JOYful Shimmies Bellydance

American Tribal Style Belly Dance
with Ameena Ahava
Teaching the entire FatChanceBellyDance vocabulary - and then some!

E-mail: ameena@joyfulshimmiesbellydance.com

Ameena

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			Classes Welcome to our classes section - this is where the adventure begins! Below is general information on how classes are organized and formatted at JOYful Shimmies Bellydance. Click on the menu above to find out more about our locations and schedules. Class Structure Beginning Classes Ongoing Classes Specialization Classes



			Class Structure a 5-15 minute reading and discussion to learn more about belly dance history, ATS, costuming elements, Middle Eastern culture, or positive body image 15-30 minutes of warming up, stretching, and strengthening specifically designed to aid in learning the dance and preventing injury, as well as drills in zilling and shimmies 40-60 minutes of ATS instruction and practice a 5 minute cool down (go to top)

			Beginning Classes - Level 1 Instructor: Alexandra Lancette alex@joyfulshimmiesbellydance.com For beginning ATS students, the Fundamentals series of Level 1 is where to start. This series is run in two consecutive 6-week sessions. After completing the Fundamentals series a student may then join Level 2 classes. As the ongoing classes include students of differing levels, the Fundamentals series lays the basic foundation to join them successfully. Even students who have taken bellydance classes previously should start with the fundamentals as these are specific to American Tribal Style Belly Dance. Students who have previously taken ATS classes can contact the instructor to discuss the best classes to enroll in. Dancers with previous bellydance instruction in another style can also opt to schedule a few private lessons to cover the ATS specifics in place of taking the Fundamentals classes. The Fundamental series is only offered 2-3 times per year at any one location, so please watch the announcements closely if wanting to take classes for the first time. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list to receive announcements from JOYful Shimmies Bellydance including when classes begin, please send your request via e-mail to ameena@joyfulshimmiesbellydance.com. Zills are required by week 3 of Fundamentals 1. They can be ordered through JOYful Shimmies by including payment of $15 with registration fee or individually from FCBD. (go to top)

			Ongoing Classes - Levels 2 & 3 Instructor: Ameena Ahava ameena@joyfulshimmiesbellydance.com Ongoing classes are run in 4-week sessions. The movement vocabulary of each level repeats every 16 weeks. Most students will need to attend at least two times through an entire level's vocabulary to achieve the goal of dancing, leading, and transitioning successfully through all of the moves taught. Level 2 Vocabulary Level 3 Vocabulary (go to top)

			Specialization Classes Instructor: Ameena Ahava ameena@joyfulshimmiesbellydance.com Classes in specialized skills run as one 6-week or as two or three 4-week sessions, depending on the amount of time needed to gain a basic understanding of the skills being taught. Skills Taught Improvisation Basket Improvisation Sword Improvisation Candle Improvisation Veil Improvisation Isolations not used in ATS - these are useful for conditioning and for adding to your own dance toolbox to be pulled out while dancing solo Zill Patterns - in ATS can be used when a dancer is in the chorus during slow performance, or when a dancer wishes to join in with the drumming for a time instead of dancing. Learning Choreography Creating a choreography (go to top)