Belly Dance Workshops at MassRaqs
Friday-Sunday, September 9-11, 2011
Workshops at World Rhythms Dance & Fitness
313 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA
Public transit: Porter Square Station (Red Line)
The world-reknowned MassRaqs instructors offer a wide range of workshops in 2011, sure to inspire beginning dancers, professionals and teachers alike.
We bring high quality instruction and performance to the Boston area, celebrating the amazing talent in our dance community, while offering you ways to learn, love, and nurture your dance practice, in great facilities, within the city, with safe dance floors, mirrors, proper equipment — and with a firm and unwavering commitment to quality in every piece of this process.
MassRaqs events, workshops, and performance opportunities are open to dancers of all genders.
HADIA - KARIM NAGI - KATIA of BOSTON - MEIVER
Hadia is a world-renowned dancer, researcher, and award-winning instructor based in Montreal with a career spanning over 30 years.
"Hadia's candor leads to a dancer examining what she truly thinks, feels, does, and puts out there in the studio and on the stage. There aren't many teachers out there who push us to think about why we do what we do, what we know and what that is based on, and how we are going to truly, effectively, responsibly teach dance." — Nicola, Winnipeg, Canada
BODY LOGIC ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE
Friday, September 9, 3:00 PM
Hadia's key to understand and simplify oriental dance
The secret of beautiful, graceful and effortless oriental dance is a solid foundation of clean, clear and precise technique. Hadia's Body Logic is a revolutionary approach to belly dance that traces even the most complex movements and steps back to their essential, simple movement patterns. Based on her training and in the field of therapeutic exercise, optimal alignment, Feldenkreis and NLP, Hadia has developed this series of safe, effortless and FUN warm up exercises that naturally evolve into her repertoire of belly dance technique and movements with grace, ease and simplicity.
Hadia's Body Logic also has the benefit of allowing students to not only dance through 4 to 5 hours of class per day without pain, discomfort or fatigue, but even heals and strengthens the body.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
EGYPTIAN ORIENTAL
Saturday, September 10, 3:00 PM
*Prerequisite: BODY LOGIC ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE, Friday, 3:00 PM
If the secret of graceful and effortless dance is clean, clear and precise technique, the magic of Oriental Dance is the mastery of a few basic techniques, transformed by 1,001 subtle variations into myriad seamless, fluid moments...... unique to each piece of music. A Master Dance Artist makes Simplicity Sublime — a Master Instructor Simplifies Complexity. Hadia draws from 40 years of experience as both an internationally acclaimed artist and instructor in the Art of Egyptian Sharqi.
Hadia is happy to share her profoundly simple but powerful tools of improvisation with you in her first visit to Boston!
Hadia's unique approach and technique, which she considers to be the foundation of all of her Oriental dance work, will be studied in detail during the Body Logic workshop (Friday, 3:00 PM). She highly recommends those taking the Egyptian Oriental workshop on Saturday to attend Body Logic on Friday, in order to gain the maximum benefit from this workshop. Current and future teachers are specially encouraged to experience the Hadia method in this two-day format.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
TURKISH ROM
Sunday, September 11, 9:00 AM
So you wanna be a gypsy? Born of the tribes of Rajasthan, Punjab and Gudjarat, the fascinating and misunderstood Roma people embarked on a long, hard journey through the centuries and across strange new lands. Unparalleled, gifted and adaptable singers, dancers, musicians and entertainers, they were the masters of fusion as they absorbed the best of the music and dance in the countries into which they ventured and blended them with an intangible visceral power of their central soul.
Hadia has lived, studied and taught the primary forms of Roman/gypsy dance for many years and is pleased to share with you a taste of Authentic Turkish Roma dance. After getting comfortable with the unique Turkish 9/8 rhythm, we will work with a range of basic steps and foot patterns and finish these off with a fascinating array of gestures and movements that connect this fascinating and visceral dance form to the mysterious history of these strong, proud and vital people.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
Karim Nagi is a true crossover artist, uniting the Cabaret and Tribal, Traditional and Modern, Ethnic and the Urban.
As a dance and drum teacher, Karim has taught in nearly all major bellydance festivals in the United States and Cairo, as well as all major Arab Culture festivals in the USA. Because of his proficiency in both music and dance, his workshops deliver students to a new physical understanding of the connection between these two disciplines.
OUM KALSOUM INTROS for BELLY DANCE
Friday, September 9, 5:00 PM
These are the most famous instrumental pieces of the most famous Egyptian singer. Oum Kalsoum is the absolute most celebrated singer of the Arab world. Most people don't realize her Alf Layla wa Layla, Fakkarouni, Into Omri, and Leilit Hob, are vocal songs that exceed 40 minutes. However, the instrumental "Muqadamat" introductions of these songs are mass appropriated for Bellydance, with enthusiasm.
Karim will dissect each 4 to 6 minute Muqadim, explaining the history of the song and composer, song structure, maqam scale and rhythmic changes. He will demonstrate using live music, playing the 8 string buzuq, and the Egyptian tabla. Students will sing the melodic themes, and clap each rhythm of the piece.
After full analysis, the students will dance to each instrumental Oum Kalsoum piece taught in class. This is the dancer's opportunity to develop and deliver the famous song, with their new understanding of its deep meaning, and specific character. This workshop will prepare dancers to be able to teach these classic songs to their students and discuss them with confidence. It will also prepare them to properly perform this famous music, and choreograph it with knowledge and understanding of its stucture and meaning
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
RHYTHM for DANCERS
Sunday, September 11, 12:00 PM
In this dynamic movement workshop with live music, Karim teaches 7 to 10 rhythms (from simple to the very complex!) commonly found in music for belly dance. Using the three-sound clapping approach and his own performance of these sample rhythms on the Tabla, students learn each rhythm by name, "dum-tak" vocalization, clapping, and dancing!
Karim's dance combinations match the rhythms in intensity and power, helping dancers gain intention, precision, and bodily control when working with each rhythm. Each rhythm inspires its own variety of movements. By physically personifying each rhythm, bodily mastery of that rhythm is achieved. Dancers gain greater accuracy when performing and teaching rhythms, and develop a stronger connection to the music.
Suited for all levels, this class provides dancers with a better understanding of the songs they are dancing and improved skills for embodying music.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
A legend of the Boston area, Katia travels the world, always expanding her dance and cutural knowlege.
Through annual travels to Egypt, as well as travels to Morocco, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia where she has studied dance, Katia has expanded her personal knowledge of North Africa and the cultures of the Near East, their music, and dances.
TUNISIAN DANCE
Saturday, September 10, 12:00 PM
Katia of Boston made a study trip to Tunisia in 2004 where she had classes in the traditional dance of Tunisia with the National Folkloric Troupe in Tunis. Katia will teach a two hour class on the technique, rhythms and vocabulary of Tunisian dance.
Participants will be given notes on the rhythms and will work with the movements in class building combinations to Tunisian music. Katia will also present an example of the traditional costume for the dance. At the end of the session, she will also show how one may implement some of the movements into the Oriental vocabulary.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!
Meiver, the host of MassRaqs, is a fiery entertainer hailing from Dominican Republic, via Boston, Massachusetts. With natural grace (her middle name!) combined with a keen feel for Arabic rhythms, she is one of Boston's favorite and most sought-after performers.
Her teaching approach emphasizes the development of a dancer's technical skills and artistry, awareness of the dance's history, culture and context, musical literacy and performance readiness.
FLUID & LARGER THAN LIFE: Veil Combinations for Oriental Dance
Saturday, September 10, 10:00 AM
In Oriental dance, the upper body, arms, and facial expression are crucial tools for dancers to communicate the emotion in the music. Instead of a "prop" the veil is an extension of the dancer's arms and upper body, when expressing emotions. It adds lightness, elegance, mystery, and softness. The veil amplifies the movements of the upper body and expands the possibilities for creating visuals for your audience. Veils can be used to express a variety of emotions: from happy to flashy, to sultry, to introspective — your veil can be an endless source for newness in your dance.
This workshop will explore expressivity and dynamism through the use of a silk veil, as well as innovative manipulations to create exciting, and larger-than-life visuals on stage.
*Please bring a silk veil. Veils will be available for purchase from MassRaqs vendors on premise.
$60/single workshop, 3-workshop minimum.
Day passes, payment plans and MassRaqs festival packages available.
Visit the registration page to sign up!