Yallah Raqs

Sheyla is a dancer from the Czech Republic who fell in love with Egypt and especially the folklore of the country. Funoon Shaabeya, her latest documentary film focuses on Egyptian traditional artists and folklore, which she’ll be discussing with us today She’ll explore the significance of folklore, the importance of studying with people from the cultures, and how we can approach this heritage with respect and appreciation while dancing folklore. It’s foundational to any style of bellydance. Yes, even fusion. There is so much to learn and appreciate at the roots of this dance as you’ll hear from Sheyla. To learn more about Sheyla and the wonderful work she does you can check out her challenge today, which plays wonderfully off of todays episode, and the links to all the places she likes to hang out online at thebellydancebundle.com/110

Today? Zara Dance joins us to talk about the concept of Tarab. These are some of my favorite words. Words that simply don’t have a translation in other languages. Every language has a word or phrase or saying that just doesn’t have a direct translation. And while that’s beautiful, it can also cause some misconceptions. Join Zara as she talks about what Tarab is and answers a oft-asked question. Can you only do it to Umm Kulthom music? You can find links to all Zara’s amazing work at thebellydancebundle.com/109

Today Francesca is going to take us on a little journey, using a song. Francesca has her degree in Oriental Languages and Literature for Arabic, and is using her knowledge to bring us how Arabic poetry has had, and continues to have a lasting influence on the lyrics of modern arabic songs. Knowing some of this background helps us to better understand the emotional impact of these songs and appreciate they beauty of the lyrics. The song she’ll use briefly as an example here is Zoom Sur Oum by Rashid Taha, which samples a song that I know you know. We’ve linked the song, and all the ways you can find Francesca on the show page at www.thebellydancebundle.com/108

Today we have Dawn Devine with and awesome Q &A . Dawn is a costumer and historian well known for some of her books, including The Cloth of Egypt, All about Assuit, and Zills, Music on your Fingertips. If you’ve followed Dawn for a while you may be part of her group on Facebook, which she polled for some Must Answer questions, and today she’s giving you the answers. Does Dawn dance? Is she ever going to publish her master’s thesis? What about reprints of some of her previous titles that have gone out of print? Dawn answers these and more, along with some wonderful insight into her research and how some of her works came to be. You can find links to all of Dawns online stuff at thebellydancebundle.com/107

Today we have Melbourne, Australian based creator of The Dance Safe Project, Prue, joining us to chat all about warmups and cooldowns. Sometimes the practices that will keep us dancing the longest are the easiest to implement, and the easiest to skip when you’re on a tight schedule. Prue goes into why warm ups and cool downs are so important, and talks a bit about how we can make these practices more accessible to everyone with just a couple of modifications. And if you’re looking for a quick warmup you can do in a tight space? Make sure to check out the accompanying challenge, which you can find, along with links to all the places you can find The Dance Safe Project online at the podcast page. thebellydancebundle.com/106

Today we have Lisa-Jean here to talk to us about creating a practice. A busy mom of three, Lisa-Jean realized that very few dancers actually TEACH us how to practice, or how to fit time into our busy schedules to dance. And I’m so on board, it’s one of the reasons we’ve created so many of the resources we have around here at the Bellydance Bundle! Lisa chats with you today about getting specific on your dance goals, finding the time to practice, and one big shift in how you structure your practice time can make a huge difference. She’ll go into a little bit about how to take bits and pieces from workshops into a smaller, more compact practice that’s easier to fit into your day And of course, the most important bit. Having fun along the way. You can learn more about Lisa-Jean and her work by following her on social and checking out her site. Links to all those cool places can be found on the podcast page at www.thebellydancebundle.com/105

April Rose will be sharing a portion of her Bold Bellydancer Shift Workshop. If you haven’t followed her before April is an Austin-based interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and performer of bellydance, transcultural dance, frame drum, and finger cymbals. She’s absolutely wonderful and her approach to dance and art and life are truly inspirational. In this portion of her Bold Bellydancer Shift Workshop she’ll share with you several reasons she believes a paradigm shift is happening in the fusion dance space, but honestly many of her points ring true for the Raqs Sharqi space as well. She’ll dive into carbon copy styling versus developing your own creative intuition and using that to create your own style, and how in the end, it really is all about the process. This workshop was originally given as part of the Cohesion Camp Virtual Retreat and is available as part of the 2023 Bundle. Or was, if you’re listening to this after November 10th, 2023. If you like this you can check out more from April by following her online and checking out the Cohesion Collective. All links can be found at www.thebellydancebundle.com/104

Today is a MUST listen if you have any kind of bellydance business. And like our guest says, if you’re getting paid at all? Then you have a business And she couldn’t be more right Join Oreet for a fantastic episode where you are going to be taking some SERIOUS action steps. Oreet is the creator of Sharqui and offers coaching and mentorship as part of her Teacher training. Today she's going to get you to take the fundamental first step in your business. Believing in yourself. Then she’ll help you assess your business to see where your strengths are, and your challenges. Much like we do for our dancing. Personal opinion, your dance practice and your business practice have a LOT in common. So join Oreet for this action packed episode, and check out links to find out more from her at www.thebellydancebundle.com/103

Today we have Minda Mae joining us from Minneapolis! She is the founder of the DisabiliTease Academy, the first virtual school specifically geared towards performers with disabilites and their allies. She’s also the first wheelchair-using burlesque performer in Minnesota. Through her work she helps students advocate for themselves and teachers show up more inclusively for their students. Here in our mini episode she’ll go through some of the basics, what is a disability? Accessibiilty? Accomodations? She’ll also share a couple of simple things you can do right now to make your marketing and your studios to create a safer space for dancers with disabilities. You can learn more about Minda and the amazing work they do online by checking out their website and social media pages, all linked at thebellydancebundle.com/102

Today you’ll be spending some time with Drake, an interdisciplinary bellydance researcher and performer based in the Chicago area. He joins us today to chat a little bit about Multi tonal cymbals and how to integrate them into your dance. He’ll go over what Multi-tonal playing is, how to play zills even if you’re not dancing to middle eastern music, and a way that you can scale any multi-tonal playing to your level. Find your zills and join in with today's episode! You can check out a visual challenge to go along with today’s episode and find all the cool places to hang out with Drake online on the show notes page at thebellydancebundle.com/101

While Rahel specializes in Raqs Sharqi, Today she’ll be joining us to talk about her work in trauma-informed, mindfulness-based somatic practices and how she’s brought that to the table to support both dancers and non-dancers alike And she has so much great info to share. She’ll go through what somatics is, and some of the history of it, as well as diving into what it means to be embodied. We’ll spend some time today being a bit more cognitive about our bodies by even thinking ABOUT the fact that we have bodies in the first place! It get’s really fascinating team. Did you know we have more than 5 senses? I know right? Rahel is about to open up a whole new world for you. So join her in bringing a little more mindfulness to your body, both today here in the podcast, and through her accompanying instagram challenge. You can check out that challenge and follow rahel online in all the places she hangs out by going to thebellydancebundle.com/100

Today we have the founder of Greenstone Dance Arts, Siobhan Camille. If you’ve heard her on the podcast before, or you follow her you’ll already know, but for anyone just meeting Siobhan for the first time, she’s got an extensive background in exercise science with postgrad degrees in both Exercise Prescription and Rehabilitation Science. And while this creates her unique approach to teaching, today she’s gonna be talking a bit more about something near and dear to my heart. Habits. It make sense, because what is a dance or exercise practice but a series of habits? Today she’ll be talking about all or nothing thinking, why our practices need to evolve over the years, and you’ll even walk away with some book recommendations if your interest has been peaked. Plus one action step you can take TODAY to get going on a habit you’ve been wanting to start or improve. You can find Siobhan online through the links on the show notes page at thebellydancebundle.com/99

Today we have Sahira here to chat all about adding emotion and some theatricality to your dance. Sahira is a dancer in Houston who teaches both locally and has a fantastic online dance school. She’s known for her finger cymbals, her fantastic personality, and of course for being able to absolutely draw you in while she’s dancing. And the key to that? Bringing that emotion to your dance! How many times have you been told to stare “past” the audience? Well not anymore! Sahira shares her theories about why we tend not to practice this aspect of our dance as often, as well as some concrete steps you can take to add these subjects into your regular practice. Cause if you don’t work on it in practice, it’s not magically come out in performance. That’s a quote from Sahira later on in this episode and it may become a new motto around here because it’s so on point. Visit thebellydancebundle.com/98 to find the challenge Sahira mention, along with links to all the places you can hang out with Sahira online.

Today we have the wonderful Athena Howe and Adam Rivière to chat allllll about live music with ya’ll! Athena is a Columbus, Ohio-based dancer who just like many of us, fell in love with the costuming and glamour of belly dance, and then fell head over heals for the music and culture. Especially live music!! Adam is a world percussionist, audio engineer and composer with almost 40 years of experience and often plays shows with bellydancers Together, the two have performed and taught at festivals and have also started online workshops together to teach dancers the ins and outs of dancing to live music. Join them today as they talk about how live music fosters connection, and the return of one of our favorite questions from seasons past. What’s your best dance (or gig) mishap? Skunks, Ouds, and musical connection are coming your way, you’re not gonna wanna miss this one! Find links to all of Athena & Adam's social media, PLUS their awesome drum solo Instagram challenge at www.thebellydancebundle.com/97

Today we welcome Debpariya Das to the podcast. Joining us from Bangalore, India, she’s here to share a little bit about her journey as an Oriental Bellydancer and her philosophies around fusing Indian Dance and Bellydance together. She’ll share with us her views on how culture plays into the fusion of the dances, the importance of solid foundations in each style, and some of what she’ll be bringing to the 2023 Bundle around these topics. Check out the show notes page at www.thebellydancebundle.com/96 to get all the ways you can follow Debapriya online and to check out the awesome spinning challenge she made to go along with today’s episode!

Welcome to this mini-episode of Yallah Raqs! Today Ashley Rhianne is going to tell us a bit about her journey to becoming a dancer and a pilates instructor. She’ll be sharing what set her on her path, the benefits she’s seen in her own dance through the addition of cross-training in pilates and hows she’s seen pilates change her students dances as well. Links to follow Ashley online at both her Dance and her Pilates accounts can be found on the episode page at www.thebellydancebundle.com/95

This season is gonna be a bit different, so here's a little into to this Bundle Season!

Ebony and Tiffany sit down with brilliant dancers Raqs Razi, Lara Adrienne, Donna Mejia, Lotus Niraja and Nefertiti for an inspiring conversation about, and celebration of, their opportunities, learnings and stories of travel as Black artists. Enjoy musings on favorite travel destinations and some wild excursion tales. They discuss working in a country of origin of this dance, exotisism and so much more. We hope this discussion inspires you, as well. Shownotes at: www.thebellydancebundle.com/92

Ebony and Tiffany get together with incredible dancers Sadira LadyLiquid, Chudney, Nefertiti and Omoladun for a chat about what’s different about being Black in the bellydance world. They muse about Black hair, being one of the only Black dancers in classes and competitions and finally having the feeling of belonging. Listen in as they talk about unique costuming concerns and touch upon differences in body types. We hope our discussion inspires you, as well. Shownotes at www.thebellydancebundle.com/91

Ebony and Tiffany sit down with brilliant dancers Danielle Hutton, Lara Adriene, Raqs Razi, Nefertiti and Iona for a lively conversation about, and CELEBRATION of, seeing ourselves, Black dancers, in the spotlight. Listen in as they relate about their first time seeing a pro Black bellydancer and what that meant for them. They discuss imposter syndrome, encouraging one another and so much more. We hope this discussion inspires you, as well. Get the shownotes at www.thebellydancebundle.com/90