover the basic moves of bellydancing, and learn how the music and the movements fit together. This is a low-pressure class that starts at the very beginning- no previous dance experience is necessary. Come share Arielle’s passion for the dance, every age, sex and body type is welcome!
Level 1:
Students expand upon what they learned in Basics classes with more challenging moves and short choreographies. Basics of Bellydance a prerequisite or my approval.
Hip Hop:
Come check out the latest craze! This class is geared toward the level 1 bellydancer with completion of a basics of bellydance course preferred, although if you are up for a challenge it is not required. This class is a completely unique, high-energy fusion between hip hop and bellydance that focuses on learning new moves with room for self-expression- there’s no wrong answers in this class! Students will learn the hippest moves with an exotic twist to today’s hottest music while learning how to embody the “swagger” and attitude that is hip hop.