Looking to take your belly dancing to the next level? Join our Belly Dance Deity Joanna for two HUGE workshops designed to further your technique and performance!
Please keep in mind: This workshop will be taking place at 308 St Georges Road, Thornbury.
🌟 Level Up! Skills & Technique (Intermediate Level) 🌟
⏰ 2:45pm - 4:15pm
You’ve accomplished the basics - undulations, shimmies, isolations. But what more is there to learn beyond this? Prepare to take your belly dancing to the next level with this introductory intermediate-level workshop. We’ll be helping to deepen your skillset, widen your dance vocabulary and share tips on how to continuously refine your technique.
In this workshop, you will:
Discover how to add complexity to your movements with new layering techniques, and using your entire body to convey emotion.
Engage in balancing exercises that enhance your ability to isolate movements and maintain stillness.
Learn and integrate fundamental Egyptian folkloric movements to enrich your repertoire, and why incorporating folkloric movements are crucial to modern day belly dance.
Combine all the techniques learned in a Raqs Baladi styled combination, as an example on how to weave these various elements into a performance-based context.
What To Bring: A hard-cover book for the balancing exercise (if you can’t provide one, we have some available to borrow). A notepad and pen for optional note taking.
🌟 Performance Mastery (Advanced Level) 🌟
⏰ 4:30pm - 6pm
For those looking to dip their toe into soloist stage performances - this one is for you! What's so beautiful about belly dance is that no two performer styles are alike. Individuality is a key aspect in performance, and exploring different facets can lead you to finding out what sets you apart from the rest.
Building on the skills from intermediate-level, the aim of this workshop is to prepare you for stage performance, and assist you in creating your own professional belly dance choreography. We will refine your technique and stage presence beyond the intermediate level, and into the realm of authentic performance. Not for the faint hearted, as you will be working with improvisation, quick thinking, physical endurance and musicality to explore your stage identity.
In this workshop, you will:
Dive deeper into the artistry of belly dance by learning how to use tempos, musicality and dynamics to your advantage, and how to use emotion & storytelling to captivate your audience.
Understand the advantage of using the entire stage to enhance your performance.
Develop your improvisational skills with confidence - which are a staple in authentic MENAHT dancing styles.
Integrate all techniques learned into a Raqs Sharqi combination, along with an improvisational section.
What To Bring: Camera phone to film yourself. A notepad and pen for optional note taking.
❤️🔥 Book Both & Save 10% ❤️🔥
About Your Instructor
Described as the equivalent to a firework on New Years Eve, Joanna is Australia’s own internationally acclaimed belly dance performer, instructor and powerhouse entertainer.
For over 25 years, Joanna’s experience in the performing arts has lead her to achieve proficiency in numerous dance forms outside of belly dance - including ballet, jazz, and musical theatre. She holds a Bachelor in Entertainment Business Management, as well as Certificates across music theory, performance and sound engineering.
Joanna’s love of MENAHT (Middle Eastern, North African, Hellenic & Turkish) dance has thrusted her into the international realm, where she has performed on festival stages across France, Spain and Greece. Her belly dance style is described as Oriental/American Cabaret, however she is known in Australia for her strong influences in musical theatre, queer culture and cabaret.
With her technique based, culturally accurate and history driven teaching style, Joanna aims to encourage her students to find their niche and distinctiveness in belly dance. Her priority is to advocate how welcoming this dance form is of all ages, sizes, experience levels, and gender identities.